SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGHT), provider of innovative business communications and managed hosting solutions, today announced it will be offering small and medium businesses ("SMBs") a new set of affordable, easy-to-use cloud-based video conferencing services that enable SMBs to benefit from visual collaboration while providing a new annuity-based recurring revenue stream for resellers, partners and VARs. This new service offering will be based on 8x8's voice and video IP service platform and industry leading UC solutions and technology provided by Polycom, Inc.
The 8x8/Polycom video conferencing solution will combine 8x8's advanced, SIP-based communications services with the Polycom® UC Intelligent Core™ in a new "8x8 Virtual Room" service offering that lets customers add HD video conferencing as another extension to their regular hosted business communications from 8x8. The Polycom UC Intelligent Core enables high quality, reliable collaboration to help SMBs improve productivity and reduce costs.
"The 8x8 Virtual Room, powered by the Polycom UC Intelligent Core, will make it even easier for SMBs to get the most life-like video experience with the highest uptime," said Sue Hayden, executive vice president at Polycom. "The combination of Polycom's state of the art video technology with 8x8's high quality hosted IP communications services will provide SMBs with a unique and compelling opportunity to benefit from the same productivity and economic advantages enjoyed by larger enterprises using high-end telepresence systems. By offering UC Everywhere to the SMB market in a new cloud-based model, SMBs will have an unsurpassed experience that is affordable and easy to operate and not dependent on on-site IT resources to manage."
Utilizing 8x8's unified communications technologies, the service will make scheduling, initiating and managing continuous presence visual and high definition audio collaboration across multiple endpoints as simple as clicking on a web page or dialing into a conference bridge with the added appeal of a fixed low monthly fee for unlimited use. The 8x8 service will also eliminate the need for the customer to configure firewalls, open ports or utilize public IP addresses due to its advanced, built-in NAT/firewall traversal technologies. The offering will support multi-party continuous presence video conferencing services on a hosted, ad-hoc basis in a highly available and redundant manner, eliminating the need to purchase, maintain and operate expensive video bridging system.
"As many in the industry are aware, 8x8 has significant technological expertise in video communications which we've continued to leverage in current offerings such as our 8x8 Virtual Meeting web conferencing service," said Bryan Martin, chairman and CEO at 8x8. "We are very excited now to take this expertise to the next level with an accomplished and respected leader like Polycom that has already made tremendous strides developing and deploying industry-leading high definition voice and video platforms that scale from a single user up to large room conferencing equipment."
According to a Wainhouse Research study entitled "Benchmarking the Benefits of Videoconferencing Deployments," SMBs and their enterprise counterparts share similar views on the advantages of video conferencing including reduction in travel costs, downtime, training, recruitment times and sales related costs as well as the ability to improve teamwork and maintain communication with partners and suppliers.
"The SMB market is ripe for a practical, high performance video conferencing solution that is easy to install, manage, and use, yet doesn't cost a fortune," said Ira Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. "The combination of 8x8's IP communications services and Polycom's video conferencing products will address these requirements nicely, and should resonate quite well in the underserved SMB market."
8x8 will demonstrate this new video conferencing service at TEAM Polycom 2011, April 3 – 6 in Orlando, Florida. TEAM Polycom is Polycom's annual partner conference that brings together networking and communications industry leaders from around the globe.
About 8x8, Inc.
8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGHT) leverages its patented software technologies to deliver high quality voice solutions with integrated messaging and video to businesses of any size with employees in any location on a wide variety of business telephony, web and mobile platforms. 8x8 also offers managed hosting and cloud-based computing services. For additional information, visit www.8x8.com, or connect with 8x8 on Facebook and Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, without limitation, information about future events based on current expectations, potential product development efforts, near and long-term objectives, potential new business, strategies, organization changes, changing markets, future business performance and outlook. Such statements are predictions only, and actual events or results could differ materially from those made in any forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and trends may differ materially from historical results or those projected in any such forward-looking statements depending on a variety of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, customer acceptance and demand for our products and services, the reliability of our services, the prices for our services, customer renewal rates, customer acquisition costs, actions by our competitors, including price reductions for their telephone services, potential federal and state regulatory actions, compliance costs, potential warranty claims and product defects, our needs for and the availability of adequate working capital, our ability to innovate technologically, the timely supply of products by our contract manufacturers, potential future intellectual property infringement claims that could adversely affect our business and operating results, and our ability to retain our listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, as well as other reports that 8x8, Inc. files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and 8x8, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law, even as new information becomes available or other events occur in the future.
NOTE: The product plans, specifications and descriptions herein are provided for information only and subject to change without notice, and are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The parties reserve the right to modify future product plans at any time. Products and related specifications referenced herein are not guaranteed and will be delivered on a when and if available basis.