Independent Tests Prove Polycom Telepresence Solutions Deliver No-Compromise HD Calls at Half the Bandwidth

Wainhouse Research tests validate Polycom's claim of high-definition telepresence at up to 50 percent less bandwidth and no appreciable loss in call quality

Johannesburg, 19 November 2010 – Independent tests conducted by industry analyst firm Wainhouse Research validate that Polycom, Inc. [Nasdaq: PLCM], a global leader in unified communications, more than delivers on claims that Polycom telepresence solutions deliver high-definition (HD) telepresence calls at up to half the bandwidth of other major competitors – and with no appreciable sacrifice in call quality.

The test results are detailed in a new white paperfrom Wainhouse Research (WR). Using four Polycom HDX 8000 room telepresence systems, WR established parallel testing environments to compare the performance of Polycom's implementation of the H.264 High Profilestandard to traditional H.264 Baseline Profile, a less advanced version of the H.264 video compression standard and the version used by most of today's H.264 telepresence and video conferencing systems. In half of the test calls, Polycom achieved bandwidth reductions of at least 50 percent, with two tests recording bandwidth savings of 65 and 67 percent.

“We were impressed by the ability to reduce call speed while maintaining video resolution and call quality via the use of H.264 High Profile on Polycom HDX video endpoints,” said Ira M. Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research, and a co-author of the white paper. “Throughout our tests, the Polycom systems delivered bandwidth savings without materially compromising call quality of a typical visual collaboration experience. Overall, Polycom's implementation of H.264 High Profile met – and in some ways exceeded – WR's performance expectations.”

Some competitors have challenged Polycom's claims of no-compromise bandwidth reduction. To settle the issue, Polycom commissioned WR to independently evaluate its solutions.

“We had thoroughly tested various call scenarios in our own labs and were confident in our claims. We can understand why our competitors were skeptical. The ability to dramatically reduce bandwidth requirements without compromising quality of experience is a huge benefit for our customers,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom chief development officer and general manager of unified communications products. ”We can put the arguments to rest now that a respected independent research firm has validated our results. Not only did we pass the testing – we exceeded expectations in many cases.”

Polycom offers H.264 High Profile support across its room telepresence and immersive telepresence solutions, and within elements of the Polycom UC Intelligent Core infrastructure platform.

The benefits also extend to Polycom's telepresence solutions for Microsoft Lync Server 2010, as well as Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS). Polycom H.264 High Profile is supported on Polycom HDX systems that use Microsoft Lync and Office Communications Edge servers between federated partners. This allows an organisation to easily and securely connect via telepresence with customers and partners leveraging Microsoft infrastructure.

WR's new white paper, titled “Evaluation: Polycom's Implementation of H.264 High Profile -- WR Investigates Polycom's Claim of No-Compromise Performance Using up to 50% Less Bandwidth,” is available free of charge at www.polycom.com/highprofile.