Polycom and HTC to Deliver Polycom® RealPresence® Enterprise-Grade Video Collaboration

If you're in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress 2012, you may have already caught this announcement. I'm posting it here because this type of application is what we need in health care for effective telemedicine:

Polycom and HTC to Deliver Polycom® RealPresence® Enterprise-Grade
Video Collaboration to Smartphones and Tablets

HTC devices with Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile software will connect customers through high-quality video collaboration in any environment including on the go, at home, at work, in a conference room, or in an immersive theater

BARCELONA, Spain, Mobile World Congress 2012 – Feb. 28, 2012 – Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), and HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today announced an agreement to collaborate and enable Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile on select HTC smartphones and tablets in mid-2012.

"Video collaboration is a critical application within mobile platforms, and offering Polycom’s RealPresence Mobile on HTC smartphones and tablets will provide tremendous value and opportunities for our customers," said David Jaeger, executive director of Global Enterprise and Services for HTC. “Polycom’s mobile video application supports our commitment to provide authentic audio and amazing imaging on our devices and together, we can now extend this experience to our enterprise customers.”



As part of the agreement, these select HTC devices will be certified Polycom-ready and optimized for RealPresence Mobile, which is expected to be available for download on HTC devices via the Android Market™ in mid-2012. RealPresence Mobile, powered by the Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform, is a secure, enterprise-grade video software solution for mobile devices that extends the reach of video collaboration beyond the conference room, allowing users on the go with a mobile device to easily connect with other standards-based video systems including immersive video rooms, group/desktop systems, laptops, tablets, and smartphones in HD quality.

“Increasingly, our customers are seeing the consumerization of IT – employees are bringing their favorite devices to work and they want them supported on the corporate network,” said Sue Hayden, executive vice president Strategic Alliances, Polycom. “Our new relationship with HTC helps customers embrace this trend, ensuring mobile workers and road warriors can enjoy high-quality mobile video collaboration solutions from anywhere without sacrificing quality, security, or reliability.”

Today’s announcement continues Polycom’s drive to make video collaboration ubiquitous by delivering easy-to-use, standards-based software to anyone, across any environment. Polycom announced RealPresence Mobile for tablets in October 2011, and on Monday at Mobile World Congress 2012, announced RealPresence Mobile is now also available for smartphones.

The Polycom and HTC agreement is focused on the opportunity presented by today’s 1 billion mobile workers – more than a third of the world’s total workforce – and prepares for the expected growth to 1.3 billion mobile workers over the next three years.[1]


Availability
Polycom and HTC expect RealPresence Mobile to be available for HTC smartphones and tablets mid-year 2012. All elements of the Polycom RealPresence Platform are currently available through Polycom’s certified channel partners.

About HTC
Founded in 1997, HTC Corp. (HTC) is the creator of many award-winning mobile devices and industry firsts. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC pushes the boundaries of design and technology to create innovative and personal experiences for consumers around the globe. HTC’s portfolio includes smartphones and tablets powered by HTC Sense™, a multilayered graphical user interface that vastly improves user experience. HTC is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2498). For more information, please visit www.htc.com.

About Polycom RealPresence Mobile
RealPresence Mobile offers users HD video, audio, and content in the field, on the road, or working from home. Featuring a simple user interface for individual or multi-party video calls, RealPresence Mobile also allows users to simultaneously view content – such as presentations – by swapping the view between the content and conference participants. Based on open-standards, the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform integrates with hundreds of apps from leading vendors in business and communications, including apps for IM/presence, call control, web conferencing, mobile and social business. Similar to connecting a smartphone to the corporate email server, RealPresence Mobile can be registered to the RealPresence Platform, allowing customers to enjoy advanced features including provisioning, management, firewall traversal, content sharing, and connectivity to desktop and immersive video room systems, including multi-party calls. For more information on RealPresence Mobile or the RealPresence Platform, go to www.polycom.com/products or call 1-800 POLYCOM.

About Polycom
Polycom is the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions for telepresence, video, and voice powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform. The RealPresence Platform interoperates with the broadest range of business, mobile, and social applications and devices. More than 400,000 organizations trust Polycom solutions to collaborate and meet face to face from any location for more productive and effective engagement with colleagues, partners, customers, specialists, and prospects. Polycom, together with its broad partner ecosystem, provides customers with the best TCO, scalability, and security for video collaboration, whether on-premises, hosted, or cloud delivered. Visit www.polycom.com or connect with Polycom on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding future events and future demand for our products, including statements regarding the future availability of the joint HTC and Polycom solution and the timing thereof. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the impact of competition on our product sales and for our customers and partners, the impact of increased competition due to consolidation in our industry or competition from companies that are larger or that have greater resources than we do, potential fluctuations in results and future growth rates, risks associated with general economic conditions and external market factors, the market acceptance of Polycom's products and changing market demands, including demands for differing technologies or product and services offerings, and possible delays in the development, availability and shipment of this new joint solution. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011, and in other reports filed by Polycom with the SEC. Polycom disclaims any intent or obligations to update these forward-looking statements.

© 2012 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom “Triangles” logo, and the names and marks associated with Polycom’s products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.