Polycom Unveils Next-Generation IP Conference Phones

On Tuesday, the Pleasanton, Calif.-based voice vendor unveiled two new models of its SoundStation IP conference phones, adding in features like high definition voice and revamping their look to give the conference room a more sleek and stylish appearance.

Brian Phillips, Polycom's senior marketing manager, said the new SoundStation IP 6000 and IP 7000 conference phones mark the third wave of such phones for the vendor. With the introduction, Phillips said, Polycom is "shattering the IP barrier."

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Polycom's latest IP conference endpoints come at a time when IP deployments are moving ahead full force. A recent VoIP study by IDC found that more than 80 percent of telephony lines and ports are expected to deploy IP this year, which is a 27 percent growth over 2007.

The IP 6000 and 7000 are the first conference phones from Polycom to integrate both open SIP with high definition voice, which is capable of delivering CD quality 22 KHz audio. The latest endpoints feature Polycom's own HD Voice and patented Acoustic Clarity Technology for clarity and voice quality, which can lead to more productive conference calls. Most traditional conference phones offer audio quality of about 7 KHz.

Operating in HD, Phillips said, eliminates certain sounds or syllables dropping out during the course of a conversation. Those drops, he said, often go unnoticed because the "brain fills in the gaps of what our ears aren't hearing." HD voice technology, however, uses wideband codecs and enhanced audio processing to offer a crisp, loss-free sound.

The SoundStation IP 7000 features HD Voice with up to 22 KHz of CD-quality audio. It also features a new, large display with an XHTML micro-browser for IP applications, which can transform the phone into an application platform for the conference room, letting run both Polycom and third-party applications. Corporate directory access, such as LDAP and Active Directory, and three-way visual conferencing applications are included on the phone. The conferencing application lets users see, add and delete participants, along with allowing users to put participants on hold or mute them. The 7000, which lists for $1,299, also offers multi-unit connectivity, which means two units can be daisy-chained together to give the phone a further reach, greater microphone pickup, louder volume, and multiple call control points from within on conference room. The phone also offers 20 feet of microphone pickup range, meaning participants up to 20 feet away can be head on the call. Coverage can also be extended through optional expansion microphones, Phillips said.

The expansion microphones, Phillips said, extend the reach of the speaker and the receiver, eliminating the need for participants further down the conference table or in other parts of the room to lean or hover over the unit or have to slide it across the table and closer to them.

The SoundStation IP 6000 features HD Voice with up to 14 KHz audio from a clarity and intelligibility boost. The 600 has a microphone pickup range of about 12 feet, making it ideal for small and mid-sized conference rooms. Like the 7000, the IP 6000 can have greater range with the addition of optional expansion microphones, Phillips said.

The 6000, which lists for $899, also features a high quality backlit display for call information and multi-language support.

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