Polycom deals with HP and others could mean major videoconferencing boost for webOS 17

HP has announced an agreement to sell its Visual Collaboration business to Polycom, one of the leading providers of teleconferencing and videoconferencing systems and services. What makes this transaction so interesting and important for our community is the ongoing strategic relationship that is expected to result from the deal:

In conjunction with this acquisition, HP and Polycom have agreed to establish a strategic relationship in which Polycom will serve as an exclusive partner to HP for telepresence and certain video UC solutions, including both resale and internal HP deployments. The two companies have also agreed to make available Polycom's video applications for HP's WebOS platform.

Polycom has also just announced a new Open Visual Communications Consortium:

The broadest visual communications exchange of its kind, the new Open Visual Communications Consortium™ (OVCC™) organization will provide high-quality connectivity across service provider networks, making it easy for businesses, governments, universities, healthcare institutions, and other organizations using telepresence and video conferencing to connect with each other whenever they want without networking headaches. OVCC will be the first to establish a global standards-based, multi-vendor, multi-network visual communication exchange. Unlike proprietary exchanges, OVCC members plan to support the full spectrum of video systems from immersive telepresence and room-based systems, high definition and standard definition, followed by desktop clients and mobile devices.

The founding members of the OVCC include Airtel, AT&T, BCS Global, BT Conferencing, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Global Crossing, Glowpoint, iFormata Communications, Masergy, Orange Business Services, PCCW Global, Telefonica, Telstra, and Verizon.

Both Polycom announcements are being discussed in a live Webcast beginning today at 11 a.m. Eastern.

Given that the TouchPad has a front-facing camera, and the Pre 3 has two cameras (front and rear), both are immediately capable of videoconferencing as well as teleconferencing. Having these and other webOS devices be compatible with the hugely popular Polycom systems throughout the corporate world will further boost webOS' appeal to the enterprise.