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Toyota Accelerates in Australian Marketplace Through Polycom Video Communications Innovation

Polycom, aleading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, has announced that Australia’s largest car exporter, Toyota, has harnessed the power of Polycom video conferencing technology at its new high-tech $50 million Corporate HQ in Victoria to enable seamless communications between offices around Australia and in Japan.

– Video conferencing technology has provided us with smarter communications solutions to time-critical business challenges and radically improved communication methods and productivity, says James Scott, corporate manager, IT operations at Toyota Australia. – Using video conferencing for visual communications — especially between Australia and Japan — offers us effective solutions far more quickly than a succession of phone calls could.

The new Port Melbourne headquarters, which form part of a significant capital investment by the company in the Australian automotive marketplace since 1994, reflect Toyotas long term position as Australias number one automotive company with leading edge technology and modern, sustainable design principles. The new building offers 340 staff fully converged IP telephony solutions, video conferencing technology, wireless infrastructure, unified messaging (voice, fax, email) and a specially designed foyer kiosk designed to assist visitors to the building.

– Integrated communications are vital between our Australian and Japanese operations, so implementing an advanced video conferencing solution to drive the business in years to come was a key priority, says Scott. – The planning of our new corporate headquarters provided a catalyst for selecting and implementing a – best in class – suite of video conferencing equipment that could achieve this.

In order to identify the best solution for the business, Toyota researched and trialed a number of systems, evaluating each against exacting cost, quality and delivery criteria. Polycom, an existing supplier of five years, and value-added reseller Vantage were chosen to implement a video conference solution throughout the business. An IT team was assembled in April 2004 to implement the project.

The resulting high-tech facilities reflect Toyota’s commitment to technology innovation, and include 22 Polycom video conferencing systems within their Australian network, three of which are Polycom’s flagship IP-ready VSX(TM) units, offering a state-of-the-art platform for high quality collaboration and video conferencing from the desktop to the conference room.

– Polycoms video conferencing solution enables Toyota Australia staff and customers to undertake communications that are more immediate, accessible and relevant to day-to-day challenges, says James Anderson, Polycom Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand. – Larger, international meetings are now more efficient and cost effective, and increased content sharing has allowed faster understanding and decision making processes between offices.

Within the new Port Melbourne building boardroom four fixed cameras ensure perfect visual delivery for one-on-ones or meetings with up to 20 participants. At the heart of the building is the main auditorium, with its video conferencing capabilities enabling as many as 500 people to participate in a video conferences for major company announcements and launches. A further video conferencing-enabled meeting room contains two cameras and a big screen, enabling meeting organizers to share pictures and content with participants worldwide.

Video conferencing has also delivered impressive benefits to Toyotas customers, with the company able to quickly provide video-linked meetings between regional and national offices and key dealers for updates or when issues arise.

Staff members wishing to use the video conference facilities simply register their bookings through a Polycom MGC(TM)-25 bridge, a multi-network, multipoint and gateway conferencing solution, with a Vantage help desk service guarding against double bookings.

– Continuing to work with Polycom through Vantage made sound business sense when we looked at our strategic technology needs, concludes Scott. – The solution has comprehensively delivered on our original objectives and we are now looking to broaden the capacity of the MGC-25 to include more users. In addition, we are investigating upgrading our Sydney operations to an IP-based system, the adoption of an audio conferencing system and the potential of ‘PC to PC’ desktop video conferencing.

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. Polycoms high quality, standards-based conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use.

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Thu. March 28th, 2024

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