Polycom Inc., has donated state-of-the-art equipment to Rochester Institute of Technology's B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. The equipment will be used in the curriculum for the college's course offering in real-time data and voice/video over Internet protocol (VOIP). The undergraduate courses will be offered to students pursuing various degrees in applied network and system administration, information technology, computer science, and software engineering.

"With the convergence of telephone, video and data networks, students will be expected to run telephone systems, then migrate them to converged voice and video IP-based solutions," says Bruce Hartpence, associate professor of networking, security, and systems administration in the Golisano College. "Polycom's market leading solutions will be used in our Telephony Integration Lab where students will learn about emerging rich media telecommunications technologies and methodologies."

Polycom donated two group VSX7000s and five desktop video application Polycom PVX systems with cameras to the Telephony Integration Lab at RIT. The VSX7000 provides full video conferencing capabilities flexibility and expandability with the option to add additional displays, microphones, speakers, ISDN network and modules. The Polycom PVX personal video conferencing application delivers business quality desktop video conferencing from the convenience of a PC.

Polycom is dedicated to providing students with the tools and information they need to be the leaders of the future," said Polycom's Global Education Market Director Russ Colbert. "After working with the market leading Polycom equipment through their college experience, students are fully prepared to continue working with the technology once they enter the workforce. This creates a win-win in that RIT students are attractive employees and businesses can select from knowledgeable students for new hires."