Hong Kong (24 February 2010) - Polycom drives higher adoption of telepresence, video conferencing and video-enabled Unified Communications and drives down total cost of ownership with H.264 High Profile support and planned first "Full SVC" solution with true interoperability.

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, today announced support for a breakthrough, standards-based video compression technology, H.264 High Profile, that will reduce the bandwidth requirements for high-definition (HD) telepresence and standard definition (SD) video conferencing by as much as 50 percent, representing substantial network bandwidth cost savings for customers. The reduced bandwidth requirements will also serve as a catalyst for broader video deployments, creating a network effect that will deliver greater customer benefits as the Polycom Open Collaboration NetworkTM of partners drive telepresence and video conferencing adoption within Unified Communications (UC) environments.

Breakthrough Video Performance
Through coding efficiency innovations, Polycom's support for H.264 High Profile will deliver breakthrough video performance at any bandwidth, including full-motion HD video quality starting at just 512 kbps, and full-motion DVD-quality SD video starting as low as 128 kbps.

"Polycom is giving customers the best video experience in the industry at half the network bandwidth requirements of competing solutions, a substantial benefit that will drive wider adoption and greater return on investment for customers", said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president and general manager of video solutions at Polycom. "Polycom continues to drive visual communication innovation through our best-in-class solutions, our industry-leading infrastructure platform, and through the Polycom Open Collaboration Network of leading unified communications and network partners."

The reduced bandwidth requirements will also help drive broader use of video within unified communications environments through efforts with Polycom Open Collaboration Network partners Avaya, Microsoft, IBM, Siemens Enterprise Communications Group and BroadSoft.

"Siemens is excited about its partnership with Polycom and the support for H.264 High Profile, which will give our customers added cost-effectiveness and faster return on investment for their UC-enabled video solutions," said Gerald Kromer, senior vice president of services and solutions for Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN).

- Benefits for Remote Workers
High video quality at lower bandwidth will drive greater video use among mobile and home office workers, and increased adoption overall will drive greater intercompany collaboration.

- New Low-Cost Telepresence System
"Polycom continues to address the key barriers to adoption for visual communication through a standard-based approach that will drive industry growth," said Sigrist. "Businesses of all sizes and across industries want the productivity and cost-saving benefits of visual communication, and Polycom is driving the total cost of ownership down to make it more affordable and accessible to a broader range of customers."

- Further Technology Innovation - Full SVC with Interoperability
While continuing to provide solutions that broaden adoption, Polycom also announced that it will deliver the industry's first "Full Scalable Video Coding" (Full SVC) solution in 2010, which will further address reduced bandwidth requirements, error concealment during packet loss, enhanced scalability for multipoint calling and universality - or interoperability across a broad set of video protocols.

- Availability
Support H.264 High Profile on Polycom HDX room and personal telepresence systems in planned for April.