Poly

Event Reveals How Immersive Telepresence Gives Distant Audiences the Sense of Being There

NEW YORK and PLEASANTON, Calif. - Nov 16, 2010 : When skincare products innovator Kiehl's began selling its Limited Edition Creme de Corps Holiday Collection, in a global effort to raise funding and awareness for child abduction, the new line's colorful packaging immediately made a big impression on consumers.

But journalists in several countries had known for months about the stunning artwork collection and that Kiehl's has pledged to donate its worldwide net profits from the collection, up to $200,000 to an initiative of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). The journalists had received an up close, sneak preview during a global press conference enabled by high definition (HD) telepresence rooms from Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), a global leader in unified communications, along with managed video services provider Glowpoint, Inc. (OTCBB: GLOW).

The July event was conducted live via Polycom immersive telepresence, enabling reporters from around the world to interact in HD with Kiehl's General Manager Cheryl Vitali, and ICMEC President Ernie Allen, who were located at Polycom's Executive Briefing Center in New York. Journalists viewed the new packaging designs, learned about the collaboration, and asked questions of presenters – all from Polycom Executive Briefing Centers in Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Madrid, Sao Paulo, and Toronto.

"Kiehl's unique collaboration required a truly global press event that brought our charitable effort to reporters in every part of the world," said Vitali. "We consider this launch to be one of the most innovative we've ever had.

"At Kiehl's we are conscious of the environmental impact of our initiatives. It was important to us to reduce the carbon footprint of flying journalists from Asia, Europe and Latin America to New York," Vitale continued.

By relying on Polycom immersive telepresence, the event's hosts and attendees experienced the world's most lifelike meeting experience, enhanced by Polycom UltimateHD™ technology and patented Polycom EyeConnect™ technology. Participants can pick up every nuance of a conversation, see facial expressions, make eye contact, and read body language. The immersive environment is made even more realistic with seamless, cinematic video walls that reach up to 16 feet wide, enabling entire groups to meet face-to-face.

"Polycom is proud to have provided the telepresence needed to put Kiehl's and ICMEC in the same room with journalists from around the globe," said Joe Burton, Polycom chief strategy and technology officer. "This event underscores the power of immersive telepresence to engage people, enable clearer communication and faster decisions, and create an environment that supports real collaboration."

The global locations participating in the press conference were connected flawlessly through managed telepresence service provider, Glowpoint. Polycom works with Glowpoint and other service providers to offer managed telepresence services such as 24x7 meeting monitoring, fault management, solution usage reporting and reservation and scheduling, as part of Polycom's complete solution.

"Kiehl's pioneering use of Polycom's Executive Briefing Centers sets the stage for companies and news organizations around the world to come together at a moment's notice and have the full support they need to conduct interviews and disseminate information," said Jonathan Brust, Glowpoint's vice president of marketing. "Beyond the communication benefits, we also calculated travel savings of more than $40,000, time savings of 910 hours and overall carbon reduction achieved in this meeting to be the equivalent of taking 8 cars off the road for an entire year."