Polycom Closes HP Visual Collaboration Acquisition

Unified communications provider Polycom has officially closed the deal for Hewlett-Packard’s visual collaboration business.

The deal not only gives Polycom the HP visual collaboration business, but it also makes Polycom the exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain video UC solutions, including both resale and internal HP deployments.

The two companies also agreed to make Polycom’s video applications available for HP’s webOS platform, in keeping with Polycom’s commitment to enable mobile UC as an element in its UC Everywhere vision.

Partnership Deal

Under the terms of its agreements with HP, Polycom provides expertise in software technology and UC infrastructure and solutions, covering the full continuum of integrated and secure mobile, desktop, room and immersive telepresence solutions. HP provides its expertise in go-to-market strategies for UC solutions and will resell Polycom’s UC solutions including mobile, personal and group UC devices, UC Intelligent Core software platform, UC managed services, and audio/video software.

The acquisition includes the assets of HP’s visual collaboration business, including the Halo telepresence products and managed services business. Polycom picks up customer sites with many Global 500 customers across 36 countries. For current Halo and Halo Video Exchange Network customers, Polycom said it would deliver continued services and support.

“Polycom is excited to close this acquisition and we welcome Halo customers to Polycom. We’re looking forward to our expanded strategic relationship with HP, to offer customers an end-to-end UC solution with an unparalleled user experience, open standards-based interoperability, the industry’s best TCO, investment protection through backwards- and forwards-compatibility, and ease of deployment,” Andrew Miller, Polycom president and CEO, said in a statement.

“HP has enormous global reach, and our broadened relationship with the company is another important step in meeting Polycom’s commitment to bring the most advanced and innovative UC solutions to market – from mobile video applications and UC software to room and immersive telepresence solutions. In addition, Polycom and HP share a strategic ally in Microsoft, and we believe our combined offerings will provide transformative benefits and value to customers worldwide,” he added.

Channel Strategy

In addition to HP, Polycom works with a diverse channel community representing multiple routes to market, including distribution partners, value added resellers, service providers and systems integrators.

“Clients are seeking ways to enable their employees to share information faster, increase responsiveness and ultimately improve productivity,” Arthur Filip, vice president and general manager of technology consulting at HP, said in a statement.

“HP works with clients to create their unique Unified Communications strategy, transforming their communications infrastructure to improve collaboration and business responsiveness. By collaborating with HP and Polycom, clients will benefit from an end-to-end UC solution that will address their needs today and in the future,” it added.