an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message polycom type public nasdaq plcm acquisition by siris capital group pending industry telecommunication founded 1990 headquarters san jose california u.s. key people ceo mary t. mcdowell evp michael frendo products collaboration video voice and content teleconference telecommunications telepresence and infrastructure software hardware and services revenue us 1.5 billion 2011 net income us 136 million 2011 1 number of employees 3 800 website www.polycom.com polycom is an american multinational corporation that develops video voice and content collaboration and communication technology . the firm employs approximately 3 800 employees 2 and had annual revenues of approximately 1.4 billion in 2013 . it is the largest pure play collaboration company in its industry . the company also licenses h. 264 video codecs siren codecs session initiation protocol native 1080p high definition cameras and displays native 720p and 1080p high definition encoding decoding low latency architecture and low bandwidth utilization wideband advanced audio coding with low delay aac ld multichannel spatial audio with echo cancellation and interference filters to eliminate feedback from mobile devices and inter operation with legacy video conferencing . 3 in july 2016 it was announced that the company was being taken private by private equity firm siris capital group . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 company history 1.2 acquisitions 1.3 company product trajectory 1.4 polycom video 1.5 polycom audio and voice 2 references 3 external links history edit company history edit polycom was co founded in 1990 by brian l hinman and jeffrey rodman who were colleagues at picturetel corp. 5 in 2016 telecommunications executive mary mcdowell was named as its chief executive officer . 6 acquisitions edit polycom s development occurred both by internal means and by the acquisition of other companies . acquisition date company acquired company business reference january 1998 viavideo communications inc. appliance based video communications systems 7 december 1999 atlas communications engines inc integrated access device and dsl routers 8 february 2001 accord networks provider of next generation rich media network products 9 april 2001 circa communications ip telephony products 10 october 2001 picturetel pc based video communications systems 11 december 2001 aspi digital installed voice systems 12 june 2002 meetu web collaboration software 13 january 2003 vcas software from agt video scheduling and management software january 2004 voyant technologies voice conferencing and collaboration network solutions 14 august 2005 dst media china based video networking company 15 january 2007 destiny conferencing immersive telepresence 16 march 2007 spectralink and kirk telecom workplace wireless telephony 17 march 2011 accordent technologies rich media streaming and management solutions 18 october 2011 vivu inc video collaboration software 19 note 1 june 2011 hp and polycom announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which polycom will acquire the assets of hp s visual collaboration hpvc business including the halo products and managed services business of hpvc . on april 15 2016 polycom announced that rival mitel networks would purchase them for 1.96 billion . mitel a smaller company based in ottawa canada pays a lower tax rate . the acquisition may be an example of tax inversion where a smaller company purchases a larger company to get the tax benefits of the smaller companies location . 20 21 in july 2016 the mitel deal was scrapped and instead the company took an all cash offer from ny city based private equity firm siris capital group . 4 company product trajectory edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message polycom s first products to market were audio conferencing speakerphones . soon after the company added content sharing video conferencing and video network and bridging products . polycom video edit polycom vsx 7000 unit with dual displays . polycom entered the video conferencing market in 1998 . polycom introduced the viewstation product line which included models with embedded multipoint capabilities content sharing capabilities and support for the emerging h. 323 ip network protocol . in 2000 polycom introduced a personal desktop video conferencing appliance called viavideo . the compact device was essentially a web cam with inboard processing capabilities to offset the compute limitations of most desktop and laptop computers at the time . as computer processing power increased polycom transitioned the desktop solution to a software based client called polycom pvx . in february 2001 polycom acquired accord networks 22 which offered the mgc 100 line . in october 2001 it acquired picturetel . 23 polycom digital tabletop microphone with mute button in 2006 polycom introduced its first high definition video conferencing system . soon after it announced the polycom realpresence experience rpx immersive telepresence solution a room within a room telepresence environment based on the design by destiny conferencing formerly telesuites which polycom acquired 24 in january 2007 . in february 2007 the firm introduced a new bridge platform called rmx 2000 designed to support high definition and telepresence applications . it also expanded its telepresence and hd video product lines in 2007 with the polycom telepresence experience solutions and new executive desktop solutions expanded its line of room based conference rooms . in 2008 polycom delivered the polycom converged management application cma a video network and system management application for provisioning and managing video networks . the cma includes an application for broadscale desktop video called cma desktop . later that year the firm introduced the distributed media application dma 7000 a network based application that manages and distributes multipoint video calls within an enterprise network environment . toward the end of 2008 polycom also announced its plans to support higher resolution 1080p and 720p at 60 frames per second same frame rate as