Industry Watch

Predictions 2013 Part 3: SDN, slowly

Howard Solomon — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:59:00 GMT

Every December most reporters across Canada engage in a vicious and gut-wrenching ritual: Looking backwards at the last 12 months so they can predict events of the next 12.

My track record on this has been particularly undistinguished so I dare you to read on:

3: Software-defined networks emerge, slowly

Software-defined networks were big news in 2012, with almost every network-equipment maker and a number of software startups announcing strategies and a few working pieces of equipment.

Cisco Systems Inc., Juniper Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Brocade Communications and many others made SDN announcements this year and more will come in 2013 – more SDN-comparable hardware more SDN software applications.

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Above all, this year will likely see at least one Canadian university or research network put into production an SDN.

But that doesn’t mean the technology is mature. The fact is that while the potential advantages of SDNs are real, enterprises still haven’t seen them in action and will largely stay on the sidelines in 2013. It will be up to service and content providers – who will be the biggest beneficiaries of software-defined networking – to do the early production work this year.

Vendors still have to release the management tools and application delivery controllers SDN needs, adds Zeus Kerravala, principal at ZK Research.

Think back to the days of server virtualization, he said. It was a niche technology for several years before organizations had more virtual than physical machines.

For that reason, he believes 2013 will see vendors flesh out their SDN platforms

A refresher: SDN separates a networks control plane from the data plane, allowing centralized control of the network so virtual machines can easily move from server to server. SDNs could also control carrier network traffic through their control over network switches.

But, Kerravala says, while SDNs promise to bring agility to the enterprise, they are also complex to manage. He’s one of the analysts who believes the lack of management tools are inhibiting SDNs in organizations.

Case studies are everything, he says, and enterprises still haven’t seen enough of them yet to bring SDNs out of demonstration mode.

Predictions 2013 Part 2: RIM

Howard Solomon — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:47:00 GMT

Every December most reporters across Canada engage in a vicious and gut-wrenching ritual: Looking backwards at the last 12 months so they can predict events of the next 12.

My track record on this has been particularly undistinguished so I dare you to read on:

2. RIM’s future will still be cloudy

As I write this, Canadian business pages are dominated by headlines about handset makers: “Apple stock sinking,” and “RIM stock rallying.”

At first blush, they are connected – both are about smart phone manufacturers.

But the truth is these are companies in different universes, as they were in 2012 and will continue to be in 2013. The question is, does RIM have control over its future? I don’t think so.

Apple undoubtedly does. Its biggest problem is that sales aren’t as good as brokers think they ought to be.

Horrors!! One analyst has cut his 2013 price target to $700 from $780 (as of Dec. 14 it was $509).

Horrors!! One analyst thinks in the first quarter iPhone sales will only be 48 million and not 52 million. That’s 48 million handsets over three months. (In its most recent quarter RIM sold 7.4 million BlackBerrys.)

So let’s not lose any sleep over Apple CEO Tim Cook’s troubles. If he wants to pump up sales, all he has to do is cut reasonable terms with carriers. Negotiations have been dragging on for four years with China’s biggest carrier? There’s a solution for that.

RIM, on the other hand, faces a different set of problems for brokers: How well will the make-or-break BlackBerry 10 sell? A few months ago, when BB10 devices were a dream, financial analysts were pessimistic. Now, after talking to customers and developers, some are having second thoughts. That’s propelling some risk-takers to bid up the stock.

However, the real question is what’s the end game? If RIM stock goes up a few bucks and someone still buys the company to strip it of its assets, who wins? Because RIM is still at the point where shareholders, not sales, control its future. Where’s the point at which RIM stock goes up enough that predators give up?

Presumably they gave up a while ago – the idea of taking apart the company lost its appeal or it would have happened already. But it still could be taken over.

As several commentators have written, CEO Thorsten Heins has stabilized RIM in the last few months, issuing a firm release date for BB10 (depending on carriers) and not promising more than he can deliver.

This Thursday (Dec. 20) more bad news will be unveiled when its third quarter results will be released, and the Q4 results out March 28, 2013 for the period ending March 1. These last won’t include much in the way of BB10 sales. So the real signals of the new platform’s success won’t be seen until the summer, and sustained evidence until the end of the year.

