Polycom Acquires Destiny Conferencing

PLEASANTON, CA-Polycom has acquired Destiny Conferencing Corporation, a privately held telepresence solutions company headquartered in Dayton, OH. Polycom and Destiny had previously been partners, as Destiny's telepresence solution incorporates Polycom's videoconferencing products and is the basis for Polycom's RPX telepresence offering. As a result of the acquisition, Polycom now owns several patents core to telepresence, a rapidly-emerging market driven by the need for dispersed people to communicate as if they are all in the same room.
As Polycom's director of product management Marcio Macedo explained, "Telepresence requests from customers are growing. It makes sense for us to join forces and work the roadmap together and be able to put more resources into developing new products and expanding the line."
The first stage in that expansion is Polycom's RealPresence Experience high definition (RPX HD) telepresence solutions, which provide cinematic views, Siren StereoSurround high definition sound, and EyeConnect technology that puts the camera at eye level for more natural face-to-face interaction. Polycom's standards-based HDX 9000 high-definition video systems are at the core of the RPX HD, making it the only telepresence solution able to call the countless video systems already deployed on desktops and in conference rooms worldwide.
This is only the beginning of such advanced systems, Macedo said, and the more familiar end-users become with such technology, the better it will be for a systems integrator's business. "It's increasing the visibility of high-end solutions," he explained. "Polycom's strategy is to leverage not just telepresence as a market opportunity but the continued spectrum all the way from desktop videoconferencing to integrated boardrooms and auditoriums, with telepresence being one of the many solutions that's available. Opening the range is important. For us to have the interoperability that the RPX solution offers, then all those systems will increase, not just telepresence solutions but everything our partners build systems for."
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