Polycom, Inc. the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, announced an expansion of its ongoing strategic relationship with Microsoft to support Microsoft's vision for unified communications announced today. Microsoft's vision for unified communications breaks down today's silos of e-mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), telephony and conferencing, allowing people to communicate and collaborate more effectively with colleagues, customers and partners.

Polycom will develop and market integrated business-class UC SIP voice end-points beyond its previously announced integration. The new products will include integrated desktop devices that leverage the presence awareness, instant messaging, and new telephony and VoIP capabilities of Microsoft's unified communications platform. The solutions will bring the richness of the PC together with the familiarity and voice capabilities of the desktop telephone enabling users to easily find and communicate with customers, partners and co-workers within a more secure environment.

"Industry-leading companies such as Polycom will play a significant role in the development of real-time collaboration solutions using our unified communications platform," said Zig Serafin, general manager of the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Corp. "Polycom is a recognized brand in enterprise communications and will bring high-quality voice and video products that are integrated for a Microsoft unified communications environment. Through our cooperative efforts, we will enable businesses to make better decisions faster by connecting people, information and business processes in a seamless fashion."

Today's announcement expands Polycom's commitment to Microsoft environments with new SIP desktop voice devices that will leverage the instant messaging, presence, and new integrated telephony and VoIP capabilities of Microsoft unified communications platform, including wideband voice communications (14 kHz). These devices will also support auto provisioning, management and configuration of Microsoft's UC platform, enabling use in a dynamic and mobile work environment.

Polycom's commitment builds on its strategic relationship with Microsoft, which has delivered multiple phases of integration including federation of its market-leading Polycom VSX(TM) video systems, SoundStation® and SoundPoint® IP phones, and V2IU(TM) network address and firewall traversal solution with Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2005. An industry first, this integration enables presence and buddy lists on Polycom VSX video systems and SoundStation and SoundPoint phones to simplify rich media calling for end-users, making it as easy to connect a call from your phone or video system as it is using Office Communicator 2005 on your PC.

"To support today's announced Microsoft unified communication vision, we are developing integrated desktop devices that bring Polycom voice quality, ease of use and performance to customers in Microsoft environments," said Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager of voice communications at Polycom. "Through our expanded integration with Microsoft, we are able to offer solutions that bring the advantage of real-time presence information, name-based dialing and the simplicity of using directories and buddy lists to the forefront of the telephony experience."

Polycom reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time. Products and/or related specifications referenced in this press release are not guaranteed, and will be delivered on a when and if available basis.