Polycom Named One of Five Most Innovative Telecom and Networking Companies by Fast Company
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2005--
Polycom Lauded for Building Innovative Collaborative Communications Platform Using Global R&D Centers of Excellence, Technology Partnerships and Acquisitions Polycom(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM), the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, announced today it was recognized by Fast Company magazine as one of telecommunications and networking industries' five most innovative companies. The magazine's first quarterly assessment of innovation by industry published in December named Polycom, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Qualcomm and Plantronics as most innovative from an original field of 119 public companies.
Judged by The Monitor Group, an independent professional services and advisory firm, Polycom was hailed for skillfully building its collaborative communications platform through effective integration of internal and external networks consisting of geographically dispersed research and development centers of excellence, technology partnerships that include Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft and Nortel, and several strategic acquisitions. Noted Fast Company, "Polycom, maker of the ubiquitous SoundStation conference phone, a staple of deal-making bankers and lawyers, is itself expert at acquisitions that stoke its innovation pipeline."
Polycom, which has over 400 patents registered or pending worldwide, has brought innovation to the conferencing and collaboration markets. The company's intellectual property is behind many of today's standards including H.264 video compression and error concealment, G.722.1 audio error correction, H.239 simultaneous delivery of People+Content, T.120 real-time multipoint data connections, and wideband conversational stereo. It is the only company that offers converged platforms enabling the launch of a group video conference from a group conference phone as well as next generation standards such as SIP end-to-end from phone to video conferencing endpoints to the backend media server.
The Monitor Group judged innovation on past performance in terms of revenue growth, shareholder return, as well as income and revenue per employee, and product awards; on future potential as measured by R&D as a percentage of total revenue, number of patents and earnings-per-share growth estimates of the next five years; and on the capacity for innovation or the ability to develop, exploit and capture growth potential of the firm's business initiatives pipeline.
"Innovation is more than just new products and ideas, it is about capturing value in new ways," said Adi Alon with The Monitor Group. "We looked at industry vision and leadership, the culture of the organization, leadership in innovation and how new markets are created with ecosystems of partners, suppliers, customers and technology -- which is where Polycom excelled. Polycom's global network is both the source for idea generation and the engine that translates those ideas into tangible products and services that create new markets."
The Monitor Group found a dramatic and measurable financial advantage for the most innovative companies. Those companies enjoyed a nearly six-fold increase over their peers in five year revenue growth (1998-2003), and outperformed their peers in productivity as measured by revenue per employee by 55 percent and income per employee.
Polycom received analyst attention specifically for its strategy and management direction and vision, idea generation and management, and the presence of growth platforms. Noted Polycom CTO and Chief Architect Hans Schwarz, "Virtually half of our research and development comes from groups outside North America. We drive all our own development as well as co-development with our partners using an open architecture we call PAC, which coordinates our efforts and ensures our solutions will integrate seamlessly on every network. When we look to acquire capabilities to extend our portfolio, we have two criteria: the company must have strong technical talent and it must increase our bottom line within two quarters."
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC) that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations by integrating the broadest array of video, voice, data and Web solutions to deliver the ultimate communications experience. Polycom's high quality, standards-based conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use. Supported by an open architecture, they integrate seamlessly with leading telephony and presence-based networks. With its market driving technologies, best-in-class products, alliance partnerships, and world-class service, Polycom is the smart choice for organizations seeking proven solutions and a competitive advantage in real-time communications and collaboration. For additional information call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or +1-408-526-9000, or visit the Polycom website at
www.polycom.com.
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CONTACT: Polycom, Inc. Jessica Kersey, 925-924-5689 jessica.kersey@polycom.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKING SOURCE: Polycom, Inc.
Copyright Business Wire 2005