Could BB10 boost quarterly sales to, say, 10 million a quarter? Unlikely -- that means sales up one-third. No analyst foresees that.

Pretend things go well and RIM stock goes from the present $14 a share to, say $25. Does success mean it’s more likely to continue as an independent company, or more likely to be bought by a competitor? Everyone thinks of Samsung wanting to buy RIM to solidify enterprise sales to organizations that don’t trust an Android-based Galaxy S III. But would Samsung have an interest in expanding or limiting RIM’s availability to their other target market – consumers who want advanced handsets?

Perhaps China’s ZTE Corp., looking to move beyond low-end Android handsets and to burnish an image tarred by the U.S. Congress for being too close to the Chinese government? But Android is the leading global mobile handset platform. How many resources would ZTE want to put into RIM?

An alternative, of course, is that competitors would merely licence BB10. But would that cause a dramatic increase in platform share and stock price? I think not.

By the end of 2013 RIM’s future will still be unclear.

An optimist would say that means Thorsten Heins will have won.

Predictions 2013 Part 1: Make-or-break for wireless

Howard Solomon — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:32:00 GMT

Every December most reporters across Canada engage in a vicious and gut-wrenching ritual: Looking backwards at the last 12 months so they can predict events of the next 12.

My track record on this has been particularly undistinguished so I dare you to read on:

1. 2013 will be a make-or-break year for the Harper government’s wireless strategy

Five years ago the telecom industry was quivering with excitement over the government’s rules for the 2008 spectrum auction, which made sure there would be new companies to give Bell Mobility, Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications competition.

But with another spectrum auction scheduled for next year, the quivering might be for the future of competition.

First to launch – after a tortured gestation – was Wind Mobile in December, 2009, followed by Public Mobile, Mobilicity and Videotron in 2010. But according to the latest estimates, the big three still have over 90 per cent of wireless subscribers.

One analyst thought that by the end of 2015 new entrants would have 24 per cent of the market. That prediction has been scaled back.

Videotron, thanks to having a Quebec-wide cable business for support, is in good shape. But the other three startups are growing slower than they’d hoped. For example, Wind Mobile, with about 510,000 subscribers, isn’t near the 1.5 million it was hoping for after three years of operations. Mobilicity and Public Mobile haven’t released recent subscriber numbers.

Meanwhile, of the two other cablecos who bought spectrum, Bragg Group’s Eastlink is only just about to open its cellular store doors, while Shaw Communications is taking a pass.

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In the spring of 2013 there will be another spectrum auction. It will tax the financial resources of Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile unless there’s a merger or Ottawa’s new 10 per cent foreign investment rule pulls in tens of millions of dollars from new shareholders.

Were industry observers overly optimistic about how eagerly Canadians wanted new carriers? Did they wrongly calculate in 2009 that with about 30 per cent of the population who still didn’t have a cellphone there was lots of cash on the table – forgetting that in large cities that number would be smaller? Did they forget that Bell, Rogers and Telus were giants who had lots of resources to fight with?

Yes, yes and yes.

Time is running out.

The upcoming spectrum auction will be over prized 700 MHz bands which are particularly favourable for the latest LTE wireless technology. It won’t be cheap. Players will need to be well funded, despite (or perhaps because of) the rules Industry Canada has set down.

Some new entrants are hoping that tweaks to the roaming and tower sharing rules, forcing the big three to be more generous, will be enough to encourage foreign investors

But I believe that before the auction a major shakeup among the smaller carriers has to occur, either through consolidation or a foreign investor.

NEXT: Research In Motion’s future still cloudy

Thoughts from Chairman Chambers

Howard Solomon — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:32:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO – Cisco Systems Inc. chairman and CEO John Chambers and Canadian-born VP of global sales Rob Lloyd spent 90 minutes with the international press Tuesday at the Cisco Live conference, fielding questions ranging from their thoughts about China’s Huawei Technologies (a few unkind words from Lloyd) to whether the company has a succession plan for the long-serving Chambers (yes).

I won’t throw the entire transcript at you, but here’s a few nuggets:

What did you learn from killing the Cius tablet? “We probably should have made decision to leave the Cius market 9 months ago,” Chambers said, when the company saw it wasn’t hitting sales targets.

But, he added, good companies have to take good business risks. “The day we don’t take business risk is the day when a company’s already in trouble.”

