Each year, Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference brings together over 10,000 of some of the brightest minds in the technology industry. All partners of Microsoft, all working together to make business more efficient, more intuitive and even more fun.

Last week was no different. Polycom has been privileged to be a partner of Microsoft for over a decade. Constantly working together to improve efficiencies and generate productivity in the workplace, Polycom and Microsoft have developed solutions that are built and qualified in the Lync environment.  In fact, our work with Microsoft, which includes our CX8000, a Lync Room System, has played a big role in Polycom gaining the highest rating by Gartner for Group Video Systems.

What we had in the booth

Polycom was once again a proud sponsor of the event.

The main element of our booth display was the CX8000 Lync Room System and CX5100 – our unique, center-of-the-table 360-degree HD voice and video device for Lync. Many who came to our booth mentioned that they were using the original roundtable, the CX5000 and were eager to upgrade to the new and improved HD solution.

As usual, our VVX phones generated much interest as many inquired about the different functionality of the devices – from our VVX300 (an entry level HD voice quality device) to the VVX600 (multiple features that include video, HD voice and an instant access directory).

Meeting capture – particularly for training or new hire videos – and ability to access and dissect transcripts for key messages were the two most favorably received applications of our Video Content Management solution.

Cloud party a big hit:

In partnership with Plantronics and Sonus, Polycom sponsored an event on the roof deck of the W Hotel in Washington.  We were pleased and honored to have more than 500 attendees attend, including influential Microsoft Partners, as well as Lync Marketing, Engineers and Sales Teams from Microsoft as well as members of the media as well.

Generating a movement:

 Polycom is proud to be joining Microsoft on two programs that are truly remarkable:

• Operation Smile –  A charity designed to help children around the world who have facial abnormalities, Polycom is working in conjunction with Microsoft to offer support for this cause
• CityNext – Polycom has been accepted into Microsoft’s CityNext program, which is designed to positively impact cities and communities through the use of technology

The Polycom and Microsoft partnership continues to be an important one for businesses everywhere. We’ve been honored to collaborate with Microsoft to address key business challenges along the way.

And stay tuned. Microsoft and Polycom have more coming!

Microsoft Lync is rapidly becoming the de facto application for organizations to connect their employees through presence and IM. When you add voice, video and content collaboration capabilities to Lync, the value to organizations is clear: one tool, one resource for virtually all of your unified collaboration and communications needs to drive productivity and engagement.

Many companies partner with Microsoft to add their voice, video and content capabilities to the Lync platform, and Polycom is one of them. For more than a decade, Polycom and Microsoft have been working together to improve unified communications experiences. Polycom uniquely integrates our solutions natively into the Microsoft Lync platform—all with the same look and feel of the core Lync experience with added features and functionality. In total, we provide more than 40+ solutions that integrate directly into Lync today, so people can choose just the right communications and collaboration solutions that fit their organizations needs.

Microsoft recently announced their 2014 Partner of the Year winners and finalists, and Polycom was honored to be named one of two finalists in the Communications category. This is a very competitive space and we were thrilled to see our commitment and investment in the Lync platform pay off with this recognition. 

Given the fact that Microsoft received more than 3,200 nominations across 46 award categories, we are honored to be recognized.  The Polycom and Microsoft is stronger than ever.  Polycom and Microsoft continue to develop solutions—like our Lync Room System, Polycom CX8000 and CX5100—that are changing the way people communicate.