Science & Technology
Tue, September 4, 2012 
LONDON--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--[ Polycom ], Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC), today announced that Irelandas Department of Environment, Community and Local Government has selected Polycom RealPresence video solutions as an innovative way to enhance communication and collaboration between its staff and various agencies with which it does business. The solution will help reduce costs for a geographically dispersed Department with offices in Dublin, Ballina, Tubbercurry and Wexford. It will also provide important support in the run up to Irelandas Presidency of the EU which commences in January 2013.
"Polycom support for multivendor environments makes our Microsoft Lync decision work. We were able to tie our existing endpoint investments with Microsoft Lync with the help of Polycomas RealPresence Platform"
While the Department is in regular contact with the European Commission on a number of fronts, the international dimension of the Departmentas work will take on particular importance before and during Irelandas six-month Presidency of the European Council in the first half of 2013. The Department expects to see a significant increase in the demand for external video collaboration facilities during the course of the Presidency and also as they shadow the current Presidency for the six months prior to taking over.
A key requirement for the Department was the need for an easy-to-use, secure and stable video solution to visually connect staff with external stakeholders across dispersed locations. The Department also wanted an open standards-based solution, to support high-definition, face-to-face, multi-party meetings that combine video, voice, and content-sharing to improve team decision making, productivity and efficiency. The Department decided to procure a truly unified communications solution that could be managed centrally within their recently deployed Microsoft Lync environment. They needed a simple and intuitive solution for users to make HD video calls at the touch of a button from within a familiar Microsoft environment.
With nearly 900 staff supplied with webcams and HD video solutions, the Department also uses the RealPresence Room solutions (HDX 7000 and HDX 4500) for real-time communication between decentralized locations and workers. Over a six-month period the Department conducted over 1850 meetings with over 95 percent using video. Polycom video is powered by the PolycomRealPresence Platform a" the most comprehensive and interoperable software infrastructure for universal video collaboration a" which provides carrier-grade provisioning, management, scalability, reliability and security, and minimizes network bandwidth consumption (as much as 50 percent lower than competitive solutions), ensuring that EU-related conferences are prioritized and have sufficient bandwidth and reliability through the dynamic distribution of calls.
aPrior to deploying the combined Microsoft and Polycom solutions, we would have had various iterations of documents flying around the network. The increased collaboration has been hugely beneficial as meetings can now be done over a video call,a said Paul Mc Donald, Principal Officer for both ICT and Communications Units. aWe can share the document during the video meeting and work on it together so everybody provides input. In the space of an hour or two you actually have a working document that may have taken weeks to complete in the past.a
The initiative to decentralise out of Dublin presented the initial challenge of reducing the Departmentas carbon footprint in keeping with its directive to protect the environment, whilst still being able to collaborate in real time.
aPolycom support for multivendor environments makes our Microsoft Lync decision work. We were able to tie our existing endpoint investments with Microsoft Lync with the help of Polycomas RealPresence Platform,a added Paul Mc Donald. aThe ability to meet in a Virtual Meeting Room powered by Polycom makes our solution work.a
About The Department of Environment
The work of the Department of the Environment is carried out through six Divisions a" Environment; Water & ICT; Community and Rural Development; Local Government; Planning and Housing; and Finance and Central Services. In addition, Met ireann and the Local Government Audit Service are integral parts of the Department.
About Polycom
Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions for [ telepresence ], [ video ], and voice powered by the Polycom RealPresence Platform.The RealPresence Platform interoperates with the broadest range of business, mobile, and social applications and devices. More than 400,000 organizations trust Polycom solutions to collaborate and meet face-to-face from any location for more productive and effective engagement with colleagues, partners, customers, specialists, and prospects. Polycom, together with its broad partner ecosystem, provides customers with the best total cost of ownership, interoperability, scalability, and security for video collaboration, whether on-premises, hosted, or cloud-delivered. Visit [ www.polycom.com ] or connect with Polycom on [ Twitter ], [ Facebook ], and [ LinkedIn ].
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