And killing the consumer-targeted Flip video camera? “Instead of selling a device we should have put FlipShare in the cloud and on every smart phone. We missed that window, once you did you move on.”

But Cisco did learn that consumer products aren’t its focus.

Did you miss an opportunity when Microsoft bought Skype? Nope, replied Chambers, we had several opportunities to buy it ourselves. But, he added, we couldn’t have justified a $1 billion price tag to our shareholders, let alone the $8 billion Microsoft shelled out.

“Interesting move, very expensive.”

“One of the toughest things we have to learn ourselves is you can fall in love with an acquisition target, but you’ve got to be willing to walk” when the price isn’t right.

On the other hand, a company can’t be gun shy.

“Any company that isn’t afraid to make mistakes and jump back into the ring and get the fight going again isn’t going to lead.”

More coming Wednesday from here, including Cisco's strategy for software-defined networking.

Quebec student learns the hard way at Cisco Live

Howard Solomon — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:14:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO – Not everyonehere at the Cisco Live conference came to learn networking at a seminar. Some, like Quebec’s Guillaume St-Georges, came to learn by putting the wireless network together that serves the thousands of attendees.

The 23-year-old was one of 10 North American networking students – and the only Canadian - chosen by Cisco from 85 nominees to work with its engineers setting up 300 access points around the convention centre and in the lobbies of nearby hotels for the convention.

I interviewed him Monday, the day before his departure back home to Gatineau. His knees were aching from kneeling on floors laying out cabling and his feet hurt from the long days, but he has no regrets.

The opportunity to chat with top Cisco engineers was well worth it, he said. “It was a really good learning experience. We’ve had some top Cisco engineers taping wires with us. Everyone’s doing the same job because it has to be done … We weren’t slaves. Everyone was doing hard work.”

An IT student in the third year of networking at the Cegep de l’Outaouais, he was nominated by one of his instructors for what Cisco calls its ‘Dream Team.’ The idea is to give a group of students an idea of what it’s like to erect a state-of-the-art network operations centre for large event.

To win a spot nominees had to write several short essays explaining why they wanted to be on the team, as well as a short video to demonstrate their ability to communicate.

Stephanie Kelly, one of the Cisco staff who chose the team members, said nominees not only had to show technical aptitude and desire, they also had to show they have the ability to work with well with others.

In March St-Georges said he was “overwhelmed” to learn he was one of the winners.

The work here wasn’t a simple as plugging in a bunch of access points. “For the first two days we were missing some documentation, so we did it once and it wasn’t working, so we had to re-cable it…But it was fun.”

Monday night he was scheduled to meet Ottawa-area Cisco partners and customers for dinner, one of the perks set up by the company. With any luck, he’ll make a contact that will lead to a job.

One other thing: One of the perks for the students is they can write a Cisco certification exam for free, a $300 saving. St-Georges wrote his Cisco Certified Networking Associate test Monday. He passed.

(ITWorld Canada photo)

A plea to improve digital literacy

Howard Solomon — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 14:47:00 GMT

It’s the first week of June, and that means that once again communications executives from across the country have gathered in Toronto for the annual Canadian Telecom Summit (#cts12).

Organized by telecommunications consultant Mark Goldberg and NBI/Michael Sone Associates, a telecom market research firm, the event lets senior officials from carrier, service providers, regulators and enterprises rub elbows.

This year, as he did last year, Goldberg opened the conference with a plea for the industry and governments to help poor public and high school students get access to PCs and affordable broadband. “Quite simply, kids cannot learn effectively without access to a connected computer,” he said.

“We need to see leadership that addresses this critical gap in digital adoption based on actual financial need,” Goldberg said.

In the U.S., he noted, cable companies – which he admits might have bee pushed by regulators – have come up with a plan to help poor families get PCs and affordable Internet connectivity without involving governments.

Instead, he complained, Canadian federal and provincial governments are focusing on bringing broadband to rural areas.

It’s too easy to look at the supply of broadband across the country, he said. Governments should be addressing the demand for digital literacy

“And if governments won’t lead,” he added, “then its up to those of us in this room to develop and deliver such programs.”

