Poly

 

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Jan. 30, 2013 – Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications and collaboration (UC&C), today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sentri, Inc., a leading provider of advanced services with expertise in Microsoft technologies (such as Microsoft® Lync™,  SharePoint and Office 365), UC&C, video collaboration, cloud services and networking.  Sentri’s deep expertise integrating Microsoft Lync with Polycom solutions is a key element of the acquisition, as Polycom has a portfolio of more than 40 video and voice products that interoperate with Lync, and the majority of customers choose Polycom and Microsoft over other vendors for a complete UC&C solution.

 

“Sentri provides Polycom and our partners with needed advanced services capabilities to consult, design and implement UC&C solutions, and Sentri’s expertise in providing specific Microsoft Lync services is a key skill-set as Lync adoption continues to increase,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President of Products and Services, Polycom.  “Delivering a robust services portfolio provides Polycom and our partners with the opportunity to not only grow revenues, but also to increase the strategic value we bring to customers by serving as trusted advisors to help them solve their communications objectives as their businesses grow.”

 

The global market for video collaboration advanced services is $1.6 billion in 2013, growing to $1.94 billion in 2016 according to the Gartner Market Trends: Videoconferencing, Worldwide, 2012 report, published August, 2012.

 

“The acquisition of UC integrator and managed services provider Sentri is a wise move for Polycom,” said Ira M. Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. “As enterprises seek to expand their video and UC footprint, they will need support from qualified partners with real-world experience installing and managing Microsoft Lync deployments.  By adding Sentri’s capabilities to its service organization, Polycom can empower its channel partners with the skills they need to plan, sell, and support joint Microsoft and Polycom installations.  This is both a differentiator for Polycom and a value-add for its partners and end-user customers.”

 

Polycom plans to also set up a Services Center of Excellence, which will provide Polycom and partners in North America with the opportunity to benefit from the skill-set and expertise of the Sentri advanced services team.  As part of the Services Center of Excellence, Polycom plans to develop training and certification programs with channels organization to be rolled out in the second half of 2013.

 

Sentri has experience in all areas of UC&C and, in addition to Microsoft and Polycom expertise, service professionals are skilled on various other vendor solutions in the areas of networking, VoIP and security.  Sentri is Gold certified by Microsoft in communications, messaging, portals and collaboration, and desktop technology; Microsoft Premier Support for LyncTM Partners (PSLP) certified; and has two Microsoft Certified Master engineers. Sentri has been recognized as a leading partner by Microsoft the last several years, including overall East Region Partner of the Year (2012), Lync Partner of the Year for New York Metro region (2011), and Northeast Partner of the Year for three years running.

 

Sentri leadership will report into Navin Mehta, SVP, Polycom Global Services, as well as to North America sales leadership, and will work closely with the North America partner teams.  Sentri will continue to offer services to their existing customer-base, and expand to Polycom customers after the acquisition closes.

 

This transaction, which is valued at less than $10 million, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013.