Video conferencing firm Polycom has announced it has entered a definitive agreement under which it will acquire the assets of HP’s Visual Collaboration business, including the Halo Products and Managed Services business.
According to Reuters the deal is valued at around $89m in cash.
As part of the deal Polycom will serve as an exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain video UC platforms, including both resale and internal HP deployments. The two companies have also agreed to make available Polycom’s video applications for HP’s WebOS platform, the firms said in a statement.
Adding Polycom’s video conferencing technology to HP’s WebOS platform will mean those capabilities will be introduced on the HP TouchPad tablet PC as well as HP’s Veer smartphone, the firms said during an event held to discuss today’s announcements. HP is hoping to add Polycom video conferencing technology on its TouchPad within 90 days, Shane Robison, HP’s executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer, said.
The deal will enable Polycom to take advantage of HP’s installed base of visual collaboration products and technology. HP will resell Polycom’s UC platforms, including: personal and group UC devices, UC infrastructure, UC managed services, and audio/video software. Polycom will take over the running of Halo products operating in 425 companies across 36 countries.
"This announcement is a truly groundbreaking development in the UC industry, creating a path for Polycom and HP to offer customers an end-to-end UC solution with an unparalleled user experience, interoperability, investment protection, and ease of deployment," said Andrew Miller, Polycom president and CEO.
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"The transaction makes the most of the strength of two industry leading, customer-centric organisations to offer a seamless UC experience with high-quality, enterprise-class telepresence solutions to millions of customers. Our broadened relationship with HP underscores Polycom’s focus and commitment to bring the most advanced and innovative UC solutions to market," Miller added.
"Customers will benefit from this transaction and alliance because they will receive the focus of two world-class technology companies through greater service and product opportunities," said Robison. "This transaction and alliance allows us to focus on executing our strategy in cloud computing and connectivity, while ensuring the long-term care of our customers and development of our services business."
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and should be immediately accretive to the company’s financial figures, Miller said at the event.
