Poly Inc.

Last updated
Poly Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunication
FoundedDecember 1, 1990;33 years ago (1990-12-01)
Headquarters Santa Cruz, California, U.S. [1]
Key people
Dave Shull (CEO)
ProductsCollaboration, video, voice, content, teleconference, telecommunications, telepresence and infrastructure software, hardware and services
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$1.73 billion (FY, 2021)
Increase2.svg US$409.57 million (2022 Q3)
Number of employees
3,451 (2018)
Parent HP Inc.
Website poly.com

Poly Inc., formerly Polycom, is an American multinational corporation that develops video, voice and content collaboration and communication technology. Poly is a subsidiary of HP Inc. [2] [3]

Contents

Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman and Jeffrey Rodman. [4] In 2018 Polycom was acquired by Plantronics [5] and in 2019 the name of the combined entity was changed to Poly. [6] In 2022, it was sold to HP.

History

Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman [7] and Jeffrey Rodman, [8] who were colleagues at PictureTel Corp. [4] The startup was based in San Francisco, California but soon moved to San Jose, California, with Hinman using $400,000 of his own money and $100,000 from friends as seed money. Oak Investment Partners and Accel Partners then contributed an additional $3 million in venture capital. [9] Polycom's stated goal was to support all the major ways people communicate, specifically including audio, content such as documents, and video. Its first products to market were audio conferencing speaker phones. The company later added content sharing, video conferencing, video network and bridging, and system monitoring and management products.

Brian Hinman served as CEO from the company's founding in 1990 until 1998, [10] when he was succeeded by Bob Hagerty. Hagerty was succeeded by Andy Miller in 2010. At Polycom, Miller was with several expense and accounting violations by the SEC in 2012, and settled with the SEC by agreeing to not serve as an officer for any company for five years. [11] Miller left Polycom after being paid $24 million USD in compensation. He was succeeded as CEO by Peter Leav, [12] who was then succeeded in 2016 by Mary McDowell following Polycom's acquisition by Siris Capital Group. [13]

The firm employed approximately 3,800 employees in 2014. [14]

In 2015, Polycom cut 15% of its workforce after posting large dips in sales. [15]

Polycom reported revenues of $1.3 billion for the year of 2015. Peter Leav at that point was both president and CEO, and Laura Durr was chief financial officer and executive vice president (EVP). [16]

Acquisitions of Poly

In 2016, telecommunications executive Mary McDowell was named as its chief executive officer. [17] On April 15, 2016, Polycom announced that rival Mitel Networks would purchase them for $1.96 billion. As Mitel, a smaller company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, paid a lower tax rate, the acquisition would have been an example of tax inversion, where a smaller company purchases a larger company in order to provide the combined larger corporate entity with the tax benefits of the smaller company's location. [18] [19] In July 2016, the Mitel deal was scrapped in favor of an all-cash offer from New York City–based private equity firm Siris Capital Group. [20] Siris acquired Polycom for $1.7 billion. [5]

In 2017, Polycom had revenues of $1.1 billion. [21] On March 28, 2018, Plantronics announced that it would acquire Polycom for approximately $2 billion. [5] [22] On December 27, 2018, Plantronics agreed to pay $36 million to settle a bribery investigation connected to Polycom. [23] The United States Justice Department declined to bring criminal charges for misconduct that allegedly occurred between 2006 and 2014, citing Polycom's voluntary disclosure. [24]

On March 28, 2022 HP Inc. announced their acquisition of Poly from Plantronics, completed in August 2022 [25] with a total transaction value of $3.3 billion, including debt. [26] [27]

