Polycom Launches TPX 306 - Modular HD Telepresence Aimed At Middle Managers and Wider Deployments
October 15, 2007 | Peter
Brockmann
"Polycom
announced a new, modular, high definition
telepresence system, the Polycom
TPX HD306M today. The system is compatible with
the company's existing immersive RPX telepresence
environments and lowers the entry point for a
Polycom HD Telepresence to $200,000 in what the Lab
term's "modular telepresence" or systems that don't
require a more expensive
studio/shell/room-within-a-room construction.
Historically, telepresence systems have tended to be CxO-level purchases where it had been justified as an alternative to executive travel. The idea was for senior executives in distributed businesses to attend frequent virtual meetings without leaving their offices instead of wasting their time on airplanes, in hotels and in airports. The argument goes that as well as less travel and more productive executives, the convenient highly immersive sessions also leads to stronger trust between senior managers. It also leaves more time for remote executives to spend meeting with local or regional customers and otherwise run the business.
Yet, despite the positive impacts of telepresence, involving middle management has been a major challenge for most corporations. The high cost of implementation, operations and the intensive network resources required to deliver the truly immersive experience have limited their deployment to the executive floors and pretty much limited its impact to senior executives. In corporations with flat hierarchical organizations, telepresence rooms have tended to suffer from high utilization. Middle management are frequently 'bumped' from scheduled telepresence meetings in favor of higher priority, higher ranking executive encounters.
Today, Polycom announced its answer to these challenges with the TPX HD306M. This latest addition to the Polycom portfolio expands the range and affordability of the telepresence experience, bringing it closer to the sweet spot of middle management who are exactly the people who can take full advantage of the greater trust, higher productivity and better decisions that come from frequent immersive communications."
The TPX HD306M implementation, maintenance and managed services are available through certified Polycom channel partners including Nortel, IBM and Avaya. Implementation services including room audit, installation and commissioning. Maintenance includes preventative inspections, 7x24 support line services, onsite and 2- or 4-hour response times. Managed services include options for complete concierge service that includes meeting reservation, scheduling management and remote room and network operations monitoring are also available.
"A new telepresence system dubbed TPX. While the RPX series is really a “room replacement” telepresence solution, the TPX fits into the same category where we would put TANDBERG’s Experia and Cisco’s Telepresence Meeting Solution – a room enhancement system. If the door to your conference room were wide enough, you could roll one of these babies right in. In the case of the Polycom TPX, the door better be pretty wide and the room nice and spacious. The system features three 60 inch plasma displays and three HDX 900 codecs with Eagle Eye cameras and some custom software to turn the whole lot into a fully functioning telepresence system that understands how to connect to multiple remote systems (TPX, RPX, or standard H.232 systems) and how to display images properly. As shown in the photo, the TPX 306 (3 screens and 6 seats), with MSRP of $200K, including telepresence table and ceiling mics, has three cameras all mounted over the center display, providing a very satisfactory horizontal gaze angle in our demo session. For data collaboration, customers can opt for a separate screen on the side or an in-table implementation similar to that of the RPX. Polycom offers implementation, maintenance, and managed services for its telepresence solutions through its channel partners." The Wainhouse Research Bulletin Page-2 Vol. 8 #35, October 15, 2007
Historically, telepresence systems have tended to be CxO-level purchases where it had been justified as an alternative to executive travel. The idea was for senior executives in distributed businesses to attend frequent virtual meetings without leaving their offices instead of wasting their time on airplanes, in hotels and in airports. The argument goes that as well as less travel and more productive executives, the convenient highly immersive sessions also leads to stronger trust between senior managers. It also leaves more time for remote executives to spend meeting with local or regional customers and otherwise run the business.
Yet, despite the positive impacts of telepresence, involving middle management has been a major challenge for most corporations. The high cost of implementation, operations and the intensive network resources required to deliver the truly immersive experience have limited their deployment to the executive floors and pretty much limited its impact to senior executives. In corporations with flat hierarchical organizations, telepresence rooms have tended to suffer from high utilization. Middle management are frequently 'bumped' from scheduled telepresence meetings in favor of higher priority, higher ranking executive encounters.
Today, Polycom announced its answer to these challenges with the TPX HD306M. This latest addition to the Polycom portfolio expands the range and affordability of the telepresence experience, bringing it closer to the sweet spot of middle management who are exactly the people who can take full advantage of the greater trust, higher productivity and better decisions that come from frequent immersive communications."
- Three, 60-inch HD plasma displays encased in a video wall encompassing all of the video conferencing technology, cameras and audio processing system
- Specially designed conference table that positions six people on camera
- 360-degree ceiling-suspended microphones for unobstructed, unobtrusive and high quality audio pickup three preset Polycom EagleEye HD cameras built into the video wall
- An easy-to-use touch-screen control system (same as RPX)
- Furniture, lighting, chairs and acoustic wall treatments are included
- Support for two, three and four-screen telepresence solutions
- Directional audio output from speakers near where the remote spokesperson that is speaking is visualized
- Available as a multipurpose option so the room can be used as a meeting facility for both telepresence and non-telepresence meetings
- Integrated high definition content-sharing so participants can share PC content simultaneously and remotely
- Interoperable with the RPX series Telepresence room systems, standard definition video conferencing systems and high definition executive conferencing systems
- Technology Components
• Three Polycom HDX 9004 video codecs supporting 720p at 30 fps
• Two Polycom Digital Ceiling Microphone Arrays
• Polycom StereoSurround Speaker Kit
• Three 60-inch Plasma Displays
• Three High Definition Video Cameras
• Room control system with 6 inch color touch panel
• Content Monitor (Optional)
- 50 inch plasma on a Polycom Executive Collection Stand
The TPX HD306M implementation, maintenance and managed services are available through certified Polycom channel partners including Nortel, IBM and Avaya. Implementation services including room audit, installation and commissioning. Maintenance includes preventative inspections, 7x24 support line services, onsite and 2- or 4-hour response times. Managed services include options for complete concierge service that includes meeting reservation, scheduling management and remote room and network operations monitoring are also available.
"A new telepresence system dubbed TPX. While the RPX series is really a “room replacement” telepresence solution, the TPX fits into the same category where we would put TANDBERG’s Experia and Cisco’s Telepresence Meeting Solution – a room enhancement system. If the door to your conference room were wide enough, you could roll one of these babies right in. In the case of the Polycom TPX, the door better be pretty wide and the room nice and spacious. The system features three 60 inch plasma displays and three HDX 900 codecs with Eagle Eye cameras and some custom software to turn the whole lot into a fully functioning telepresence system that understands how to connect to multiple remote systems (TPX, RPX, or standard H.232 systems) and how to display images properly. As shown in the photo, the TPX 306 (3 screens and 6 seats), with MSRP of $200K, including telepresence table and ceiling mics, has three cameras all mounted over the center display, providing a very satisfactory horizontal gaze angle in our demo session. For data collaboration, customers can opt for a separate screen on the side or an in-table implementation similar to that of the RPX. Polycom offers implementation, maintenance, and managed services for its telepresence solutions through its channel partners." The Wainhouse Research Bulletin Page-2 Vol. 8 #35, October 15, 2007
- TPX Brochure - 2 pages
- TPX Datasheet - 2 pages
- TPX Features and Benefits - 2 pages
- TPX Installation Services - 2 pages
- TPX Maintenance Services - 2 page