Thursday, April 30, 2009
they're happy!
I've recently had quite a few conversations with PLCM folks...and one word for all of them...
happy
I'm not sure if its just good drugs or they really feel like things are looking good. I repeatedly heard from many that they thought that PLCM products were finally shaping up and could provide a solution that would compete well with what taa & ls was putting out.
Lets hope for their survival its the later, not the former.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
PLCM TVS & VSG Merge
Just recently Polycom decided to merge the Telepresence Video Solutions group and the Video Solutions Group.
I looked but could not find any press releases.
First thing that makes me wonder is why? Of course, one good reason would be that telepresence sales suck and PLCM wants to hide those numbers. The other is quite a good one too... reduce some headcount by getting rid of redundant bodies. I was told the reason was that it was to get the technical groups more aligned. (nice idea...but honestly I don't believe it). My guess is its both of my first guesses.
I have said privately that the start of the slipperly slope with telepresence with Polycom and probably others was when PLCM started saying to press that they've shipped 10s of thousands of TP systems. Which...if you explore the math means that they counted anything HD as being telepresence. Sure..from a market share prespective that re-definition would make PLCM #1...but unfortunately it back fires from a customer marketing point of view.
yes, Mr. customer you can buy this "telepresense" for $15K and this other one for $300K... hmm...wonder where I'll spend my money. and yes, this it not my theory...its pretty much truth. PLCM futher blundered by actually having HD demo rooms right next to telepresence rooms... they purposely would short change sales and leave money on the table.
If you have a problem with some of these statements...its not me... take a look at PLCM's numbers. They're pretty terrible and show the mistakes they've made.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
TAA Earnings Announcement
Topline growth of 8% USD $193M
NET growth of roughly 9% USD $40.8M
Network infrastructure growth of 47% y/y
video endpoints is 66% of their business
network is 22% of their business
the rest is services
they did see some weakness in enterprise sales.
they plan announcements in the future with telepresence federation
NET growth of roughly 9% USD $40.8M
Network infrastructure growth of 47% y/y
video endpoints is 66% of their business
network is 22% of their business
the rest is services
they did see some weakness in enterprise sales.
they plan announcements in the future with telepresence federation
Cisco April Layoffs
Cisco has just RIF'ed about 650 worldwide...of which 450 were here in the US. From several people I've talked to, in the US it was mostly people in the Select Sales Regions. They eliminated that entire tier of sales group. I would expect the customers they managed either moved to Enterprise or down to territory account managers.
From what I was told is that its not all bad news for those effected... they are all being given two months to find another job within Cisco before being let go. I've been told that there are open positions available... for home many, who knows?
From what I was told is that its not all bad news for those effected... they are all being given two months to find another job within Cisco before being let go. I've been told that there are open positions available... for home many, who knows?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Man..it hurts
y/y down $6M of video systems
y/y up $3M for network systems
y/y down $30M for voice (thats -30%!!!)
I love Bob's quote:
“Although we experienced the challenges of the current economic environment in the first quarter, we believe the core drivers of our business remain strong,” said Robert Hagerty, Polycom chairman and CEO. “Now, more than ever, our customers are sensitive to discretionary spending and are increasingly focused on solutions that drive a hard-dollar return on investment (ROI) to improve their bottom line
I think maybe he's getting what i've blogged about earlier last year that customers want value priced solutions that have quicker ROIs.
Something interesting he mentioned was his excitement about the Polycom CX5000:
http://response.polycom.com/forms/SearchRegForm_CX5000InfoPack
For those not in the know, this is the Microsoft Roundtable. I really cant believe that PLCM was gullible enough to get saddled with this product. It took MS years to develop and no one wants it. What a waste of time/effort/money on PLCMs part to take this product on!
should be interesting to see what TAA posts...I don't expect it to be very good. Too bad LS is not public, I'd love to see how big their growth really is.
y/y up $3M for network systems
y/y down $30M for voice (thats -30%!!!)
I love Bob's quote:
“Although we experienced the challenges of the current economic environment in the first quarter, we believe the core drivers of our business remain strong,” said Robert Hagerty, Polycom chairman and CEO. “Now, more than ever, our customers are sensitive to discretionary spending and are increasingly focused on solutions that drive a hard-dollar return on investment (ROI) to improve their bottom line
I think maybe he's getting what i've blogged about earlier last year that customers want value priced solutions that have quicker ROIs.
Something interesting he mentioned was his excitement about the Polycom CX5000:
http://response.polycom.com/forms/SearchRegForm_CX5000InfoPack
For those not in the know, this is the Microsoft Roundtable. I really cant believe that PLCM was gullible enough to get saddled with this product. It took MS years to develop and no one wants it. What a waste of time/effort/money on PLCMs part to take this product on!
should be interesting to see what TAA posts...I don't expect it to be very good. Too bad LS is not public, I'd love to see how big their growth really is.