Acquisitions by Poly

Acquisition dateCompanyAcquired company businessReference
January 1998ViaVideo Communications Inc.Appliance-based video communications systems [28]
December 1999Atlas Communications Engines, IncIntegrated access device and DSL routers [29]
February 2001Accord NetworksProvider of next-generation rich-media network products [30]
April 2001Circa CommunicationsIP telephony products [31]
October 2001PictureTelPC-based video communications systems [32]
December 2001ASPI DigitalInstalled voice systems manufacturer [33]
June 2002MeetUWeb collaboration software [34]
January 2003VCAS software from AGTVideo scheduling and management software
January 2004Voyant TechnologiesVoice conferencing and collaboration networking [35]
August 2005DST MediaChina-based video networking company [36]
January 2007Destiny ConferencingImmersive telepresence [37]
March 2007Spectralink and KIRK telecomWorkplace wireless telephony [38]
March 2011Accordent TechnologiesRich media streaming and management [39]
October 2011ViVu IncVideo collaboration software [40]
January 2018 Obihai Technology VoIP audio [41]

Note : 1 June 2011 – HP and Polycom, announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Polycom will acquire the assets of HP's Visual Collaboration (HPVC) business, including the Halo Products and Managed Services business of HPVC.

Products

The company also licensed a variety of technologies, including H.264 video codecs, Siren codecs, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), native 1080p high-definition cameras and displays, native 720p and 1080p high-definition encoding/decoding, low-latency architecture and low bandwidth utilization, wideband advanced audio coding with low delay (AAC-LD), multichannel spatial audio with echo cancellation and interference filters to eliminate feedback from mobile devices, and inter-operation with legacy video conferencing.

SoundStation

Its first product in 1992 was SoundStation, a triangular speakerphone with full-duplex audio allowing both parties to simultaneously speak and be heard. SoundStation and its successor, SoundStation Premier became the leading brand in the market in the 1990s. [9]

The SoundStation was superseded by the SoundStation 2 in 2004 when AT&T discontinued the AT&T DSP16A processor on which the original SoundStation was based. Building on technological advancements that occurred during the nearly 10-year period, the SoundStation 2 exhibited more features and improved sound transparency, although was still limited to 3 kHz audio bandwidth due to its conventional analog POTS connection.

It was supplemented by the SoundStation 2W wireless speakerphone, which was a DECT system (WDCT in North America), and by the SoundStation VTX1000 wired speakerphone, the first POTS speakerphone capable of 7 kHz audio or HD Voice operation over conventional telephone lines.

Audio products

Polycom SoundStation IP 4000 SIP conference phone Conferencecallphone.jpg
Polycom SoundStation IP 4000 SIP conference phone

When the first SoundStation conference phone shipped in 1992, the original device was followed by versions offering extended performance (SoundStation Premier, Premier Satellite, SoundStation EX). The SoundStation first shipped internationally (to the UK) in 1993, followed by other products and an expanding list of countries.

In December 2001, Polycom acquired ASPI networks, [42] a company specializing in installed voice systems including the ASPI Vortex. [43] With the 12-input and 12-output Vortex, Polycom's offerings could be extended to audio-visual integrators who needed to handle many more microphones and speakers than traditional teleconferencing systems provided. In 2007, Polycom introduced the Vortex successor, the Polycom SoundStructure series.

In the first quarter of 2001, Polycom introduced its first voice over IP conference phone, the SoundStation IP 4000. In 2008, the SoundStation IP 6000 and SoundStation IP 7000 models were introduced, both offering Polycom's HD Voice and Acoustic Clarity technology. In 2003, the firm introduced its first HD Voice product, the SoundStation VTX 1000 conference phone. In 2006, Polycom introduced its Communicator, the C100S, which was the industry's first HD Voice speakerphone for a PC.

In 1998, the firm entered the circuit-switched desktop phone business with a line of SoundPoint phones. In the third quarter of 2001, it entered the IP desktop phone business with the SoundPoint IP product line, starting with the SoundPoint IP500. Polycom VoIP phones use the open standard SIP to work with different call control platforms.

In 2007, Polycom acquired Spectralink Corp., [44] whose product lines consisted of Wi-Fi and proprietary wireless telephone systems, as well as the KIRK DECT product line.