Highlights of the three-day conference will include a speech Tuesday by Industry Minister Christian Paradis, Goldberg’s interview with acting CRTC chairman Leonard Katz and the annual regulatory panel, where carriers often fire broadsides at the CRTC and at each other.

RIM appoints new CMO, COO

Howard Solomon — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:34:00 GMT

Research In Motion has finally found a new chief marketing officer.

Frank Boulben, who has held senior marketing and sales roles at a number of wireless carriers including Vodafone and Orange, was named RIM’s CMO on Tuesday.

The Waterloo, Ont. company also said Kristian Tear, former executive vice-president of Sony Mobile, has become chief operating officer.

Boulben has been executive VP of strategy, marketing and sales at LightSquared, which hoped to build a 4G wireless broadband network in the U.S. that would sell wholesale access to other operators. However the FCC ruled the $4 billion in spectrum it bought interfers with the GPS network, essentially killing the company.

“RIM is a pioneer in the mobile world and the BlackBerry brand is a global icon," Boulben said in a statement. "We all know how fast the mobile arena evolves and with the BlackBerry 10 platform, I believe RIM will once again change the way individuals and enterprises engage with each other and the world around them. I could not resist the opportunity to be part of that transformation."

He joins RIM at a time when the company is facing a juggernaut in Apple Inc.’s iPhone, falling global market share and tepid response in many markets to its new BlackBerry 7 operating system. Most importantly, there is a mountain of expectations that the company’s future relies on an exciting launch of its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system and handsets.

“They desperately need a single message going to market for their re-launch,” said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe.

What he found significant is Boulben’s carrier background. “This is not a devices person, this is a services person. And maybe that’s a message: Yup, device is important, but really its going to be about services, and more importantly all about our [carrier] customers’ services. And I think that’s probably a good decision.”

Boulben might not be the right person to create an exciting message, Howe conceded – if that’s what RIM needs when BB 10 launches later this year. After all, Apple is renowned for creating memorable advertising. On the other hand, Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy II smartphones are doing well, and who remembers a Samsung ad?

“They don’t need an exciting message,” Howe said of RIM, “they need a single message … one that’s easy to remember and the immediate reaction of people is ‘You’re with us or against us.’”

In announcing their appointment RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said that "Kristian and Frank bring extensive knowledge of the rapidly changing wireless global market and will help RIM as we sharpen our focus on delivering long-term value to our stakeholders. Most importantly, both Kristian and Frank possess a keen understanding of the emerging trends in mobile communications and computing."

Tear previously held a variety of operational leadership positions with LM Ericsson in Europe, Asia and Latin America. At RIM, he will oversee all operational functions for handhelds and services, including research and development, products, global sales, manufacturing and supply chain.

RIM’s stock [TSX: RIM] briefly blipped up when the Toronto Stock Exchange opened, then settled back.

(Howard Solomon is assistant editor of ComputerWorld Canada)

Canadian firms shy about mobile marketing: Survey

Howard Solomon — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:49:00 GMT

We're a technology-savvy country, but a research firm suggests that Canadian organizations aren't taking advantage of the opportunities offered by all those smart phones in people's pockets.

IDC Canada said Monday that of 200 businesses and IT executives surveyed last October, only 53 per cent said their organization has no plans to invest in mobile marketing.

About 20 per cent said they are involved in some way -- offering mobile apps, coupons, QR codes and such -- and another 26 per cent said they were planning to do something mobile-related in the next 12 months.

IDC Canada is selling the entire results of the survey to subscribers for $4,500.

The survey was only done in Canada, so it can’t be compared to other countries. But Krista Napier, a senior mobile analyst for the research company, says it suggests organizations here are “scratching the surface” on the potential for developing mobile apps, mobile coupons and QR codes.

By 2015, she says, sales of smart phones and media tablets will outpace laptops and desktops.

Yet some respondents said their organization sees no value in mobile marketing. While she admits it may not be for every company, “I would argue they don’t understand the value it can deliver, not that it can’t add value. I think there’s still some education required.”

“There are (Canadian) companies that are doing some leading edge things, but I think in general a lot of companies need some help.”

RuggedCom shareholders flock to Siemens

Howard Solomon — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:22:00 GMT

Shareholders of Canadian industrial network equipment maker RuggedCom Inc. have overwhelmingly accepted an offer from Siemens Canada to buy their shares, as recommended by the company's board.

