Polycom brings videoconferencing and unified comms to Samsung Galaxy Tab

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 09 November 2010 09:38

Your IT - Mobility

Videoconferencing and unified comms vendor Polycom is to offer standards-based video and UC apps to be embedded in and sold with Samsung tablet devices, starting with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, released in Australia by Optus yesterday.

Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom's general manager of UC products and chief development officer, said: "We believe the Polycom application will drive a network effect for users and businesses by enabling the Samsung Galaxy Tab to connect with each other, as well as other standards-based telepresence and videoconferencing systems and applications."

He added: "The agreement with Samsung will be complemented by related Polycom initiatives to leverage our industry-leading UC technology and expertise to power mobile devices and cloud-based service platforms."

The offering will also drive uptake of tablet devices in enterprises at a time when Gartner is forecasting that a major security breach is inevitable because of the immaturity of mobile operating systems and enterprises' inexperience in managing and securing them.

Polycom claims that its "unique approach" enables mobile access to UC applications for consumers and enterprise users alike, enabling them to participate both in point-to-point and group conversations "while enjoying excellent high definition quality and functionality."

According to Polycom, "The application for Samsung devices will deliver low-latency, high-resolution video experiences and network resiliency. It will combine a directory and chat capability allowing Samsung mobile device users to easily find each other and connect. Polycom's H.264 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) initiative, also announced today, will be a critical component of Polycom's mobile video strategy."

James Brennan, director of unified communications for Polycom ANZ, explained to iTWire earlier this year that H.264 SVC was an ITU standard designed to enable multiple video devices with different display capabilities to take a singe high definition video stream, despite its own internal limitations and the bandwidth of its connection.

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