Polycom has teamed with some of the nation's finest academic institutionsto bring HD Voice to life on theircampuses. The University of Utah is just one example of universities makingthe switch to HD Voice. Polycom HD Voice improves comprehension andproductivity by providing calls that are twice as clear as standard analogcalls and standard VoIP calls. This enables more natural, free-flowingconversations with vibrant, lifelike quality -- making it possible to hearall the nuances of human speech. In a related move to promote openstandards and increase HD Voice adoption, Polycom announced earlier thisyear that it is offering its wideband audio Siren(TM) 7 codec (ITU-TG.722.1) royalty-free.

The University of Utah recently tested its first HD Voice telephonesincluding the Polycom SoundPoint IP 450 telephone andthe SoundStation® IP7000 conference phone. Dave Packham, network architect at theUniversity, commented, "Polycom HD Voice is amazing -- it's almost clearerthan talking to a person face-to-face!" Packham also used the SoundStationIP 7000 to run a conference call with 100 people in a stadium-seat hall."The voice quality was great -- when we tried this in the past with otherconference phones, it didn't work at all," he added.

"We first started talking about HD Voice in 2006. At the time, IDCpredicted it would be the next wave in VoIP communications. It looks likewe've finally hit that inflection point and 2009 will be the year that HDVoice becomes an important part of any VoIP deployment," said RebeccaSwensen, research analyst for IDC covering Enterprise Mobility and IPCommunications Services. "Successful companies delivering HD Voice havehelped advance communication through improved intelligibility and a morelifelike experience -- ultimately leading to more effective phonecollaboration. I expect we'll see more and more businesses turn to widebandaudio as the network components to support HD Voice fall into place."

This week, Polycom increased the number of HD Voice phones in its portfolioto five with the introduction of its newest HD Voice model, theSoundPoint® IP 450 desktop phone. The SoundPoint IP 450 phone is amid-range standards-based SIP phone featuring three lines, Polycom HD Voiceand a high-resolution graphical backlit display that supports multiplelanguages and Asian characters. The 450 is applications-ready withPolycom's open API and XHTML microbrowser to enable productivity-enhancingapplications and business processes. It is designed to bring advancedtelephony features and applications to cubicle/office workers handling amoderate volume of calls.

Pricing & Availability

The Power over Ethernet (PoE) version of the Polycom SoundPoint IP 450 isavailable in North America, most of Central and Latin America, Europe andmost of Asia-Pac today through Polycom certified channel partners for anMSRP of U.S. $309. To learn more about the SoundPoint IP 450, please visitthe Polycom web site at www.polycom.com/voip.

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video,and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower peopleto connect and collaborate everywhere. Please visit www.polycom.com formore information.

Polycom reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time.Products and/or related specifications referenced in this press release arenot guaranteed, and will be delivered on a when and if available basis.

Polycom, the Polycom logo, SoundPoint, and SoundStation are registeredtrademarks, and Polycom HD Voice and Siren are trademarks of Polycom in theU.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of theirrespective owners. ©2008, Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Contact:Robin Raulf-SagerPolycom, Inc.+1.303.583.5342Email Contact