Polycom scores telepresence win with German pharma Merck

Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) scored a big win this week, selling German pharmaceutical firm Merck on its immersive telepresence solution.

Merck, which recently acquired Boston-based biotech and chemical firm Millipore, said it expects to save money--and wear and tear on its executives--by using the system to cut down on business travel between its German headquarters and the United States.

Merck, an existing Polycom customer, has contracted for the company's hi-def Open Telepresence Experience for its company headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and at its Millipore office. The system includes three 65-inch LCD monitors embedded in a unique telepresence room. The FSTVs use Merck-designed, polymer-stabilized vertical alignment liquid crystals, which will save energy, Polycom said.

Merck believes that the new Polycom systems will be amortized quickly because of savings on long-distance travel costs; it said cutting 50 business trips will pay for the new system.

The telepresence and videoconferencing market continues to grow as companies look to contain costs. Expectations are that some 75 percent of companies will adopt some form of videoconferecing or telepresence by 2012. Earlier this year, Infonetics Research said revenues in the segment would increase at least 20 percent in Europe alone. Research firm Ovum, meanwhile, said it expects the videoconferencing segment to be a $3.8 billion business by 2016.

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