FREE Introduction to Polycom Video Endpoints e-learning course

[Jill Wells (JMW)]

If you’ve completed our free Introduction to Voice and Video Technology e-learning course, you’ll already have a good basic understanding of all the different technologies underpinning your Polycom collaboration solution, and be comfortable with the most common technical jargon associated with it. The free Introduction to Polycom Video Endpoints e-learning module builds on this, by explaining the basic features and terminology related to all the endpoints attached to your solution.

So what do we mean by video endpoints? The term covers all the video-focused products that Polycom sells, including the hardware or software-based apps that can be deployed individually or as part of a fully managed solution through the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform. These include cameras, microphones, screens or apps that rely on personal devices such as PCs, tablets or smartphones to capture and share high quality audio, video and content.

In terms of Polycom products, ‘endpoints’ can also include your company’s immersive telepresence solutions, collaboration room solutions, conference room solutions, desktop solutions and solutions for smartphones and tablets. These incorporate many Polycom audio and video innovations, and the module introduces a variety of them, such as Constant Clarity, Automatic Gain Control, Polycom® NoiseBlock™ and Polycom® Acoustic Fence™, Lost Packet Recovery, 3D Voice and Provisioning.

Polycom NoiseBlock provides a way of removing keyboard noise, paper rustling and finger tapping from the audio stream so that distractions are kept to a minimum. Polycom Acoustic Fence is a related audio innovation that enables room systems to be deployed in noisy environments such as open workspaces or areas where audio may bleed through walls into conference calls; and uses at least one table-top microphone and one ceiling microphone to sample and remove audio distractions in a call.

3D Voice, meanwhile, is a feature that allows meeting participants to hear where the ‘far end’ participants are located in their room. This plays a huge part in the 'believability' of a video conference - if you don't hear things that match what you see, it's an extra effort for your brain to work out what's going on, which is both distracting and tiring.

The module concludes with brief overviews of Polycom solutions within each product category, including:

• RealPresence Immersive solutions – Polycom® RealPresence® OTX® Studio and Polycom® RealPresence Immersive Studio™.
• Polycom® RealPresence® Group Series - which includes a number of solutions designed for different room sizes and environments.
• Latest meeting room solutions including Polycom® RealPresence Trio™, the first smart hub for group collaboration, which is ideally suited for huddle room and team environments; Polycom® RealPresence Debut™, the first enterprise-grade video collaboration solution especially designed for huddle and small meeting rooms; Polycom RealPresence Centro™, which has revolutionised the collaborative space; and Polycom® RealPresence® Medialign™, the industry’s best all-in-one video collaboration solution for front of room videoconferencing.
• Packaged solutions such as Group Convene media centres; utility carts for manufacturing and non-FDA certified healthcare applications; EduCart for remote learning; and VideoProtect 500 for safe and secure HD quality communications for government and judicial applications.
• Desktop products including Polycom® RealPresence® Desktop and the RealPresence Desktop software application.
• Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile for mobile professionals that need to stay connected.

As well as introducing the key features of Polycom products, the Introduction to Polycom Video Endpoints module will give you some useful background information on whichever Polycom solution you’re using, as well as other solutions in the portfolio that you may also want to consider.  If you enjoy this module you can find the rest of the Polycom Start Here series here.