In a statement Friday morning Concord, Ont.-based RuggedCom, which makes Ethernet switches for electrical stations and factories, said as of last night 97.6 per cent of the outstanding shares had been tendered to Siemens.

In January RuggedCom got Siemens to outbid Belden Inc. for the company with an total offer of about $440 million.

Publicly-traded RuggedCom will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange once the details of the acquisition are complete.

Siemens Canada, which specializes in electronics and electrical engineering,has some 4,400 employees in Canada. It's a division of German-based Siemens AG, which makes industrial, engineering and healthcare solutions ranging from wind turbines to passenger trains.

RIM buys antenna specialist

Howard Solomon — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:29:00 GMT

Research In Motion is trying to appear as if its keeping a cool head, despite a falling stock and financial analysts sceptical about its strategy.

On Thursday an executive quietly announced on a blog that it has bought New Hampshire based Paratek Microwave, which makes integrated circuits that optimize multiband antennas.

RIM didn’t release an official news release on the deal. The only comment came on Paratek’s Web site.

“We are pleased to announce that RIM has acquired Paratek Microwave Inc.,” CEO Ralph Pini said in the release.

“As a part of RIM, a technology leader and pioneer in the smart phone category, Paratek will continue to innovate and to bring leading edge adaptive tuning solutions to the industry. We are very excited about this transaction and the opportunity to serve RIM and realize our vision.

“As always, we will continue to pursue the development of state-of-the-art adaptive tuning technologies. We look forward to working with our new colleagues and integrating our solutions into RIM’s BlackBerry product offerings.”

According to the company’s Web site, Paratek produces highly miniaturized 'tuning' circuits that can be inserted into mobile phones to improve performance.

The price of the deal wasn’t announced.

Safety inspection solution now on iPad

Howard Solomon — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:39:00 GMT

Toronto's Field ID says its cloud-based safety compliance and inspection management system for checking everything from people to buildingscan now be run on Apple Inc.'s iPad.

The Web-based Field ID for the iPad app is a free download from the Apple App Store. Customers have to subscribe to one of the three pricing plans, which range from $100 a personto $325 a month depending on the number of features and users.

It also runs on PCs and Windows Mobile devices. Typically these are ruggedized for use outdoors.An Android version is expected shortly.

The solution is aimed at replacingpaper forms or spreadsheets that are used to conduct inspections and audits of corporate assets, which can be almost anything. Field ID compiles an audit trail for regulatory compliance.

The solution comes with a database of products users can chose from, or new assets can be entered.

To use, an asset that has an RFID or barcode can be scanned or its serial number entered by handto bring up its page. Inspections are done by clicking (or in the case of the iPad using the touch screen)pass/fail iconsfor various criteria. There is space for entering comments on-site. The solution also offers custom reports.

Broadband ranking war continues

Howard Solomon — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:35:00 GMT

Okay readers, it’s time to put some armour on to protect yourself from the slings and arrows being lobbed by two of the country’s biggest telecommunications consultants.

In one corner is Montreal-based LeMay-Yates Associates, which at the beginning of the month issued a report saying Canada shouldn’t hang its head when it comes to international residential broadband rankings.Today Montreal-based SeaBoard Group issued its own report, which says that compared to the U.S. broadband providers, we’re not bad in terms of speed and price. Compared to the rest of the world, however, we’re lagging.

Typically for SeaBoard,the report is a little tongue in cheek, imagining the choice Martians would face looking for a provider. The aliens would find good plans from cableco Shaw Communications and teleco Telus Communications Corp. in the west, and from cableco Videotron in Quebec. But, it adds, “Ontario is a black hole.” Plans in that province, dominated by BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, “tend to be expensive, the speeds relatively slow, and monthly throughputs restrictive.”

The report compared plans advertised last October and November in 30 countries, including 41 plans in Canada and 21 in the U.S. SeaBoard created two types of consumers when doing its comparison, an average user more concerned about price than speed, and a “warrior” who wants speed above all. Prices were averaged to eliminate the effects of incentives and discounts.

The result: If you want speed, Shaw and Montreal-based Videotron offer packages with download speeds of between 60 and 100 Mbps for between $75 and $80 a month (and Videotron customers face a small capacity cap).

