Juniper, Polycom forge telepresence, video conferencing alliance

Juniper Networks and Polycom have teamed on a joint telepresence and video conferencing offering that's designed to serve as a counterweight to Cisco Systems and its recent acquisition of Tandberg.

In a statement Monday, Juniper and Polycom said they will optimize their platforms so service providers can offer video and telepresence cheaply. The argument: It's cheaper for enterprises to deploy telepresence as a service from their network providers instead of building out their own networks.

The deal with Juniper highlights Polycom's partnership strategy. Polycom last week announced a global reseller agreement with Siemens. Polycom also highlighted a telepresence demo with IBM at CES 2010. The aim for Polycom: Forge partnerships that allow it to surround Cisco and its recent acquisition of Tandberg.

The specifics of the Juniper-Polycom partnership go like this:

• The two companies will offer "dynamic signaling" between Juniper's network resource control platform and Polycom's video call control system;
• Service providers will be able to implement the Juniper-Polycom and use it on their existing networks;
• Juniper-Polycom plan to pitch their partnership as a way to enable network providers to sell video conferencing services without a lot of upfront investment;
• Polycom and Juniper Networks are hooking up via Junos Space, Juniper's open networking platform;
• The Juniper-Polycom alliance will release its joint offering in mid-2010.

According to the companies the joint bundle for network service providers includes Juniper's Junos Space applications platform, MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers and SRX Series Services Gateways as well as Polycom's telepresence systems and Distributed Media Application that centralizes call control.

Also: Juniper Networks makes its move; Rolls out processor, router, network operating system revamp

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