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Polycom Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Sentri, Inc. to Expand Portfolio of Advanced Services
Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sentri to bring advanced services expertise in UC&C, including Microsoft® Lync™, providing new opportunities in North America market for Polycom and its partners

Advanced services offerings to include consulting, design, deployment, and maintenance services for complex UC&C environments
 
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.
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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.