On a more positive note... RMX4000 & RSS4000

There looks like good things happening on the product side at Polycom.  They've now released the Polycom RMX4000 which is a 2x of the 2000. And they released the nextgen RSS4000 which brings more recording capacity and 1080P support.  Both long needed and gladly out.  While I have not played with each, but should soon.. I have heard good things from several Polycom SEs that say the the triple play of 4.x software, MPM+ cards, and the bigger chassis are everything they ever dreamed of. (or least while thinking about work)

http://www.polycom.com/products/telepresence_video/conferencing_infrastructure/rmx4000.html

http://www.polycom.com/products/telepresence_video/recording_streaming/rss4000.html

Its good to see PLCM catching up in the infrastructure space.  Now, they just need to release a series of 1080P endponits (more than the 8006) to fully compete against the slew of products that both TAA, LS, and CSCO have.

OMG!!!!!!

This one took me by complete surprise. and those of you that work at Polycom or did work at Polycom will feel the same way.

http://phoenix.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=112660&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2NjYm4uMTBrd2l6YXJkLmNvbS94bWwvZmlsaW5nLnhtbD9yZXBvPXRlbmsmaXBhZ2U9NjU2NTA1NyZhdHRhY2g9T04mc1hCUkw9MQ%3d%3d

This 8K obviously doens't spell it out, but connect the dots on this web post and the one I just posted a couple of days ago.

Insider trading at PLCM

I guess normally I'd ignore articles about insider trading, as you read about them all the time in the WSJ.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125570373292090093.html

But...it was Saturday and it was front headline news.  It certainly was a tale you've read before tons of times.  In fact there was a big item about a month ago with insider trading with the Dell/Perot deal. So...why do I mention this... check out the graphic in the article that shows the web of insiders.  Down near the bottom you'll notice that a "unnamed executive" at Polycom was part of the web of people.  Who knows what that really means or who it was.  Probably no effect to PLCM unless it was someone with a real title.   I'm sure the news will turn up. Interesting...

Tandberg Q3

Tandberg just released numbers of Q3 this year and they are just a machine that keeps marching on...always gaining ground.  If you haven't seen the numbers, they're as follows:

-- Revenue of 234.7 MUSD (+11.6%)

-- Operating profit of 50.0 MUSD (+10.2%)

-- Cash flow from operations of 72.0 MUSD (+35%)

-- 18,260 endpoints compared with 17,487 last year (+4%)

-- Network Revenues up (+34%)

-- Service Revenues up (+18%)

I'm not surprised by this. The company I work for installs and services video conferencing systems. (We do not resell products nor influence the brand/model. )   We see north of 50% of the installs we're asked to do are TAA, the 2nd most popular is LS, and the last is PLCM.

I don't have any further numbers..I would love to hear the breakdown between product lines and what their average unit sold price was.

Another interesting point is that TAA by next quarter will be at a solid $1B run rate. Funny that nearly two years ago PLCM was in the same place but has since fallen.

Dear Barack... a followup letter

Obama
I'm doubting you read my previous letter about doing a cash for video program.  I really think you missed out on a great opportunity to make a gigantic impact on our economy.  Please reconsider...we can still pull this off.

But, I know you're tied up thinking about healthcare.   I've got some ideas here too.  

While I don't wont to make political comments and pick apart your plan... I do know that you are concern about accessibility and cost of healthcare. I do to.  But, form what I see, you're looking at this problem from a Chicago point of view.  And what I mean is that if you live in a big city like Chicago, you have tremendous access to healthcare.  You have tons of choices from free clinics up to the best specialists the world. But... not all of the US is like that. And I would certainly argue that the real problems with healthcare are outside of large cities.  What about places like Cut Bank, Montana?  Barrow, Alaska?  and probably 99% of the land mass of our country?    I'll tell you.. they are very limited in the availability of healthcare.  The costs are higher because facilities are smaller.  Specialists are further away.   Specialist tools and procedures are only available sparingly if not at all.

Telemedicine via video conferencing has been proven to improve accessibility and reduce costs.  This is where you can get dramatic bang for the buck.  It allows you to provide more healthcare at a lower cost point. Win-Win for everyone.

This is an easy decision and a low cost decision for you to make. Its also a decision that is not full of politics. Who would argue about putting more video conferencing in our healthcare facilities? No one!

Thank you
Jeff Z

There is always a twist

and there might be others...  buying a publicly traded company in Europe is not necessary easy nor fast.
Seems that Norwegian pride is slowing the Cisco Tandberg deal a little bit...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574474631868187714.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_tech

or maybe thats just smart Norwegians expecting Cisco to open its wallet wider!

Tandberg T1

Tandberg certainly is not changing product plans or slowing anything down while the merger process goes on with Cisco.   The new Tandberg T1 was released and brings true telepresence down to a small room format.

http://www.tandberg.com/telepresence-products/tandberg-t1-telepresence.jsp

Not sure as to pricing yet.  But...I've got to think its between $100-$200k.