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In the year since it acquired PictureTel, Polycom has padded its already wide lead in the videoconferencing market and become one of the leading providers of audio, video and data communication products.
The company's ViewStation videoconferencing appliance is the leader in the group (small conference room) videoconferencing market. And with the addition of PictureTel's iPOwer PC-based video endpoints, the company has a 64% market share in terms of units shipped, according to firstquarter 2002 numbers from Wainhouse Research. Tandberg runs a distant second with an 18% share. Third-place Sony sells most of its products overseas.
Polycom also enjoys a 57% share of the small personal videoconferencing market - not bad for a company that entered the videoconferencing arena in 1998.
The $362 million PictureTel buy last year gave Polycom access to PictureTel's iPower Series of PC-based videoconferencing units, better audio codecs and a larger service organization. For PictureTel, it means a stronger and brighter financial picture after losing more than $44 million in the first three quarters of 2001.
While the PictureTel acquisition closed in October 2001, the companies are still in the process of combining workforces and product lines, and embedding each others' technologies in their products. The mix is happening more quickly on the operational side of the house than on the technology side. Polycom has reduced its staff at PictureTel's former headquarters in Andover, Mass., from 415 to 250 people, with most of the reductions coming in redundant positions. Polycom...