17 June 2009. PSAV Presentation Services, the leading supplier of audiovisual and event technology support to hotels, associations, producers and meeting planners worldwide, is deploying high-definition (HD) telepresence from Polycom. PSAV and Polycom demonstrated these capabilities last week at the InfoComm AV trade show.

With Polycom Ttelepresence, PSAV is enabling businesses to cost-effectively extend the reach of events and host sales conferences, industry events and other meetings at a time when eight out of 10 companies are cutting back on business travel.

Brian Lagestee, senior vice president of technology and business development at PSAV. "Polycom telepresence offers us a way to recapture the part of the industry that has evaporated in the economic downturn. The initial response has been tremendous."

Many businesses and associations are downsizing their budgets for gatherings. With Telepresence, meeting planners can reduce the financial and productivity impact of traditional meetings – without sacrificing the crucial elements of interactivity, collaboration and face-to-face communication. For instance, instead of bringing 300 people to one central location, event hosts can bring 100 people to three regional locations and connect them all through telepresence.

Telepresence is also an effective way to enhance the content of events by bringing in high-value keynote speakers more cost-effectively. It can also serve as a contingency plan when event speakers or large groups of participants are unable to travel for any number of reasons.

In a strategic move to extend its offerings among more than 800 luxury hotels, resorts and conference centers, PSAV is investing in Polycom HDX 8000™ room Telepresence systems, which allow people to meet and work together naturally across distances with an UltimateHD™ experience including HD video, HD stereo audio and sharing of multimedia HD content.

PSAV supplies hotels and other event venues with audiovisual equipment and expertise from its network of 32 regional Event Services facilities throughout the United States and Canada. Its initial roll-out of Polycom HDX 8000 systems will target its largest U.S. markets, though PSAV expects to outfit all 32 Event Services facilities with Polycom solutions. Eventually, the company plans to make Telepresence available in some of their locations internationally.

PSAV is also leveraging the Polycom RMX 2000™ media conferencing platform for greater scale and flexibility for meetings and events. PSAV plans to offer Telepresence to bring new cost efficiencies to small meetings to large, general session-style events involving hundreds of participants in each location.

PSAV chose Polycom after evaluating proposals from six vendors and testing solutions from two finalists. Among the reasons for choosing Polycom: superior features, including full HD support for the entire user experience; and Polycom's Lost Packet Recovery™ and support of open standards, ensuring the ability to interoperate across platforms. The Polycom systems are also portable and easy to use – both essential criteria for PSAV.

PSAV is the leading supplier of audiovisual and event technology to hotels, associations, producers and meeting planners worldwide. With over 800 luxury hotels, resorts and conference centers worldwide, PSAV is totally committed to making every live event an unforgettable experience. PSAV's goal is to turn ordinary meetings into memorable experiences so the message lasts. For more, please visit: www.psav.com.

PSAV sees Polycom HD Ttelepresence as a way to remain the market leader in an environment that seems to present one challenge after another.