Vidyo, MS Team Up on Video Conferencing

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Vidyo, Inc., the first company to deliver personal telepresence, today announced support for Microsoft Lync, which will enable Lync users to quickly and easily initiate and participate in HD multiparty Vidyo conferences. Vidyo's market-changing video communications and collaboration platform features a unique architecture that enables natural multi-point video conferencing over the Internet at price points not available from legacy providers. With Vidyo's support for Microsoft Lync, users will now be able to access Vidyo's personal telepresence by simply selecting it from within their Lync desktop application. Vidyo's Microsoft Lync Plug-In is also backward compatible with Microsoft OCS 2007.

"Vidyo's Plug-In for Microsoft Lync provides users with an exceptional 'personal telepresence' experience, allowing them to have easy access to the same low latency and exceptional video fidelity on multiparty conferences that, until now, was confined to costly and location-limited telepresence rooms," said Ofer Shapiro, Vidyo's co-founder and CEO. "Vidyo's platform enables personal telepresence, and an important part of our strategy is to integrate it with leading platforms such as Microsoft Lync for ad-hoc calls or Microsoft Outlook for planned meetings. Vidyo now delivers plug-ins for IBM Sametime, Adobe Connect and Microsoft Lync and Outlook."

Vidyo's plug-in connects Microsoft Lync with the VidyoDesktop client, providing end-users with the ability to initiate Vidyo conferences using their Lync-based contacts and other unified communications capabilities, while updating presence status automatically when users start and end Vidyo conferences. Instant Messaging sessions can be escalated to Vidyo's multiparty conference by clicking on the Vidyo icon in the Microsoft Lync desktop to provide users with a seamless and high-quality video conferencing experience. When the user clicks on the "VidyoConferencing button from a pull-down menu or presence icon for a given contact in Microsoft Lync, the contact is automatically invited to the user's Vidyo meeting room, and a "guest hyper-link" is provided if the contact is not a registered Vidyo user. Additionally, Vidyo enabled users can connect easily with customers, partners and vendors outside of their Lync network using the same 'guest hyper-link' mechanism, offering simple connectivity to virtually anyone. Information regarding Lync can be found at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/.

Vidyo has also simplified scheduling and guest participant invitations with a separate plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. While generating a calendar invite for a meeting, users can simply click the VidyoConferencing button on their Outlook tool bar to add a URL that takes invited guests directly into the user's virtual meeting room, providing easy one-click access for invitees.

Since all Vidyo technology and products deliver superior IP network error-resiliency, the Vidyo platform accessed through the plug-in enables IT managers deploying Lync to eliminate the costly dedicated networks and equipment necessary to achieve high-quality, multi-party video conferences with other video solutions. VidyoConferencing also enables teleworking or traveling participants to be included from outside the corporate network using just the Internet, and through firewalls with the VidyoProxy.

Vidyo is the first and only low-latency, highly error-resilient software-based, multi-party 'telepresence' quality video conferencing and collaboration solution that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time via the Internet and other general IP networks. Its unique VidyoRouter architecture provides rate and resolution matching for each endpoint while dynamically adapting to changing bandwidth. This means Lync users will receive the best quality video communication possible via any network. Vidyo's technology, based on H.264 SVC standard, is a key advancement in making natural, high quality video conferencing universally available over the Internet, 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi networks. Vidyo platform partners include HP, Ricoh, Google, Hitachi, Teliris and Intel.

Vidyo Inc.