POLYCOM/DIGIUM TO OFFER INTEGRATED SIP-BASED TELEPHONY.Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :PLCM PLCM Product Life-Cycle Management PLCM public long code mask PLCM Public Land Code Mask ), the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, and Digium(R) Inc., the Asterisk(R) company, have signed a multiyear agreement to develop and market integrated, SIP-based telephony solutions for small and medium-sized businesses which will give SMB (1) (Small to Medium-sized Business) Also called "SME" (small to medium-sized enterprise), it refers to companies that are larger than the small office/home office (SOHO), but not huge. customers a tightly integrated, standards-based solution with simplified provisioning, broad support for Asterisk telephony features on the Polycom phones and the delivery of new capabilities such as Polycom's breakthrough HD Voice quality. "We look forward to expanding our offering and furthering our reach in the marketplace through this partnership with Polycom," said Mark Spencer Mark Spencer (born April 8, 1977) is a computer engineer and is the original author of the GTK+-based instant messaging client Gaim (has since been renamed to Pidgin), the L2TP daemon l2tpd and the Cheops Network User Interface. , president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. at Digium. "The interoperability between Asterisk Business Edition and Polycom SIP phones ensures flexibility and broad support for Asterisk telephony features." Polycom's award-winning SIP desktop and conference phones will be combined with Digium's Asterisk Business Edition, the professional-grade version of Asterisk, the industry's first open source PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). . Through the combined Digium and Polycom offering, SMB customers will have access to advanced telephony solutions which will be more affordable compared to proprietary systems. Additionally, the new offering will give customers the control, rapid feature development and deployment, and rich feature base that the Asterisk open source community and its partners provide. Per the agreement, Polycom will also be the preferred VoIP phone See IP phone and softphone. provider for Digium solutions. "Open source PBX's are gaining significant momentum in the market place because they are easy to deploy and they offer partners and customers the ability to use it as a development platform for customized solutions," said Will Stofega, research manager, VoIP Services at IDC. "The combination of Polycom's broad family of high quality desktop and conference phones and Digium's low-cost, feature-rich platform will deliver a strong integrated VoIP telephony solution to the SMB market." "The open source approach is an important part of the current IP PBX market and we want to support this community with the renowned voice quality and intuitive user interface of Polycom's phones," said Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of voice communications at Polycom. "Through our co-development agreement, Polycom SIP phones will be easy to deploy and manage in a Digium Asterisk Business Edition environment and support the business telephony features to meet the needs of the SMB market." As part of the agreement, Digium will modify the Asterisk graphic user interface See GUI. (GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. ), Asterisk Business Edition application and Asterisk OS to tightly integrate with Polycom's line of SIP-based desktop and conference phones. The co-development work will enable simplified provisioning and support for advanced telephony features like shared line appearance, XML XML in full Extensible Markup Language. Markup language developed to be a simplified and more structural version of SGML. It incorporates features of HTML (e.g., hypertext linking), but is designed to overcome some of HTML's limitations. microbrowser A Web browser designed for small display screens on smartphones and other handheld wireless devices. See smartphone and WAP. plugins and Polycom HD Voice. Polycom and Digium will also work together on joint marketing initiatives and joint selling through common channels. Polycom phones will also be the exclusive VoIP phone in Digium's Asterisk Appliance Developer Kit (AADK). Digium Asterisk Business Edition Asterisk Business Edition(TM) is the professional-grade version of Asterisk, the industry's first open source PBX. The Asterisk Business Edition provides tested reliability of critical functions and features, and is tailored for small and enterprise business applications. It supports up to 40 simultaneous calls with upgrades to 240 calls available. Asterisk Business Edition includes a supported rPath(TM) Linux distribution with an enhanced installer, an Asterisk technical manual and a quick-start guide, making Asterisk even easier to install, configure, and use. Polycom's SIP-Based Phones Polycom offers a complete line of SIP-based desktop phones, including the SoundPoint(R) IP 650 with HD Voice, SoundPoint IP(TM) 601, SoundPoint IP 501, SoundPoint IP 430, SoundPoint IP 301, and SoundPoint IP Extension Modules. The line also includes the SoundStation(R) IP 4000 which is a SIP-based conference phone within the award-winning, triangular-shaped SoundStation line, which have become an icon for voice conferencing quality in businesses around the globe. Polycom's latest development, Polycom HD Voice, incorporates leading technologies that Polycom has developed through more than 15 years in voice communications, including wideband audio, enhanced signal processing, Acoustic Clarity Technology(TM) 2 (including next generation technologies for transparent full duplex, echo cancellation, dynamic noise reduction The removal of unwanted artifacts in video material. The simplest noise reduction works primarily by comparing one frame to the next and removing tiny specks that are not the same in each frame. , automatic gain control and microphone management) and specialized system design to deliver unrivaled clarity and richness. This enables better clarity and improved intelligibility of information, which significantly improves comprehension and productivity and reduces listener fatigue. Polycom is working with Digium to make HD Voice available to Asterisk Business Edition customers. About Digium Digium, the Asterisk company, is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry's first open source telephony See Asterisk PBX and OpenMoko. platform. Digium provides hardware and software products, including the Asterisk Business Edition(TM), its professional grade version of Asterisk, to enterprises and telecommunications providers worldwide. Digium also offers a full range of professional services including consulting, technical support and custom software development services. Used in combination with Digium's PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). telephony interface cards, Asterisk offers a strategic, highly cost-effective approach to voice and data transport over IP, TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) A technology that transmits multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path. Each lower-speed signal is time sliced into one high-speed transmission. , switched and Ethernet architectures. Digium's offerings include legacy PBX, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) An automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller with a combination of fixed voice menus and data extracted from databases in real time. , auto attendant, next generation gateways, media servers and application servers. For more information, visit http://www.digium.com or call 256/428-6203. About Asterisk Code for Asterisk, originally written by Mark Spencer of Digium Inc., has been contributed to from open source software engineers around the world. Currently boasting over 1 million users, Asterisk supports a wide range of TDM protocols for the handling and transmission of voice over traditional telephony interfaces, and VoIP packet protocols such as IAX See Asterisk PBX. , SIP and H.323. It supports U.S. and European standard signaling types used in business phone systems, allowing it to bridge between next-generation voice-data integrated networks and existing infrastructure. About Polycom Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC An abbreviation for the Uniform Commercial Code. ) 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 more information, call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or 408/526-9000, or visit http://www.polycom.com. |
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