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Sphere Communications, Polycom and Adtech Global Solutions Partner to Deliver New Government-Certified Business Communications System

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 12:00 CST

Sphericall IP PBX with Polycom IP Phones Certified By the U.S. Department Of Defense - Now Available To Commercial Businesses

Sphere Communications Inc. unveiled an IP PBX solution for small and medium businesses at the Spring VON conference this week with partners Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCM), and Adtech Global Solutions (AGS). Named the Sphere Business Communications System, the solution is based on the Sphericall IP PBX (Release 5) and features integration with Polycom's award-winning line of SoundPoint(R) IP desktop and SoundStation(R) IP conference phones. The system delivers business users high quality audio from a range of desktop, premium speaker and conference room phones, along with desktop video, text messaging, unified communications, presence, on-demand conferencing, recording and more.

Sphere (VON Booth #140) and Polycom (VON Booth #317) recently announced success in receiving the stringent Joint Interoperability Test Command certification required for deployments in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The Joint Interoperability Test Command certification tests for security, reliability, performance and interoperability. The Business Communications System is based on this combined solution and Sphere has partnered with AGS to deliver this for commercial businesses.

"Every business should demand a system to have passed the same high level of testing as required by the DoD," said Graeme Robinson, President, Sphere Communications Inc. "The Sphere Business Communications System delivers just that with the highest quality IP telephones available in the marketplace."

"The Sphere Business Communications System has hundreds of advanced features that businesses expect but often find missing in other IP PBX solutions," added Todd Landry, Senior Vice President, Sphere Communications Inc. "The system includes a rich set of web services allowing the communications capabilities of the IP PBX to be integrated into other business applications."

"We are excited about our relationship with Sphere and this latest offering for the small and medium-size enterprise market," said Sunil Bhalla, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Voice Communications, Polycom, Inc. "The combination of our products has created a solution that meets stringent government standards, and we are now bringing this to the commercial business world."

Adtech Global Solutions (www.adtechglobal.com) is leveraging its expertise in packaging the products and will provide professional services and support. Adtech Global Solutions will also provide a set of pre-configuration and staging services that significantly reduce the time it takes to install and turn on the new phone system. The result is a single point of access for a professional grade business communications system.

"We are thrilled to be able to announce this alliance between our three companies," Tim Shadburn, CEO of Adtech Global Solutions, said. "This opportunity gives AGS the chance to showcase what we do best: offer state-of-the-art server solutions along with our outstanding Professional Services and Support packages which compliment the hardware we deliver. We are proud to be associated with two industry-leading, high-caliber technology providers like Sphere and Polycom, and we look forward to delivering this comprehensive, powerful bundled package to SMB businesses."

At the heart of the system is the Sphere Business Communications Server, a pre-installed server providing completely integrated IP PBX functionality. The system is able to grow one line at a time from the smallest of configurations scaling up to meet the needs of even the largest businesses. The new Business Communications System consists of several modular components, allowing businesses to easily adapt the system to their own communications' needs. Polycom provides three business class desktop SoundPoint(R) IP phones, which offer rich feature support through a combination of intuitive hard and soft keys with large graphical displays, and the industry leading SoundPoint IP 4000 SIP conference phone. Sphere provides several modular plug-and-play gateways that provide support for analog telephones, digital or analog PSTN connectivity, as well as a 60 person conference bridge appliance.

The Business Communications System will be available in April with a new set of partner programs for resellers that want to focus on a secure, reliable, and easy to deliver communications system for their clients.

About Sphere Communications

Sphere Communications is the first to deliver IP PBX technology as a business application for Service Oriented Architecture. A software company, Sphere delivers the most robust IP-based software communications technology available in the marketplace. The Sphericall platform hosts an extremely rich PBX feature set and is proven in deployments that scale to more than 20,000 users. Sphere provides OEMs, ISVs and application developers with the Sphericall Web Services SDK, enabling communications to be easily integrated into business applications and purpose-built communications systems. Founded in 1994, Sphere Communications is headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois and provides its products to a wide variety of customers worldwide. For more information please see the Sphere Communications web site at www.spherecom.com or contact us at 1-888-774-3732.

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications (UCC) that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations by integrating the broadest array of video, voice, data and Web solutions to deliver the ultimate communications experience. Polycom's high quality, standards-based conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use. Supported by an open architecture, they integrate seamlessly with leading telephony and presence-based networks. With its market-driving technologies, best-in-class products, alliance partnerships, and world-class service, Polycom is the smart choice for organizations seeking proven solutions and a competitive advantage in real-time communications and collaboration. For additional information call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or +1-408-526-9000, or visit the Polycom Web site at www.polycom.com.

About Adtech Global Solutions

Adtech Global Solutions (AGS) is a leading provider of server hardware and integration services for independent software vendors (ISVs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), resellers and end customers. AGS offers end-to-end solutions ranging from initial system engineering and manufacturing to complete system configuration, certification, and onsite implementation. AGS supports the solutions it sells with up to 24/7 phone coverage and 2-hour onsite response. Following stringent quality processes, AGS ensures that the delivered solutions meet and exceed the expectations of our partners and customers around the world. AGS works with major software and systems companies in a number of vertical markets, including computer telephony, VoIP, security, health care, broadcast and military/government-based industries. AGS designs, builds and deploys supported turnkey and embedded solutions to industry-leading OEM partners and through strategic ISV partners to corporations throughout the world, including more than half of the Fortune 100. Adtech Global Solutions, a privately held corporation, has offices in Atlanta, Hong Kong, London, Phoenix, Sydney, Tampa and Toronto, with its worldwide headquarters located in Alpharetta, Ga. For more information, please visit www.adtechglobal.com.

Sphere and the Sphere logo are registered trademarks and Sphericall is a trademark of Sphere Communications, Inc. Polycom, the Polycom logo, SoundPoint and SoundStation are registered trademarks of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Source: Business Wire

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