Polycom Awarded Unified Conferencing Company of the Year for Second Consecutive Year by Video Conferencing Insight.

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Polycom Cited as Only Provider of Solutions "That Make It Possible to Communicate over Any Network from Anywhere Using Any Device"

Polycom(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM), the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, today announced that it has been named Unified Conferencing Company of the Year 2004 for the second consecutive year by Video Conferencing Insight. Polycom is the only company to ever receive the award that recognizes its pioneering role in driving the market for unified collaborative communications, an emerging market category resulting from the convergence of voice, video, data and web collaboration. Three of the top ten video conferencing endpoints cited in the report are Polycom's: the high performance VSX(TM) 8000 group video conferencing system, the VSX 3000 all-in-one desktop video system, and the breakthrough desktop video conferencing software application, Polycom PVX(TM). The Polycom MGC(TM) line of voice, video and unified conferencing bridges also topped the list of Best Video Network Infrastructure Solutions of the Year 2004.

"Polycom wins the Award because its new endpoint and infrastructure products make it possible to communicate over any network from anywhere using any device: a videoconferencing system, PC, PDA, mobile phone or Voice over IP phone," said Richard Line, editor of Video Conferencing Insight. "What Polycom has achieved in 2004 is to make Unified Conferencing more manageable and conveniently available from the desktop. It is appropriate that Polycom again wins the Unified Conferencing Company of the Year Award, because they are the key driver to making this powerful combination of voice, video, data and web collaboration a reality. No other company can claim such a broad range of solutions that elegantly combine voice, video, data and web conferencing and collaboration."

"Polycom's vision, name and logo from day one have focused on delivering the integration of voice, video and data conferencing and collaboration technologies into a seamless user experience," said Steve Huey, chief marketing officer of Polycom. "As Polycom marks its fifteenth anniversary, we are seeing the realization of this vision, as the company has transformed for the industry leader in voice and video conferencing technology, to the pioneer in unified collaborative communications. Through our own end-to-end solution and through strategic alliances with industry leaders including Avaya, Microsoft, Nortel Networks and others, unified collaborative communications is going mainstream, offering bottom line benefits to both commercial and public sector enterprises including quantum productivity gains, enhanced customer relationships, faster time to decision, and increased agility for today's distributed, extended, and mobile organizations."

Some of the significant Polycom developments in 2004 included:

--Pioneering partnerships for unified collaborative communications with Avaya, Microsoft and Nortel Networks - Each alliance combines the individual strengths of the partners' communication platform with Polycom's unified collaborative communications solutions in order to deliver voice, video, data and web collaboration that is an integrated part of a company's communications infrastructure.

--Expansion of the industry's most powerful video conferencing solutions - In 2004, Polycom expanded the scope of its award-winning VSX product line, the most powerful and popular video conferencing platform in the industry. Additions included the VSX 8000 rack-mountable system for custom-room environments; the VSX 3000 all-in-one video system with built-in microphones, speakers and 17-inch LCD display that doubles as a PC monitor; and the breakthrough Polycom PVX desktop video conferencing software application that delivers TV-like video to any webcam and seamless interoperability with conference room systems. All three new solutions were named among the "Top 10 Video Conferencing Endpoints of 2004" by Video Conferencing Insight.

--MGC voice, video and unified conferencing bridges outperform all others - In comprehensive tests of the industry's Multipoint Control Units (MCUs), VeriTest, the world's largest independent technology testing organization, demonstrated Polycom outperformed the competition with greater capacity, security, scalability and manageability. It found no other bridge can connect more of the devices and protocols in today's mixed media environments. Video Conferencing Insight also awarded the enhanced MGC line among the "Best Video Network Infrastructure Solutions of the Year" again in 2004, and has called the MGC line "the Rolls Royce of MCUs."

--Next generation conference phones - After introducing the revolutionary SoundStation VTX(TM) 1000, the world's first wideband conference phone, Polycom introduced the second generation of its award-winning SoundStation(R) line of conference phones, which, with an installed base of 1.7 million, have become an icon for voice quality in conference rooms around the globe. The SoundStation2(TM) and SoundStation2W(TM) (wireless) set a new standard for everyday voice quality.

--First SIP-enabled end-to-end video conferencing solution - In 2004, Polycom delivered the industry's broadest support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the industry's emerging standard to deliver converged rich media. Polycom is the first and only provider of an end-to-end videoconferencing solution with SIP support including video endpoints as well as infrastructure products. Polycom also supports SIP on its SoundPoint IP phones and its industry-leading ReadiVoice(R) voice conferencing bridge.

--The most secure NAT/Firewall traversal solution for voice and video communications - Polycom has solved an important barrier to unified collaborative communications delivered between companies with the Polycom Voice Video Interface Unit (V2IU(TM)) product line. V2IU provides customers with a highly scalable way to support communications between organizations and across the public internet effectively and efficiently without sacrificing network security. Unlike tunneling techniques that hide traffic from network perimeter security solutions, V2IU is the only voice and video aware firewall and Network Address Translation (NAT) solution that works within the existing security perimeter. The only H.323 standards-based solution, V2IU works alone or with existing firewall/NAT traversal solutions increasing their performance for rich media applications within a secure network.

--Numerous industry awards - In addition to the Video Conferencing Insight award, Polycom has also recently received recognition from Fast Company magazine as one of the top five most innovative telecommunications and networking companies. Polycom CEO Robert Hagerty was named CEO of the Year for the conferencing and collaboration industry by Frost & Sullivan. Gartner, a leading industry research firm, recently positioned Polycom in the Visionary quadrant of the Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2005, which was published in February. Polycom also received numerous "Product of the Year" awards from publications including Network Computing Magazine, Presentations Magazine, Internet Telephony Magazine.

"The year 2004 saw Polycom take gigantic steps to implement its vision of enabling everyone to use Unified Collaborative Communications (UCC)," added Line. "Now this is possible on a SIP platform. The steps that Polycom took to make Unified Conferencing a reality both within the enterprise and outside among telecom carriers make Polycom our Unified Conferencing Company of the Year again in 2004."

"2004 was significant, as we saw unified collaborative communications gain momentum, and we delivered breakthrough product and technology innovations across our product lines," said Huey. "2005 will be even more significant as we continue to deliver on our strategic alliances and introduce a range of new solutions for our vertical market customers, and offer new programs to our channel partners. Real-time communication technology is at the tipping point and Polycom well-positioned to lead its widespread adoption."

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 [phone], or visit the Polycom website at www.polycom.com.

Polycom, the Polycom logo, SoundStation and ReadiVoice are registered trademarks and SoundStation2, SoundStation2W, VSX, MGC, Polycom PVX and SoundStation VTX are trademarks of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. (C)2005, Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved.