Polycom, a global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), has detailed its strategy to enable service providers (SPs) to offer cloud-delivered, Video-as-a-Service (VaaS) solutions to its customers.

Polycom is unveiling Polycom RealPresence Cloud, a wholesale, carrier-ready offering to enable SPs to quickly bring to market VaaS offerings. RealPresence Cloud solutions are designed specifically for SPs to equip them with the carrier-grade infrastructure, endpoints and services they need to offer businesses of all sizes subscription-based solutions for video collaboration.

The new offering for SPs is designed to accelerate the penetration and adoption of Polycom video collaboration solutions among small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises who want either a hybrid solution of both premises-based video collaboration solutions and video on demand, or a pure VaaS solution.

Polycom RealPresence Cloud solutions compress the time-to-market and time-to-revenue for SPs to deliver VaaS solutions.

Powered by the Polycom RealPresence Platform, the most complete and interoperable solution for universal video collaboration. RealPresence Cloud provides the carrier-grade scalability, reliability, availability and security required for service providers to offer VaaS to SMBs and enterprises.

RealPresence Cloud solutions encompass a managed multipoint video service that supports a multitude of connectivity options between standards-based room, mobile, PC, and Web-based endpoints, as well as Microsoft Lync 2010, IBM Sametime, and endpoints supporting the non-standard TIP protocol.

SPs can leverage Polycom RealPresence Cloud solutions to offer their customers a true business-to-business VaaS solution without having to integrate and support the core infrastructure on-premises.

This solution leverages the Polycom RealPresence Network (formerly the Halo/HVEN network acquired from HP in 2011) to allow SPs to fast-track their capability to deliver video from the cloud.

“Polycom RealPresence Cloud is a key component to our vision of making video collaboration ubiquitous.  Service providers are critical partners to drive video collaboration growth through VaaS offerings, which will dramatically lower the up-front investment for SMBs and enterprises, enabling them to reap the benefits of video collaboration,” said Andy Miller, president and CEO, Polycom.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for service providers to augment their existing offerings with video collaboration solutions. To that end, we’re removing the barriers to entry with our wholesale cloud offerings and other delivery options that meet service provider requirements related to investment, management, and operations, thereby enabling our partners to get to market faster and generate new revenue more quickly.”

“Our go-to-market objective is clear: we will be an enabler of cloud services, partnering with service providers and, in-time, solutions providers, and unlike competitors, we will not compete with service providers or offer a retail service direct to end users,” he added.

“As the demand for video collaboration continues to grow, cloud-delivered video offerings will be a key contributor to this growth. Many SMBs and enterprises will find Video-as-a-Service offerings attractive due to their flexibility, scalability and cost savings,” said Rich Costello, IDC senior research analyst.

“Polycom’s cloud strategy is compelling, as it provides an accelerated path to market for cloud-delivered video, and gives services providers the robust infrastructure, scalability, and interoperability needed to deploy wide-scale video clouds and deliver compelling VaaS solutions to customers.” – TradeArabia News Service