Friday, April 3, 2009
April 8k Statement
On March 30, 2009, Polycom, Inc. (“Polycom” or the “Company”) entered into a Transition Agreement with David R. Phillips, the Company’s former head of Worldwide Sales (the “Transition Agreement.”) Pursuant to the terms of the Transition Agreement, Mr. Phillips’ employment with Polycom terminated on March 31, 2009. Mr. Phillips has agreed to non-competition and non-solicitation provisions for a period of one year following the termination of his employment. As consideration for Mr. Phillips’ execution and non-revocation of the legal release of claims set forth in the Transition Agreement and for the non-competition and non-solicitation provisions described above, Mr. Phillips will receive the following from Polycom: (1) a severance payment in the amount of $427,500, less applicable withholdings, payable in two installments of $320,625 on October 15, 2009 and $106,875 on April 1, 2010, upon the expiration of Mr. Phillips’ non-competition and non-solicitation obligations; (2) outplacement services for a period of six months, which are valued at approximately $6,000; (3) Company-paid COBRA insurance premiums for a period of twelve months, provided that Mr. Phillips timely elects such continuation coverage, which are valued at approximately $19,400; and (4) retention of Mr. Phillips’ Polycom-issued mobile phone, assigned telephone number, PDA and laptop computer. In addition, Polycom has agreed to reimburse Mr. Phillips for legal fees of up to $10,000. Pursuant to the terms of the Transition Agreement, in order to assist with transitioning the Company’s worldwide sales operations, Mr. Phillips worked on a part-time basis for the Company from February 17, 2009 to March 31, 2009. (that equates to about $17K for five weeks)
Not a bad deal. I am still so amazed at the amount of money Bob/Mike spend on "sales experiments". David was there approximately two years. Of which he was paid at least $700K in base pay..not sure as to how much bonus he received...and he received at least 100K shares of PLCM stock. So..my guess is all in all probably $2M investement and they didn't let it all play out. And...then on top of that... the fact that David axed several top people that not only were over performers but had been overperforming for several years at PLCM... I'm sorry, but it equalled a giant loss. Not only did they not let David move the ball forward... with all of his changes...he actually moved it backwards.
Not a bad deal. I am still so amazed at the amount of money Bob/Mike spend on "sales experiments". David was there approximately two years. Of which he was paid at least $700K in base pay..not sure as to how much bonus he received...and he received at least 100K shares of PLCM stock. So..my guess is all in all probably $2M investement and they didn't let it all play out. And...then on top of that... the fact that David axed several top people that not only were over performers but had been overperforming for several years at PLCM... I'm sorry, but it equalled a giant loss. Not only did they not let David move the ball forward... with all of his changes...he actually moved it backwards.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Cisco
Ok, its slightly old news...but...
Nice looking product. It looks squarely like a standard video conferencing system. Only issue is that list price is $89K. But...all you have to do is breath and Cisco gives you a monster discount. I'm not in the market for one myself.... hey..my Tandberg 880MXP connected up to a 26" LCD works well for me... but if I was I suspect you could buy one for $51k. Not bad...but I could do better to buy a Lifesize C200 and a 65" plasma from Costco and probably save $30+k.
So...here's the question... Cisco is not dumb. (but I will say that their overall IQ has been dropping steadily since I left) but..when are they going to shake up the market? It truly seems that the market has gone towards value pricing. If Cisco is serious about doing $1B in sales, they are going to have to get price competitive.
PLCM Q2 and that state of everything else...
So, the buzz in the analyst community is how well PLCM is going to do this quarter. Some PLCM sales people are quite happy with their numbers. My personal take... a lot of people got haircuts on their quota and they're quite happy.
Overall, what do I think based on talking to lots of people? PLCM is losing market share like a cancer patient is losing hair. Its ugly.
LS & Sony are winning deals with customers switching to value plays. Talks with resellers in the refurbished market are making a killing selling used TAA & PLCM. don't belive me? Google refurbished polycom or tandberg. Or... just look on Ebay. The market for used gear is rich. Customers who dont want to buy LS are buying more and more used gear. One reseller told me they have an outstanding order for 200 USED 990MXPs from just one customer. Thats a lot of revenue not flowing to fulfill someones quota.
Rumors from two weeks ago...
I meant to post this and didn't. So...just for historical reference....
I've heard rumors that HP might be interested in buying Tandberg...or at least they are doing some due-dilligence.
Being that HP now has lots of TAA demo equipment... including a TAA telepresence system... it makes for interesting counterpoint to Halo.
who knows...we'll see.
Yawn....
Sorry for the long lapse. I've been busy and honestly I was kind of weirded out when I talked to a ex-coworker a few weeks ago and he had mentioned that my name comes up often in the office and not for past work accomplishments...but comments about my blog.
When I started this blog...it really was to talk about pro-polycom arguments and to hightlight where the competition was playing with the truth. But... times have changed and with that my viewpoint on where to take the blog. The last few months have been mroe about an unbiased viewpoint...and one with street smart sense.
Honestly that means that at times (and a lot recently), it has been filled with viewpoints that are not exactly pro-polycom. Not because I don't like them...but if you're unbiased then unfortunately anyone can be praised and anyone can be dressed down. Sorry. Nothing in here is intended to be personal
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