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President Barack Obama’s administration is targeting improvement in technology and communications infrastructure, especially in the healthcare and education markets, as funds from this year’s landmark $787 billion economic stimulus plan become available, an official with a Pleasanton, Calif.-based provider of telepresence, voice and video conferencing solutions told TMCnet.

 

According to Bob Preston, chief collaboration officer at Polycom, Inc., Obama’s understanding and embracing of communications technology run far deeper than BlackBerry use.

 

“These funds will continue to flow and be made available for technology improvement in our schools and hospitals at the state and local level over the next two years,” Preston told TMC (News - Alert) CEO Rich Tehrani in an interview, printed in full below.

 

Preston – who is also said that the healthcare and education markets are gaining momentum, as organizations seek to improve their technology infrastructure through available government grants – is speaking on the topic during a session titled “The Stimulus and Vertical Markets” at ITEXPO West 2009 in Los Angeles, to be held Sept. 1 to 3.

 

His full interview with Tehrani follows.

 

Bob Preston: It has taught me that companies continue to strive for shareholder value and competitive advantage, even in the toughest of economic times. Specifically, during this economic crisis, companies are looking to do more with less as many enterprises have had to respond with travel budget and employee headcount cuts. Increased productivity, decreased travel cost and the resulting ROI continue to be a top priority for our customers.

 

Fortunately, Polycom (News - Alert) telepresence, video, and voice collaboration solutions are a way we have been able to help our customers by providing them with a new way of communicating between geographically dispersed work teams to bolster productivity and efficiency, return a healthy ROI on their investment, while at the same time providing a competitive advantage.

 

 

BP: With the downturn of the economy last year, Polycom took an aggressive stance in reducing costs while investing in core initiatives we believe increase our prominence in unified communications and maximize our ability to address our customers’ needs.

 

One of our key strategic investments has been the development of the Polycom RMX 2000real-time media conference platform. We are hearing from customers that it’s the most innovative network infrastructure on the market. In fact, TMC recently named Polycom RMX 2000 Version 4.0 a Communications Solutions Product of the Year.

 

Another important advancement is our latest Polycom CMA – that’s “Converged Management Application” – network management architecture, which vastly simplifies the provisioning, management, and ease of use for extensive desktop, group, and telepresence deployments across organizations. Our development efforts have also resulted in the industry’s first multimedia bridge virtualization solution, the new Polycom DMA, or Distributed Media Application, product. This dramatically improves scalability and the cost-effective use of video network resources.

 

 

BP: When you ask about segments, you may be referring to technology or product segments. In my role, as Chief Collaboration Officer, when I talk segments, I speak of vertical market segments which represent opportunities for Polycom. Enterprise IT spending is definitely on the rise again as many companies have interest in improving communications infrastructure around collaboration solutions, like Polycom telepresence, which can provide a rapid ROI to the organization by decreasing costs and increasing productivity to improve the bottom line.

 

With the recent American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (also known as Obama’s “economic stimulus package”), the healthcare and education markets also have a lot of momentum as these organizations seek to improve their technology infrastructure through available government grants. I’ll be speaking about this very topic in my session on ARRA and vertical markets at ITEXPO (News - Alert) West.

 

 

BP: To me, WiFi, as it relates to business communications, is synonymous with mobility. As WiFi becomes more and more ubiquitous, it allows for business professionals to connect through various forms of communications media in an anywhere-any time fashion. This is especially important for Polycom and our customers with our new CMA desktop application as it allows for video connection and visual communications from any location a notebook computer can be connected to a broadband network, including wireless by WiFi. Even from a seat in a WiFi enabled plane from 30,000 feet!

 

 

BP: It seems that Obama understands and embraces the importance of communications technology and this can only help technology markets over time. Of course we have all heard stories about him being an avid BlackBerry user, but more specifically, his administration has targeted education and healthcare technology and communications infrastructure improvement as key areas for funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, or economic stimulus plan. These funds will continue to flow and be made available for technology improvement in our schools and hospitals at the state and local level over the next two years. Come to my session at ITEXPO West to learn more about what is happening surrounding ARRA and vertical market opportunities.

 

 

BP: Since I work from a remote office I use a Lenovo (News - Alert) Thinkpad and a Palm Treo for my daily computer and voice communications. I also use my Polycom VTX1000 regularly for hands free voice conference and 1:1 telephone calls. The device I use the most is my Polycom HDX 4000 desktop personal telepresence system as it is my life line to all of my team meetings and company meetings where we meet in person (virtually) by video. I honestly can’t imagine doing what I do without being video enabled with my daily communications.

 

Now that I am active on Twitter and making regular blog posts, I want to become equipped with a Palm Pre. I have yet to be able to “Tweet” in real time when I’m out in the field and eventually want to share cool collaboration usage scenarios when I see them on the spot.

 

 

BP: The new smartphones are teaching the importance of anywhere, anytime communications of all forms – voice, video, text, content, etc. The act of communicating and collaborating with peers and business partners is becoming instantaneous. Communicating in serial fashion, on the other hand – like email, phone messages, etc. – is becoming passé, too start/stop to be appealing per the trends of today’s cultural standards. People want to communicate on demand, regardless of location, and this is the type of communication that technology vendors, including Polycom, need to embrace to adapt culturally to these trends moving forward.

 

 

BP: My particular session at ITEXPO West happens to be on the ARRA (Economic Stimulus Plan) and how it is impacting vertical markets such as Government, Education, and Healthcare. I’ll be addressing these markets from a communications technology opportunity standpoint and how these markets stand to benefit from using ARRA funds to improve technology infrastructure.

 

BP: Bottom line performance is what companies are looking for in today’s economic climate … doing more with less has suddenly become essential. Most enterprises have already cut travel budgets and employee headcount. So, how do organizations continue to meet shareholder expectations while keeping costs in check? Polycom telepresence, video, and voice collaboration solutions provide a method of highly efficient communication between geographically dispersed work teams to bolster productivity and efficiency, return a healthy ROI on the investment, while at the same time providing a competitive advantage.