Polycom unveils new video conferencing technology

The concept behind mobile healthcare is that healthcare providers and their patients can communicate from any location on any device, whether it be a smartphone, tablet or video hookup in a clinic. Polycom is looking to make that process easier with the launch of a new platform designed to tie together all those disparate methods of communication.

The San Jose, Calif.-based developer of unified communications platforms unveiled a number of new products and enhancements on Monday morning, all designed to improve the video collaboration process inside and outside the host's firewall. Of chief importance to the healthcare industry is the release of the Polycom RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite, which is designed to enable parties to communicate no matter whether they're on Skype, Facebook, Google Talk or some other business video application through a browser.

"In healthcare, this technology needs to be available to anyone across any environment," said Randy Maestre, Polycom's vice president of worldwide industry and field marketing. "And it has to be easy to use and integrated into day-to-day operations ... There are lots of islands of video out there now, and this gives (healthcare providers) the ability to connect across whatever platform and application they're working with."

Located on Polycom's RealPresence platform, the CloudAXIS Suite enables users to collect presence information from all participants who are online, drop those social and video apps in to a global director and then invite them to a video conference. Invited participants receive a hyperlink in the chat window of their video or social app, enabling them to access the CloudAXIS session via their browser.

"Telehealth technology is commonly used between non-affiliated healthcare entities," added Ron Emerson, Polycom's global director of healthcare. With the development of accountable care practices, he said, providers are finding it necessary to extend patient care beyond the walls of the hospital, to remote clinics and the patient's home.

"Everyone can now be connected in one meeting place," he said.

Other aspects of the new releases – the largest in the company's history, officials said – include an expansion of the H.264 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) technology, giving users the opportunity to get high-definition video and audio on a broadband link; and "SmartPairing," which allows users to transfer a video call from an iPad (using the RealPresence Mobile 2.0 link) to another Polycom endpoint with a swipe of the finger. This would enable a physician to begin a video conference on a tablet, then transfer to a video platform upon arrival at a clinic or hospital.

Maestre pointed out that Polycom has gone beyond providing a simple video link between two points. "It's no longer just video-as-a-service," he said. "It's all about video collaboration as a service."

As an example, Emerson pointed to the fast-growing telestroke service, "where minutes literally matter." By providing an all-encompassing video platform, he said, a neurologist can examine a stroke patient at a remote location via his or her iPad, walk into a clinic or hospital, "swipe over" the connection from the iPad to a video station without breaking the connection, conference in other specialists or providers and prescribe clot-busting drugs within the required period of time to avoid brain damage.

"Today Polycom is transforming the industry with a solution that equips our customers to extend enterprise-grade video collaboration to everyone. We’re removing the impediments that have hampered video collaboration from becoming ubiquitous by allowing our customers to easily add anyone with a browser to their video and content collaboration sessions with the highest quality, reliability and security,” said Andy Miller, Polycom's CEO, in a press release issued on Oct. 8. "Polycom RealPresence CloudAXIS solutions and our rich suite of open APIs give businesses and service providers the extended interoperability on which to build scalable cloud-based video collaboration services that we believe will deliver new value to customers and create significant new growth opportunities."

"What has held back pervasive video conferencing in enterprises is the lack of an easy-to-use and easy-to-access solution that also delivers the security, reliability, interoperability and affordability organizations and service providers need to deliver video to the masses,” added Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research, in the press release. "Polycom is delivering a groundbreaking solution addressing these critical factors, which we believe will eliminate barriers for adoption and significantly accelerate the use of video collaboration across any size enterprise or any industry."

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

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