Polycom

Partnerships

Plantronics rebrands as Poly, unveils new product and strategic initiatives

March 22, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics rebrands as Poly, unveils new product and strategic initiatives
Poly is designed to provide a new joint identity for the Plantronics-Polycom combination. In addition to new pipeline product announced at Enterprise Connect this week, the company also emphasized new and expanded strategic partnerships which have more joint offerings on the way.

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Unified Communications

VisibilityOne nears entry into videoconferencing monitoring market with public beta launch

February 11, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on VisibilityOne nears entry into videoconferencing monitoring market with public beta launch
VisibilityOne provides a cloud-based videoconferencing service, designed to support multi-vendor environments, and be very simple to install and use. It is slated for general release in early summer, and will be sold through UCC-focused partners.

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Unified Communications

Plantronics, HP launch new collaboration on native Microsoft Teams video conference solution

December 20, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics, HP launch new collaboration on native Microsoft Teams video conference solution
Plantronics sees the HP Elite Slice G2 Audio-Ready as providing formidable conference room advantages, including the elimination of cable clutter from tables, and is transitioning from the Polycom MSR series to these Polycom + HP SRS Bundles for Microsoft room systems.

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Hardware

Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition

March 28, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition
Plantronics moves far beyond headsets by buying Polycom, which brings them into three additional businesses that are synergistic to their headset core.

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Cloud

AWS unveils potentially disruptive Alexa for Business

November 30, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on AWS unveils potentially disruptive Alexa for Business
AWS brings its Alexa technology to the office. The one negative for Canadian users is that out of the gate, it’s only available in the U.S East region.

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Distribution

Synnex: Westcon buy is distie deal with little overlap

June 8, 2017 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Synnex: Westcon buy is distie deal with little overlap
Synnex purchases Westcon Comstor’s North American business, gets access to new key vendors, including Cisco.

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Cloud

Jive, inContact, and Polycom announce UCaaS technology predictions

February 13, 2017 Guest Poster Comments Off on Jive, inContact, and Polycom announce UCaaS technology predictions
Jive Communications, inContact, and Polycom share their top predictions for 2017 in the unified communications-as-a-service space.

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Unified Communications

Microsoft relationship now key for independent Polycom

July 12, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Microsoft relationship now key for independent Polycom
With the Mitel deal now off, Polycom needs to build its own bridge into a cloud future. Nick Tidd, who runs their Global Partner Organization, outlines the company’s plans to do just that, with one key objective being to get their own channel to sell Polycom and Microsoft together.

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Barat Dickman, vice president and general manager of unified communications and collaboration at Westcon-Comstor.
Cloud

Comstor launches video-as-a-service offering

February 1, 2016 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Comstor launches video-as-a-service offering
Westcon’s Comstor group teams with Polycom to offer cloud-based video-as-a-service that solution providers can offer under its GoldSeal services label.

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Channel Programs

Polycom enhances flexibility with first phase of new partner program

April 2, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Polycom enhances flexibility with first phase of new partner program
Polycom introduces new and more flexible criteria to reach higher partner levels, while at the same time requiring minimum sales thresholds at all levels and getting more rigorous about joint business plans for upper tier partners.

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Distribution

ScanSource, Mitel launch new North American distribution agreement

April 1, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on ScanSource, Mitel launch new North American distribution agreement
In the U.S., ScanSource will carry Mitel’s entire product line, but in Canada, where the core Mitel products do not go through distribution at all, ScanSource will be limited to the Aastra product line.

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Channel Programs

New ThreatTrack channel chief looks to distribution for ThreatSecure go-to-market

August 20, 2014 Mark Cox Comments Off on New ThreatTrack channel chief looks to distribution for ThreatSecure go-to-market
While ThreatTrack has a channel of SMB-focused VIPRE resellers, the new channel chief’s task is to build an enterprise-focused channel for ThreatSecure, and to do that, he is looking to distribution.

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A Cisco unified communications system
Featured Post

Cisco goes for broke in video-for-all strategy

March 12, 2014 Chris Gonsalves (Channelnomics) Comments Off on Cisco goes for broke in video-for-all strategy
Cisco wants to take high-quality video collaboration capabilities beyond the CEO suite and disperse it among the working masses.

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Scott Delaney, vice president of business development for Avnet Services
Distribution

Avnet Services Adds Polycom Maintenance Support

September 18, 2013 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Avnet Services Adds Polycom Maintenance Support
The distributor’s Avnet Services division will provide a first point of technical support around Polycom’s videoconferencing family.

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Tim Billing, vice president of vendor management, Ingram Micro Canada
Distribution

Ingram gets Microsoft Lync exclusive

January 22, 2013 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Ingram gets Microsoft Lync exclusive
Distributor chosen to rep Microsoft’s full UC line in Canada

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Bill Corbin, executive vice president of global vendor relationship at Westcon Group
Distribution

Westcon adds to security, UC portfolios with HP, Microsoft deals

September 18, 2012 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Westcon adds to security, UC portfolios with HP, Microsoft deals
Westcon Group announced the expansion of two vendor relationships that will see it increase its presence in the security and unified communications fields. The distributor announced an expansion of its pact with HP to include […]
Gavin Miller, vice president of marketing, solutions and sales acceleration at Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas
Distribution

Avnet inks Polycom distribution deal

July 3, 2012 Chris Talbot Comments Off on Avnet inks Polycom distribution deal
New partnership is distributor’s first foray into the video part of the unified communications market

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Avaya Flare Experience tablet
Networking

Avaya puts up a Flare to partners on new video opportunities

October 11, 2010 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Avaya puts up a Flare to partners on new video opportunities
The company’s video strategy, of which the Flare Experience tablet and environment is the crown jewel, opens up several new opportunities for solution providers, the networking vendor says.

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