On the other hand, in Stockholm one provider offers a 200 Mbps service for $28.30 a month with unlimited data.

The fastest Canadian service is Shaw’s fledgling 1 Gbps in parts of Vancouver, which costs $81.81, with a download limit of 750 Gb a month. Which is better than Verizon’s 150 Mbps service in Pittsburgh for $200 a month. Yikes!

So is the cup half full or half empty? SeaBoard argues this country’s major service providers are sitting on decade-old laurels.

“Our connections are expensive, and we are no longer at the forefront of the very fields that used to define us as a country: telecommunications, energy, automobiles and transport,” says the report. “As the world turns to information technologies and communications, Canadians – formerly leaders – are now laggards. The vanguard of the Internet Age has shifted from Canada (indeed, from North America) to Asia and to Europe. There, the tools – the network access, the affordable high bandwidth pipelines – are deployed, are available and are being used.”

What can be done about it in terms of public policy? That, SeaBoard says, will be revealled in another report.

New front for PRTG Network Monitor's mobile face

Howard Solomon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:11:00 GMT

Paessler AG has released version 9.2 of its PRTG Network Monitor with a few new features.
In addition to complete VMware 5 support is a rewrite of the Mobile Web GUI, which is now optimized for browsers on all common mobile operating systems. Also new are several improved sensors, including a Chromium-based full Web page sensor that improves Web site loading time measurements, and additional AJAX Web GUI features and improvements.

The company says in a news releaseit counts more than 400 improvement in v. 9.2, including a WMI time sensor to measure the time difference between the system clock of a target device and the PRTG system, which can trigger an immeditate alarm when detecting any inconsistencies. Correct time settings for all clients are important, for example, to ensure consistent storage of log files and other time-critical data, or for the correct functionality of scheduled tasks. Another improvement makes the measurement of Web page loading times more reliable and quick to set up: The rewritten "HTTP Full Web Page Sensor" can now use the Open Source "WebKit" engine and allows loading time monitoring without the need to have Internet Explorer installed.

The rewritten Mobile Web GUIsupports iOS 3.2+, Android 2.1+/Honeycomb, BlackBerry 6+, Windows Phone 7+, WebOS 1.4+, Meego, Kindle 3+, Firefox Mobile, and Opera Mobile 11+.

Polycom mobile UC app for Xyboard tablet

Howard Solomon — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:17:00 GMT

Polycom Inc. has expanded the availability of itsRealPresence Mobile videoconferencing software to Motorola Mobility's Droid Xyboard tablet. The free download, certified for a number of tablets, allows the devices to connect to to any any SIP or H.323-based conferencing system over Wi-Fi or a cellular network.

"We are clearly seeing the consumerization of IT and the desire for workers to video-enable their own mobile devices and familiar social applications in the workplace to be more productive," said Sue Hayden, Polycom executive vice-president for strategic alliances. "By offering Polycom software for mobile tablets like the Droid Xyboard, , millions of people can use video collaboration as their preferred method of communicating.”

The Xyboard isn't available in Canada yet, and a Motorola Canada spokesman couldn't say when it will be. The earlier Xoom tablet is its offering here. In the U.S., the Xyboard 8.2 is now available and comesloadedRealPresence Mobile. The Xyboard 10.1 will go on sale Jan. 18.

Polycom says RealPresence Mobile, available from the Android Market and the Apple AppStore, has been downloaded more than 25,000 times in the first two monthsafter it was released in October.

Polycom gets tighter with Lync

Howard Solomon — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:47:00 GMT

Polycom Inc. has announced a range of ways in which it is increasing the interoperability of its SIP-based endpoints with Microsoft Lync, the company's unified communications platform.

Polycom said Monday that it has created the CX7000 room video collaboration solution, which has full integration with Lync. A desktop-sized client, the CX7000 includes a keyboard and mouse which connects to a corporate Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or later. An optional HD video camera is available. Polycom says its the first video platform to be qualified by Microsoft as optimized for Lync.

Polycom also said that its KIRK Wireless DECT and SpectraLink Wi-Fi phones can now display call and directory information from Lync, while its SoundPoint IP desktop, SoundStation IP conference and VVX business media phones offer HD voice and functionality with Lync.

More details about the partnership are to be revealed in a Webcast on Tuesday.