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The benefits have been immediate, Myers said. Polycom is seeing three times the number of deal registrations it did a year ago, he said, and is looking at ways to help VARs earn more services opportunities.
All the while, Polycom has also continued to expand its strategic partnerships with everyone from Avaya and Siemens to Microsoft, HP, Juniper and the Asterisk developer community.
"It's a dual strategic approach," offered Capuzzo. "One lever is the program, with the overall possibility for partners to make more money with us. The other is our alliances through the Polycom Open Collaboration Network. We've seen good momentum, especially given the convergence in this market."
Both big investments -- better channel relationships and stronger ties with the vendor community -- will help it better position itself. But will it be enough?
"They're going to face a level of competition like they've never faced before," said Ira Weinstein, senior analyst at Wainhouse Research. "If I'm a Polycom partenr, I'm now going to face Cisco instead of Tandberg, and I'm not sure, from Polycom's perspective, if it's possible to do enough. But they're working to strengthen those existing channel programs and partner with big names. If I'm going to compete with Cisco, I want to partner with IBM, for example."
According to Myers, having a behemoth like Cisco fully in the space means that Polycom, despite its longevity and brand recognition, might be viewed as an alternative.
It's also being viewed as an acquisition target, and in recent weeks, reports have surfaced that London private equity firm Apax Partners and Siemens Enterprise Communications parent The Gores Group were both potential suitors. (Most recently came reports that Polycom has hired Morgan Stanley to help it look at options and hunt for a buyer.)
At the very least, Myers argued, Polycom is getting more looks from existing Tandberg partners concerned that their margins are about to evaporate with so much more potential exposure.
"They know they'll now be competing against 30 Cisco gold partners in their area that may have video SKUs on their price list," Myers said. "We're getting more views with Tandberg-centric relationships. With the branding Cisco has created around telepresencce, the customer can now look at Polycom as an alternative. They'll look to us. We're getting a lot more consideration. Polycom is no longer on the defensive."
Next: LifeSize Muscles Up
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