[April 30, 2012]

Polycom® RealPresence® Video is Transforming How People Collaborate in Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, Government, and Other Industries

At several industry conferences this week, Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications, is showcasing the transformational power of secure HD video in healthcare, education, manufacturing and other industries like government, financial, retail, and entertainment. From medical specialists who now can consult with more patients in more locations, to teachers and scientists who are teaching students in multiple countries simultaneously, to judges and courts who are accelerating court cases while reducing court costs, Polycom (News - Alert)® RealPresence® video solutions are inspiring and enabling new business models, new services, new collaborative relationships, and significant competitive advantages, while creating a video culture where collaborating face-to-face with anyone is the preferred and increasingly default mode.

"In every industry, video conferencing is increasingly recognized as a mission-critical business solution," said Randel Maestre, vice president of Worldwide Field and Industry Solutions, Polycom. "Today, it's not just about video conferences in office environments; it's about delivering the ability to meet face-to-face in any environment. This transformation is due in large part to the integration of video collaboration into day-to-day operations such as mobile inspection on the factory floor, crisis response centers in government or video-enabled kiosk banking. Companies globally are now seeing the value of video collaboration beyond simple travel savings. Video collaboration is reducing time-to-market, increasing customer service, accelerating emergency responses in government, and streamlining decision making."

Transforming Healthcare

Increasingly more healthcare organizations use secure Polycom HD video to fuel innovation through new and emerging healthcare applications, business models, and patient/physician relationships. Eight of the top 10 hospitals and the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world use Polycom video solutions to bring people in the healthcare field together for improved face to face collaboration from anywhere. For example:

• In Erie, Pennsylvania, Polycom video solutions help support a collaborative healthcare model focused on prevention and wellness, and patient-centered community-based care, which is critical for decreasing the rate of unnecessary hospital readmissions. Saint Vincent Health System is helping people with chronic diseases such as diabetes by pairing patients who have a pattern of being readmitted to the hospital with a coach who can instruct and educate them over a 12 to 16 week program. Meeting participants can connect over live video or patients can watch recorded trainings securely over the Web, which are made available through Polycom® RealPresence® Media Manager software solutions (watch the related video).
• The United Kingdom's NHS (National Health Service) telestroke services saves over £8 million (over $12 million) a year in clinician travel and after-patient care by bringing stroke specialists to the patient via video to enable timely life-saving diagnosis by the specialists. Fifteen stroke consultants have laptops equipped with Polycom software, which they use to connect to any of six hospitals via a Polycom Practitioner Cart at the patient's bedside. Controlling a camera remotely, the specialist can see the detailed clinical examination performed by the clinician at the bedside (watch the related video).
• The Beijing Ditan Hospital, an international infectious disease prevention and treatment hospital, often treats patients who require quarantine to ensure full recovery. The hospital uses a large telemedicine network for consultations between doctors and patients, which helps to prevent the spread of disease, while also saving time and travel resources (see the related press release).

Transforming Education

Around the world, schools are using Polycom video collaboration for distance learning, including all of the world's top five colleges and universities. Polycom's vision of collaborative education includes bridging teachers, instructors, students, and content providers around the world to help people learn. Video technology provides rich, interactive, visual solutions that impact all facets of education from student administration to course development to curriculum delivery to content management. A few examples include:

• In Kentucky, as part of Polycom's growing network of educational institution and partnerships, Polycom announced its work with Western Kentucky University to enhance video collaboration solutions. For students in smaller towns or rural areas with careers and families, access to curriculum is more challenging due to their geographical distance from the main campus. By leveraging the video solutions, WKU provides a fully collaborative environment for students to enroll in the university's programs (see the related press release).
• At Australia's Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium, the world's largest living coral reef aquarium, scuba divers who join from underwater can connect with children around the world in live, interactive video meetings so that youth can learn more about the delicate marine ecosystem at the Great Barrier Reef.

