HP Sells Visual Collaboration Biz for $89 Million
Polycom set to acquire HP's video conferencing business unit as competition with Cisco heats up.
HP (NYSE:HPQ) is selling its visual collaboration business unit to Polycom (NASDAQ:PLCM). The deal is valued at $89 million and is expected to close by August 1st.
The moves by Polycom now place the company into more direct competition with Cisco, which has been very active in the space in recent years. Cisco acquired telepresence vendor Tandberg in 2010 for $3.3 billion.
Cisco doesn't appear to be all that worried about the new competitive forces that are aligned against them.
"In just under five years, Cisco has gone from zero to 47 percent telepresence marketshare while HP has failed to build any credible presence in collaboration," David Hsieh, vice president, Telepresence Marketing, Cisco said in an statement sent to InternetNews.com. "Regardless of the vendor, innovation and a commitment to customers are critical for success in this rapidly growing collaboration space and Cisco’s strategy to offer customers one of the largest portfolios of interoperable telepresence solutions for their unique needs is paying off."
