Polycom Links Telepresence and Lync with Polycom CX7000

In its never-ending quest to provide a super-interconnected unified communications network, Polycom has launched the Polycom CX7000, its first full-room telepresence solution that integrates with Microsoft Lync. Read on for the  high-definition details …

According to the press release, the CX7000 and Lync together provide a simple and easy way to move Polycom products deeper into the enterprise as part of an interoperable UC solution that everyone can afford. With Lync at the back end, Polycom has high hopes the CX7000 will find adoption in many SMBs and enterprises, since it doesn’t require any new gateways or hardware in the data center and it plays nice with existing Microsoft Exchange solutions. To get customers and partners charged up about the product, Polycom has given the CX7000 the nickname “Rally.”

Meanwhile, the two companies note their relationship is more than providing an alternative to Cisco TelePresence, they’re capitalizing on a growing market. Polycom cites Gartner research that pegs videoconferencing technology as growing at 15 percent clip until 2015. And Polycom has made its own moves to further that adoption, recently launching the Open Visual Communication Consortium (OVCC) initiative designed to further interoperability between myriad UC vendors, devices and platforms, while staying true to the Polycom “UC Everywhere” ethos. The CX7000 seems to be another step in that direction, and it could very well be the right direction.

Polycom demoed the CX7000 at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2011, but it won’t be available to partners and resellers until Q4 2011. No pricing has been announced, but you can drool over the solution here. We’ll keep you posted on adoption rate and unit reviews as soon as it hits the videoconferencing scene.