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Polycom Groundbreaking Announcements Transform the Visual and Unified Communications Industry
Posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
  • To Acquire HP's Visual Collaboration Business Including Halo, Becomes an Exclusive Partner to HP for Telepresence and Certain Video UC Solutions, and Will Integrate Polycom's Video Applications in HP's WebOS Platform
  • Establishes First and Only Open Video Exchange Cloud With World's Leading Service Providers
  • Expands Strategic Relationships with Microsoft
  • Announces 2-for-1 Stock Split
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Jun 01, 2011 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), a global leader in unified communications (UC), today made several significant announcements with its Polycom Open Collaboration Network™ partners that will dramatically change the visual communications and UC industry, accelerate adoption of UC, and deliver on Polycom's UC Everywhere™ vision.
 
Polycom to Acquire HP's Visual Collaboration Business, Including Halo Products and Managed Services
Polycom announced today it is acquiring HP's Visual Collaboration business, including the Halo Products and Managed Services business. The companies also signed a strategic agreement that makes Polycom an exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain video UC solutions, including both resale and internal HP deployments, and integrates Polycom's video applications on HP's WebOS TouchPad product line. Shane Robison, executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer for HP, will join Polycom CEO Andy Miller on today's webcast  to discuss the strategic alliance.
 
Industry First - Open Visual Communications Consortium to Drive B2B and B2C Video Communication
Polycom also announced the revolutionary Open Visual Communications Consortium™ (OVCC™), a breakthrough open video exchange cloud with the world's leading service providers that will enable visual communications beyond corporate firewalls and proprietary video platforms. OVCC will enable global businesses to connect everywhere and will make it easy for millions to communicate via video similar to the simplicity of how mobile phones connect today.
 
In an unprecedented industry development, 14 top service providers around the globe have joined forces in OVCC to deliver B2B communication through the cloud. Founding members of OVCC include:  Airtel, AT&T, BCS Global, BT Conferencing, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Global Crossing, Glowpoint, iFormata Communications, Masergy, Orange Business Services, PCCW Global, Telefonica, Telstra, and Verizon. OVCC members will connect millions of users worldwide through agreements with hundreds of interconnected service providers across six continents. Polycom provides key components of this first global open video exchange cloud with the Polycom UC Intelligent Core™ infrastructure and Polycom's broad market-leading portfolio of world-class UC devices.
 
Polycom and Microsoft Expand Strategic Partnership and Extend Joint Development Agreements
Polycom's Miller and Microsoft Corporate VP Gurdeep Singh Pall will announce the development of two new breakthroughs in enterprise UC.  These new solutions will expand the Microsoft and Polycom joint development and go-to-market activities on multiple fronts.
 
As a strategic Microsoft UC solution partner, Polycom and Microsoft are already executing on six strategic agreements.  Polycom has delivered native integration with Lync across Polycom's UC Intelligent Core infrastructure, telepresence family, and voice endpoints. Polycom previously announced SVC, the underlying technology that enables Polycom and Microsoft to deliver the industry's most powerful telepresence application to hundreds of millions of Microsoft desktops.
 
2 For 1 Stock Split
Polycom also announced today that its Board of Directors approved a two-for-one split of its common stock to be effected in the form of a stock dividend.  The stock split will entitle each stockholder of record at the close of business on June 15, 2011, to receive one additional share for every one share owned as of that date.  The additional shares resulting from the stock split are expected to be distributed by the company's transfer agent on July 1, 2011.  Upon completion of the stock split, Polycom will have approximately 176,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding.
 
"Today's announcements are a powerful testament to Polycom's momentum in the industry," said Polycom's Miller. "Polycom is leading the Unified Communications and Collaboration industry with innovative solutions that revolutionize the way people communicate, and these developments further enable the network effect that we are beginning to experience in video adoption. Through our deep partnerships with HP, Microsoft and other Polycom Open Collaboration Network Partners, we are confident that we have the right strategy in place to enable us to bring our UC Everywhere vision to life and drive broad UC adoption."
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Douglas Fearing- Co-Founder / President

A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.

Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.

Lois Fearing- Co-Founder/Accounting, Human Resources

A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.

Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.

Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.

Ehren Tresner-VP of Technology and Innovation

Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.

Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.

Ben Voeck-Director of Commercial AV

With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.

By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.

Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.

Chris Matson-Senior VP of Sales

Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.

Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.