In 2008, Polycom added applications enablement to its SoundStation and SoundPoint IP phones. The first product to market was the company's Productivity Suite, for which the company offered an open API for third-party developers.

In 2009, the firm introduced two video-enabled voice products. One was the VVX 1500 business media phone, which combines a personal video conferencing system with a voice over IP (VoIP) telephone having HD Voice and an open API and Web browser. It also launched the CX5000, a table-mounted video and audio conferencing console with a 360-degree camera, by licensing the distribution rights for Microsoft Roundtable.

Former Polycom headquarters in San Jose Polycom Headquarters San Jose.jpg
Former Polycom headquarters in San Jose

In 2011, Polycom announced the VVX 500, a VoIP business media phone with a gesture-based touchscreen interface. [45]

In 2012 the Wifi and DECT products were divested to a new company called Spectralink, spinning it off to Sun Capital Partners for about $110 million. [46]

Video products

Polycom VSX 7000 unit with dual displays. Polycom VSX 7000 with 2 video conferencing screens.JPG
Polycom VSX 7000 unit with dual displays.

Polycom entered the video conferencing market in 1998 with the set-top unit ViewStation which integrated a PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera with codec and communication electronics, and connected to a user-supplied video monitor on which it was designed to sit. ViewStation sold at the time for US$6000, and was relatively lightweight compared to competitors. [9]

Polycom began the development of its first product in the new category of "Document Conferencing Projector", called ShowStation [47] in 1994. In April 1996, Polycom went public on NASDAQ. [9] In 1997, the company began shipping ShowStation in addition to its growing line of audio products and had total revenues of $47 million. [9]

In January 1998, Polycom acquired ViaVideo for $54 million and its video conferencing product, which would be named ViewStation. [9] The compact device provided the functionality of a webcam and included additional onboard processing capabilities to offset the computation limitations of most desktop and laptop computers at the time. As computer processing power increased, Polycom transitioned this hardware-software desktop solution to software-only clients called Polycom PVX, and later the Polycom RealPresence Desktop, or RPD.

Other members of the ViewStation product line included models with embedded multipoint capabilities, content sharing capabilities, and support for the emerging H.323 IP network protocol.

In February 2001, Polycom entered the multipoint bridging market through its acquisition of Accord Networks, [48] which offered the MGC-100 line. In October 2001, it acquired PictureTel. [49]

Polycom Digital Tabletop Microphone with mute button Polycom microphone-speaker.JPG
Polycom Digital Tabletop Microphone with mute button

In 2006, Polycom introduced its first HD (High Definition) video conferencing system. Soon after, it announced the Polycom RealPresence Experience (RPX), a three-screen, three-camera room-within-a-room "immersive" teleconferencing system based on a design by Destiny Conferencing (formerly TeleSuites) which Polycom acquired in January 2007. [50]

In February 2007, the firm introduced a new multipoint bridge platform called RMX 2000, designed to support HD and telepresence applications. It also expanded its telepresence and HD video product lines in 2007 with the Polycom Telepresence Experience solutions and new executive desktop solutions, further expanding its line of room-based conference rooms.

In 2008, Polycom delivered the Polycom Converged Management Application (CMA) a video network and system management application for video networks. Later that year, the firm introduced the Distributed Media Application (DMA) 7000, a network-based application that manages and distributes multipoint video calls within a network. Toward the end of 2008, Polycom also announced its plans to increase performance of its systems from 30 to 60 frames per second at higher resolution – 1080p and 720p. In 2010, the firm introduced the Polycom Open Telepresence Experience (OTX 300), another three-screen immersive conference system with improved data-efficient codecs that used half the data bandwidth of other comparable systems at the time.

In 2011, Polycom posted $1.5 billion in revenue.

