{"id":4933,"date":"2021-04-26T09:27:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T16:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=4933"},"modified":"2021-04-26T09:27:45","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T16:27:45","slug":"four-years-of-poly-realconnect-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/four-years-of-poly-realconnect-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Four Strong Years of Poly RealConnect Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, we are celebrating four years of Poly RealConnect, our cloud video interoperability as-a-service that connects traditional videoconferencing systems to Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business meetings. Originally launched as an on-premises-based video solution to support Microsoft Lync, RealConnect evolved into a cloud-based service to support our customer\u2019s interoperability needs for Skype for Business and eventually Teams. Four years in, this service is still going strong \u2013 in fact, this year we\u2019ve witnessed our highest volume of service usage to date, as organizations begin their return to the office and conference room usage has increased.<\/p>\n

With all the momentum behind our RealConnect Service, I thought I\u2019d take the opportunity to reflect on the past four years and share what we are looking forward to in the future.<\/p>\n

THE ORIGIN OF REALCONNECT<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Before RealConnect existed, there were multiple so-called \u201cgateway services\u201d which brought Microsoft (in this case Lync 2013) users into their respective non-Microsoft bridging services. The problem was that while they did allow Microsoft clients to connect to meetings with videoconferencing endpoints, they created new problems. Namely, unfamiliar and confusing scheduling workflow and an unfamiliar video experience that disoriented users. Poly \"AdamRealConnect solved these problems by introducing a clever way of utilizing the familiar Outlook scheduling process and by keeping the video meeting experience intact. Poly\u2019s own Adam Jacobs, Principal Architect for Microsoft solutions, patented this scheduling mechanism, which laid the foundation of the cloud video interoperability services that we see today.<\/p>\n

VIDEO INTEROPERABILITY AS-A-SERVICE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Poly was Microsoft\u2019s first cloud video interoperability partner, starting with Skype for Business, then Microsoft Teams support was added to enable customers to smoothly transition without any disruption. This cloud-based approach was critical in lowering the initial entry cost and speeding up ROI for our customers, driving a huge uptick in the cloud-based subscriptions relative to on-premises based. And after Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online is going to be retired after July 31, 2021, we have seen steady growth of Microsoft Teams-based meetings in our service. In fact, we are seeing more than 99% of RealConnect calls are for Microsoft Teams meetings since mid-2020.<\/p>\n

REALCONNECT SERVICE\u2019S ROLE GOING FORWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poly is the only cloud video interoperability partner that also offers an end-to-end portfolio of native Microsoft Teams solutions including Microsoft Teams Rooms<\/a><\/span> \u2013 and we\u2019ve helped hundreds of customers transition to native Teams video. Last October, Microsoft reported 115 million active daily Teams users and we\u2019re seeing strong demand for Teams-certified meeting room and personal solutions. At the same time, we\u2019ve seen a steady rise in RealConnect service minutes \u2013 logging a record-breaking number of minutes in March 2021<\/strong>. And we believe these numbers will stay strong, especially as more companies return to the office and as the retirement of Skype for Business Online approaches. Additionally, each company has its own schedule to deprecate videoconferencing books, and RealConnect Service will support an organic transition to Microsoft Teams solutions. This is especially true, as we are surprised to see a huge diversity of endpoints that connect to our service \u2014 we have recorded more than 200 types of systems to date!<\/p>\n

Regardless of your timeline or where your organization stands in its transition to Microsoft Teams, Poly can help you with RealConnect video interoperability, and multiple Teams-related services<\/a><\/span> available from Poly Professional Services team.\u00a0 Here\u2019s to a strong four years with Poly RealConnect Service \u2013 looking forward to more great years to come.<\/p>\n

For more information visit Poly.com<\/a> or contact us at TeamMicrosoft@poly.com<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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