Polycom helps manufacturers around the globe, including the world's top five auto manufacturers and top three aerospace companies, use video collaboration to reduce time-to-market for new products by bringing distant teams together for remote design; knowledge management and transfer; quality assurance inspections; and remote troubleshooting of products. A few examples include:

• In Brazil, Petrobras, one of the largest oil companies in the world, uses Polycom video solutions to ensure project success. Many of the company experts are often required to travel away from the drill sites. To help employees connect with their teams while they are away, the experts can join meetings by Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile on tablets and smartphones. Cameras hooked up to underground robotics can also send images of the drilling in progress, enabling the experts to assess situations in real-time. For offshore oil platform-based employees that may need special medical care, a preliminary session with a medical practitioner over video can help save on time and travel costs without compromising quality of care for the patient.
• On the assembly line of the factory floor, major automotive manufacturers use Polycom® HDX® series-based practitioner carts with camera-wand peripherals to conduct in-depth inspections of the car interior, even after the aluminum body encases the engine. Employees at the assembly line can also easily meet "face to face" with other colleagues who are in other locations by connecting through the video conferencing unit on the HDX to any other video-enabled standards-based video endpoints, such as tablets or smartphones running Polycom RealPresence Mobile.
• In Poland, Polycom also recently announced that LOTOS Group, a major producer and supplier of oil products across Poland and abroad, uses video collaboration to help speed decision making for its 5,000 dispersed employees (see the related press release).

Transforming Government

Polycom's collaborative conferencing technologies extend the reach of major government agencies, including 90 percent of the top 20 e-government agencies worldwide, to improve performance and mission success so that the organizations can thrive in the 21st century. Government ministries and agencies around the world depend on Polycom to provide secure solutions that increase readiness, performance, and services, and delivers content quickly for faster critical decision making, which ultimately can help save lives. A few examples include:

• In Russia, Polycom's collaborative justice approach enables courts and correctional institutions to streamline the justice system by using Polycom video systems in trials and prisoner sentencing, helping to reduce costs, time and security risks associated with transport. The courts of general jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation uses more than 800 video sessions daily to conduct examinations, which has saved RUB 1.5 billion (U.S. $50.5 million) of state funds annually on prison transfers of the accused to court and back (see the related press release). Implementing televisitation, telemedicine or tele-education also allows correctional facilities to offer more services to prisoners.
• The U.S. Defense Acquisition University (DAU) educates and certifies acquisition, technology, and logistics professionals in the Department of Defense (DoD), government agency, and defense-related private industry. DAU students manage acquisition and logistics for all military systems, from surveillance to weapons, and administer contracts worth up to several billion dollars. With 20 locations, DAU offers formal courses, continuous learning, and distance- and blended-learning courses. DAU uses Polycom RealPresence Immersive solutions to deliver well-designed content and realize exceptional learning performance. In addition to the time and resources saved, DAU connects students with nationally known content experts and speakers.
• China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) recently deployed Polycom RealPresence video solutions, including the Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform, to speed development of its large-scale projects and conferences, in particular for the management reform, evaluation and review of MOST's 175 strategic 2011/2012 research projects and initiatives. MOST's large-scale video network consists of 10 meeting rooms for experts and single system control rooms in Beijing, as well as 25 video meeting rooms distributed in 20 provinces across the country, providing a truly immersive and life-like experience for 175 multi-media conferences. Previously, department personnel were required to travel to MOST's headquarters in Beijing to participate in the review process, resulting in weeks, sometimes months of downtime, and significant travel costs. Now, with an advanced UC video solution at the heart of its operations, MOST has been able to successfully complete the review process of its science and technology, and R&D projects in four days, conducting 175 meetings over video, resulting in streamlined processes, improved efficiency and productivity, and significant travel savings to the amount of $320,000.

Demonstrations and Speakership at Industry Events

During the next few weeks, Polycom is showcasing how video reshapes the way experts collaborate in vertical markets by participating in several leading industry events including:

• ATA 2012 in San Jose, Calif. April 29-May 1 (presentations and demonstrations; see the media alert)
• United States Distance Learning Association 2012 in St. Louis, Mo, April 29-May 1 (presentations)
• Manufacturing Leadership Summit in Palm Beach, Fla, April 29-May 2 (demonstrations)
• Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Conference in Tampa, FL, May 7-10 (presentations and demonstrations)
• General Services Administration Conference in San Antonio, TX, May 15-17 (presentations and demonstrations)

For more information about how Polycom transforms collaboration in vertical industries, visit the Industry Solutions page and the related Customer page.

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.

© 2012 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo, and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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