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References

  1. ↑ "Contact Us". www.poly.com.
  2. ↑ Sarah Cohen (March 26, 2014). "Polycom Repositioned". Forbes . Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ "HP Inc. Completes Acquisition of Poly".
  4. 1 2 "Polycom Company Profile". Broad Connect Telecom. Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Plantronics to buy video conferencing gear maker Polycom for $2 billion". CNBC. 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
  6. ↑ "Meet Poly: Plantronics + Polycom Relaunches to Focus on Driving the Power of Many" . Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  7. ↑ Hinman, Brian. "Co-Founder". LinkedIn.
  8. ↑ Rodman, Jeffrey. "Co-Founder". LinkedIn.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vicki Contavespi (March 11, 1998). "Picture this". Forbes . Retrieved December 30, 2018.
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  11. ↑ McCoy, Kevin. "SEC: Polycom ex-CEO hid perks from investors". USA TODAY.
  12. ↑ "Polycom CEO Peter Leav jumps to the same job at BMC". www.theregister.com.
  13. ↑ "Mary McDowell Named CEO of Polycom Effective as of the Closing of the Acquisition of Polycom by Affiliates of Siris". www.businesswire.com. September 7, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Company Overview — Polycom, Inc" . Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  15. ↑ Cromwell Schubarth (December 3, 2015). "Polycom to cut work force by 11%, slashing nearly 400 jobs". Silicon Valley Business Journal . Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  16. ↑ Laura Graves (January 26, 2018). "Polycom Announces Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2015" (PDF). Polycom. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  17. ↑ Polycom Inc (September 7, 2016). "BRIEF-Mary McDowell named CEO of Polycom effective completing acquisition by Siris". Reuters. Retrieved August 9, 2016. ...Mary McDowell named CEO of Polycom effective as of the closing of the acquisition of Polycom by affiliates of Siris....
  18. ↑ Merle, Renae. "This California company could test Treasury Department's new anti-inversion rules". The Washington Post.
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  22. ↑ "Plantronics to buy San Jose's Polycom in $2 billion deal to create business communications giant". Silicon Valley Business Journal . March 28, 2018.
  23. ↑ Luke Stangel (December 27, 2018). "Plantronics-owned Polycom agrees to pay $36M in Chinese bribery settlement". Silicon Valley Business Journal . Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  24. ↑ Samuel Rubenfeld (December 26, 2018). "Plantronics Unit Agrees to Pay $36 Million in FCPA Settlement". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  25. ↑ Feuer, Will (28 March 2022). "HP Makes Bet on Hybrid Work With $1.7 Billion Deal". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
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  29. ↑ Polycom to Acquire Atlas Communication Engines Cambridge Telcom Report, Nov 22, 1999
  30. ↑ Polycom Purchases Accord Network LTD. December 18th, 2000
  31. ↑ Polycom Purchases Circa Communication Ltd. April 2001
  32. ↑ "Polycom To Acquire PictureTel Corporation. May 2001". Archived from the original on December 4, 2010.
  33. ↑ "Atlanta Signal Processors was acquired by Polycom on December 4, 2001".
  34. ↑ "Polycom to Purchase MeetU. June 2002".
  35. ↑ Polycom to Acquire Voyant Technologies. November 2003
  36. ↑ "CSO". CSO Online. 24 August 2023.
  37. ↑ "Polycom Acquires Destiny Conferencing". January 16, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-01-16.
  38. ↑ "Polycom Acquires SpectraLink". technews.tmcnet.com.
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  40. ↑ "Video Collaboration Software Maker ViVu Acquired by Polycom". 2011.
  41. ↑ "Polycom Announces Agreement for Strategic Acquisition of Obihai Technology". PolyCom. January 4, 2018.
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  45. ↑ "Polycom Unveils New Multimedia Desktop Phone". TMCnet. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  46. ↑ Chad Berndtson (May 14, 2012). "Polycom Exits Wireless Phone Business". CRN. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  47. ↑ "About Polycom - The Voice, Video and Collaboration Company". UC Today. June 8, 2017.
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