Polycom comes out swinging

Polycom is looking to do to its competition what Mike Tyson did to Clifford Etienne this past weekend: Knock them out. Yesterday, the company came out with a bushel of announcements that touch almost every product line the company offers from video endpoints to network gear to audio. While I won’t list all the new products and features in this space, I will say this set of announcements demonstrates why Polycom bought Accord Networks and PictureTel and what each brings to the table. Polycom’s goal is to bring conferencing to anyone from anywhere, whether you’re dialing in by video endpoint, mobile or tradition phone. Granted, for this to all work well, hefty pipes are need between locations using video, but steps are being made. Tandberg seems to have been gaining some ground and nipping at the heels of Polycom lately, but this round of announcements could help solidify Polycom’s hold on first place. Wainhouse Research’s Andrew Davis has some interesting takes on the latest Polycom news in his latest newsletter (PDF).