Polycom and Tandberg both made big announcements last week at the Wainhouse Summit. (It’s eerie how they both seem to make news on the same day…) The common element in both is integration with Microsoft’s Live Communication Server 2005 and Office Communicator messenger application.
Both Polycom and Tandberg are providing device presence information to LCS and Office Communicator users so they can see who is online and whether they have a video device available for conferencing. In the case of Polycom, a user can start a conference between two users, but the conference itself is conducted between two traditional endpoints – be it a desktop or group system. Tandberg is taking this a bit further with the ability for a Tandberg endpoint to conneect directly with an Office Communicator client (which is SIP-based) over video and vice versa. In away, this gives Tandberg a software-based endpoint in its arsenal, something Polycom already has with PVX.
Of course, neither company can just rollout one piece of the news, they like to make big splashes. Here is a quick roundup of all the news from the week:
Polycom:
The good news is the company is simplifying their lineup of video endpoints to a ice cream cone-like model: Small, medium and large. Before, there were system all over the place with overlapping features and functions. What this means is the iPower PC-based systems and older ViewStation systems are being dropped from general production by the end of the year, essentially leaving the VSX family of appliances/settop boxes and the PVX software system. To accomplish the transformation Polycom is releasing:
The VSX 5000 – an entry-level group systems for small conference rooms. The unit features a digital pan-tilt-zoom camera rather than the mechanical unit found on most systems. This helps reduce the overall cost, which lists at $3,999.
VSX 7000e and 7000S – the original VSX 7000 is being replaced with two units. The 7000s is a settop device like the original 7000, but features VGA in AND outports among other things. It can do IP calls at up to 2M bit/sec. The 7000e an appliance device designed to be tucked behind those fancy flat-screen Plamsma TVs. Separate cameras and mics can be added to the system. The 7000s is $6,999 and the 7000e is $8,999.
PVX 8.0 – a new version of the software-based endpoint that adds SIP support and the ability to use H.239 People+Content, which is video and data (slides, app sharing) simultaneously. PVX starts at $149.
New VSX 8.0 software – for the entire VSX line. The new software update, free to anyone with a maintenance contract or who bought their system in the last 12 months, features improved video quality, more datra sharing capabilities and better administrator support.
Tandberg
In addition to the cool Office Communicator integration Tandberg has made a bunch of news as well:
They’re adding a new “medium size” MCU offering, the MPS 200. It can handle up to 32 video and 32 audio users simultaneously and is priced at $47,000. This is in addition to the big boy MPS 800.
The company has added Cisco CallManager support to the 2000 MXP and 1500 MXP endpoints.
Across all of its products, the company is extending the support for the H.235 security protocol to include authentication support. They already support the encryption piece. The authentication can be integrated with any LDAP data source.
Beefed up the Tandberg Gateway and Border Controller so that they can both handle up to 100 simultaneous calls, up from 20 before.
Speaking of the Gateway and Border Controller, the company has added some failover and redundancy capabilities. 
