On May 28th, Poly released a series of new room solutions specifically for Microsoft Teams Rooms – Poly G10-T, G40-T, and G80-T. This partnership delivers solutions that create a user-simplistic and collaborative environment for Teams. With more than 75 million daily active users on Teams, the need for a consistent, collaborative, and authentic human work experience is continuing to grow rapidly.
I believe the launch delivers new innovative work from home solutions that could be an SMB’s work from home dream. As employees start to return to work in phases, I believe these solutions need to be placed on the shortlist as they are perfect for the remote workers who are not able to return to the office or are permanently remote. Because some employees work remotely and others come into the office, there is a big gap for connectivity; personally, and technologically. The other thing to consider is security and Poly takes that exponentially higher in value than consumer solutions.
Products
In this launch, Poly released two other product lines other than their room solutions: Poly Studio and EagleEye. These E2E solutions overall allow business owners to improve communication, collaboration, and productivity in their workplace and enable IT managers to solve problems remotely and gather insights to help anticipate maintenance needs. These products could enable a seamless virtual collaboration experience with limited hassle. With the highest quality in audio and video, it allows everyone to feel like part of the conversation regardless if they are in the room or are working from home. Poly RealConnect makes it easy to seamlessly connect your H.323/SIP videoconferencing systems to Microsoft Teams meetings and enable video interoperability.
Room Solutions
Poly’s room solutions, Poly G10-T, G40-T, and G80-T, bring forth clutter-free cabling, simple installation, and seamless connectivity. All of these solutions keep the clutter out by keeping the PC hidden, leaving only the touch screen visible and single cabling to the touch controller. The G40-T is built for small/medium rooms and includes Poly NoiseBlock, Acoustic Fence, and Poly MeetingAI designed to block out distractions and keep employees engaged. The G80-T is designed for medium/large rooms and has NoiseBlock AI, a feature that automatically mutes your microphone when you are not speaking and unmutes when you talk. This takes away the awkwardness of accidentally talking on mute, leaving a long silence from your end of the call.
Poly Studio
The Poly Studio line of products are premium USB video bars that allow you to have the best audio experience and voice clarity. It contains patented NoiseBlock technology that eliminates distracting sounds that can make employees less productive. It comes in three different options: X30, X50, and Poly Studio. These options cover all room sizes from huddle rooms that need to connect to multiple VaaS platforms over USB to huddle rooms that need an all in one video solution.
EagleEye
The EagleEye series contains three different standalone USB camera options as well: EagleEye IV USB, EagleEye Cube, and EagleEye Director II. Like the PolyStudio products, this line ranges from the small huddle and conference rooms to mid-size or larger rooms. These products allow you to see everyone on the call as if they are in the room with you. The EagleEye Director II is the most premium of these products, and some of the product features include automatic zoom, data analytics, and high def video that captures up to 1080p60 and has 12x optical zoom.
Headsets
Poly’s Microsoft Teams-certified “headsets meet Microsoft’s audio requirements and include a dedicated Teams button to instantly invoke Microsoft Teams to the foreground for streamlined communications”. These are designed to be flexible with whatever environment you are in and come in three families of headsets: Poly Voyager, Poly Savi, and Poly Blackwire. With Plantronics Manager Pro, IT staff can easily gain insights, troubleshoot, and respond to dire needs all through a web browser.
Wrapping up
While the percentage of remote employees continues to climb, this partnership seems timely and one that SMB’s will benefit from quickly. Whether it is video, phones, headsets, rooms, or service, these E2E solutions offer SMB’s a full suite tool for better Teams collaboration. Both productivity and collaboration continue to challenge business owners while managing remote workers. The partnership between Poly and Microsoft seems to be mutually beneficial as both companies have a strong global presence, reliable ecosystems and dedicated to enterprise-grade security. Together, they are a powerful pair, and their partnership delivers a seamless premium experience that can positively impacts employee productivity and collaboration. and could be incredibly impactful as the future of how employees work is evolving. Poly and Microsoft are most definitely big players in solving this challenge. The other thing to consider is that Poly's latest products work with nearly every VAS out there, so if you decide to switch to Zoom, you can do that.
