Plantronics, Inc. is an American electronics company – branded Poly to reflect its dual Plantronics and Polycom heritage – producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its products support unified communications, mobile use, gaming and music. Plantronics is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, and most of its products are produced in China and Mexico. On March 18, 2019, Plantronics announced that it would change its name to Poly following its acquisition of Polycom, although it continues to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as Plantronics, Inc.
Visit websiteThe company also licensed a variety of technologies, including 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.
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The SoundStation was superseded by the SoundStation 2 in 2004 when AT&T discontinued the AT&T DSP16A processor on which the original SoundStation was based. Building on technological advancements that occurred during the nearly 10-year period, the SoundStation 2 exhibited more features and improved sound transparency, although was 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 POTS speakerphone capable of 7 kHz audio or HD Voice operation over conventional telephone lines.
In December 2001, Polycom acquired ASPI networks,a company specializing in installed voice systems including the ASPI Vortex.With the 12-input and 12-output Vortex, Polycom's offerings could be extended to audio visual integrators who needed to handle many more microphones and speakers than traditional teleconferencing systems provided. 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. In 2006, Polycom introduced its Communicator, the C100S, which was the industry's first HD Voice speakerphone for a PC.
In 1998, the firm entered the circuit-switched desktop phone business with a line of SoundPoint phones. In the third quarter of 2001, it entered the IP desktop phone business with the SoundPoint IP product line, starting with the SoundPoint IP500. Polycom VoIP phones use the open standard session initiation protocol (SIP) to work with different call control platforms.
In 2007, Polycom acquired SpectraLink Corp., whose product lines consisted of Wi-Fi and proprietary wireless telephone systems, as well as the KIRK 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, for which the company offered an open API for third-party developers.
In 2009, the firm introduced two video-enabled voice products. One was the VVX 1500 business media phone, which combines a personal video conferencing system with a voice over IP (VoIP) telephone having HD Voice and an open API and Web browser. It also launched the CX5000, a table-mounted video and audio conferencing console with a 360-degree camera, 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.
Also in 2011, Polycom announced that they had shipped their 4 millionth conference phone.
In 2012 the Wi-Fi and DECT products were divested to a new company called Spectralink, spinning it off to Sun Capital Partners for about $110 million.