tv across its visual communication product line endpoints telepresence solutions and infrastructure solutions . during 2010 the firm introduced a new immersive telepresence solution the polycom open telepresence experience otx 300 providing collaboration including 1080p using half the bandwidth of other comparable systems . polycom audio and voice edit polycom soundstation ip 4000 sip conference phone the first soundstation conference phone shipped in 1992 . the original device was followed by versions offering extended performance soundstation premier premier satellite soundstation ex . the soundstation first shipped internationally to the uk in 1993 followed by other products and an expanding list of countries . the soundstation was superseded by the soundstation 2 in 2004 when at & t discontinued its dsp16a processor on which the original machine was based . due to technological advancements during the nearly 10 year period the soundstation 2 exhibited more features and sound transparency although still limited to 3 khz audio bandwidth due to its conventional analog pots connection . it was supplemented by the soundstation 2w wireless speakerphone which was a dect system wdct in north america and by the soundstation vtx1000 wired speakerphone the first such speakerphone capable of 7 khz audio operation over conventional telephone lines . in december 2001 polycom acquired aspi networks 25 a company specializing in installed voice systems . polycom worked with a large number of audio visual integrators offering its vortex product . in 2007 polycom introduced the vortex successor the polycom soundstructure series . in the first quarter of 2001 polycom introduced its first voice over ip conference phone the soundstation ip 4000 . in 2008 the soundstation ip 6000 and soundstation ip 7000 models were introduced both offering polycom s hd voice and acoustic clarity technology . in 2003 the firm introduced its first hd voice product the soundstation vtx 1000 conference phone . polycom hd voice is wideband audio audio bandwidth extension to 7 14 20 and 22 khz offering more than twice the clarity of narrowband voice 3 khz . in 2006 polycom introduced its communicator the c100s which was the industry s first wideband speakerphone for a pc . in 1998 the firm entered the circuit switched desktop phone business with a line of its soundpoint phones . in the third quarter of 2001 it entered the ip desktop phone business with the soundpoint ip 500 . because it does not manufacture its own call server polycom phones use session initiation protocol sip to connect to more than 25 different call control platforms . today the firm offers a full line of desktop ip phones from the entry level to a color display full featured hd voice first introduced to the soundpoint line in 2006 applications enabled phone . in 2007 polycom acquired spectralink corp. 26 whose product lines consisted of wi fi and proprietary wireless telephone systems as well as the kirk digital enhanced cordless telephony dect product line . in 2008 polycom added applications enablement to its soundstation and soundpoint ip phones . the first product to market was the company s productivity suite which the company currently offers an open api for third party developers . in 2009 the firm introduced two video enabled products . the vvx 1500 business media phone which combines a personal video conferencing system with a voice over ip voip telephone with polycom hd voice and an open application programming interface api and web browser for real time delivery of personalized web content and integration with business applications . it also launched the cx5000 unified conferencing station by licensing the distribution rights for microsoft roundtable . in 2011 polycom announced the vvx 500 a voip business media phone with a gesture based touchscreen interface and the capability to play full screen html5 video embedded in web pages . the vvx 500 has a 320x240 3.5 inch display making it smaller than the vvx 1500 in screen size but also in desktop footprint . 27 also in 2011 polycom announced that they had shipped their 4 millionth conference phone . citation needed in 2012 the wi fi and dect products were divested to a new company called spectralink references edit polycom reports fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011 earnings company polycom . polycom inc. polycom . 2012 01 23 . retrieved 2012 05 03 . company overview polycom inc . retrieved 22 april 2014 . http www.forbes.com sites sarahcohen 2014 03 26 polycom repositioned a b valuation quirks help end proposed polycom mitel merger . nytimes.com . 2016 07 11 . retrieved 2016 07 11 . polycom company profile . broad connect telecom . retrieved 3 march 2015 . polycom inc september 7 2016 . brief mary mcdowell named ceo of polycom effective completing acquisition by siris . reuters . retrieved august 9 2016 . ... mary mcdowell named ceo of polycom effective as of the closing of the acquisition of polycom by affiliates of siris ... . polycom announces agreement to acquire viavideo communications . june 11 1997 polycom to acquire atlas communication engines cambridge telcom report nov 22 1999 polycom purchases accord network ltd. december 18th 2000 polycom purchases circa communication ltd. april 2001 polycom to acquire picturetel corporation . may 2001 polycom to acquire aspi digital . december 2001 polycom to purchase meetu . june 2002 polycom to acquire voyant technologies . november 2003 polycom purchases dst media . august 25 2007 polycom purchases destiny conferencing . january 8 2007 polycom purchases spectralink and kirk telecom . march 26 2007 polycom acquires accordent video content management technology . august 25 2007 http techcrunch.com 2011 10 17 video collaboration software maker vivu acquired by polycom 1 mitel announces definitive agreement to acquire polycom nasdaq.com . nasdaq.com . retrieved 2016 04 15 . polycom inc. to purchase accord networks ltd. for 13.67 times revenue . polycom inc. bnet . 2000 12 18 . retrieved 2010 07 23 . polycom to acquire picturetel corporation for approximately 362 million in stock and cash . polycom inc. ivci . 2001 05