Polycom Vs Cisco – Which One Understands Your Business Communication Needs?

Getting a reliable one brand fits all for all your business communication needs enables you concentrate on your core business without having to run after many suppliers. How do you settle for that one brand that will bring you a communication peace of mind?

Both Polycom and Cisco have a worldwide footprint. Whereas Cisco has a diverse products working well together, Polycom specializes on fewer products that are interoperable and open to multiple vendors. Both companies have many awards under their belt, and products and solutions for all your voice, video and integration/collaboration needs. So, which Polycom Vs Cisco brand will understand you?

What are the differences between Polycom and Cisco?

Polycom
Cisco
Year Founded
1990
1984
Optimization
Open source SIP system
Proprietary Cisco Call Manager
Product Categories
Products and services categorized by environment
Products and services categorized by small business, medium business
Notable Aquisitions
Vivu, Destiny conferencing, Accodent Technologies
Linksys, IronPort, WebEx
Major Products
SoundStation IP Conference phones,  Siren Codecs, VVX phones, OTX,  Polycom RealPresence
Unified management/Data, Cisco United Fabric, WebEx, Cisco Telepresence
Affordability
Generally, higher priced
More affordable
Product and Service Range
HD telepresence and Video, Conferencing and desktop voice solutions, UC infrastructure, Software and Accessories, Microsoft products, Customer care, professional and partner services.
Telepresence, Video, Wireless, Unified communications and computing, Cloud and System management collaboration, Application networking services, WebEx collaboration, routing, Data center and virtualization services, Switching, Storage networking etc

Polycom Vs Cisco – How Do They Compare?

Polycom was founded in 1990, while Cisco was founded in 1984. Both have had major acquisitions through the years. In 2018 Polycom was acquired by Plantronics, forming Poly, which has continued to develop quality voice, video and content collaboration in addition to communication technology. Cisco develops, manufactures and sells telecommunications equipment, networking software and hardware, and other high technology products and services. How do these two companies compare?

Product Categories

Whereas Cisco is broad based in its product offering, Polycom is more focused, concentrating on offering better solutions to specific use. As such, Polycom users get to choose services or products appropriate to their environment in home/work office, mobile, theatre or conferencing.  On the contrary, Cisco offers products and services targeting the size of the user’s business i.e. small or medium enterprises. In other words, Cisco offers broad and all-encompassing products while Polycom specializes in their strong suite.

Meeting Room Experience

When it comes to virtual meetings, Polycom’s RealPresence competes well with giants like WebEx and Go To. Its ease of use, intuition and improved user experience makes it popular with users. It not only offers quality audio and video calls, but also improved settings – like canceling of background noise, and ability to attach a file during chats. This makes it ideal for office meetings. RealPresence also doesn’t need lots of bandwidth, so users don’t need to shut down other apps when in call. It however has glitches when internet connection is poor. The browser version is extremely popular as it saves on installation and logging in every time a different PC is used. It is advisable to have technical support at the initial set up, especially for iOS users.RealPresence serves well organizations with more than 25 staff who have regular virtual meetings.

Cisco WebEx offers lag-free teleconferencing with stable internet, possibility of recording a chat for future reference and ability to connect through either web app, desktop or android phone – to mention just a few great features. It’s also easy to use and has an intuitive user interface. It integrates well with Microsoft outlook, web browsers and Microsoft office. For companies that have already invested in Cisco call manager, Cisco conference call units would be a natural solution. Otherwise, the cost of registration and costs/ infrastructure on cloud or on-prem would be inhibitive.

Affordability

Polycom phones and products are of high end quality and easy to program, but they cost relatively more than Ciscos. Cisco phone builds are not as tough as Polycom. Their Linksys phones especially have very poor audio quality, in comparison with Polycom.

PolyCom Vs Cisco – A Comparison Overview

Polycom Overview

Polycom’s wide array of voice, video and telepresence solutions and services connects people- from their mobile settings, desktops, classrooms and meeting rooms. This virtual face-to-face collaborationcuts down on costs, time and carbon emissions associated with physically bringing the right people in one venue.

Polycom products boast of delivering the clearest sound to each participant in every location, thus optimizing productivity. These products include:

  • Conference phones
  • Desks phones
  • Portable speakerphones
  • VoIP adapters
  • Mobile phone stations
  • Phone accessories

Desk Phones: Polycom CCX 600

Polycom CX600 IP Phone Polycom CX600 IP Phone 2200-15987-025 POE (Power Supply Not Included)
  • 802.3af POE (Power Over Ethernet) Power supply sold separately
  • On-Screen Presence Status Indicators

Polycom’s industry-leading VoIP phones are easy to set up, use and come equipped with excellent sound quality and unmatched proprietary technologies. They are optimized to run on upwards of 60 IP and UC cloud platforms.

The Polycom CCX 600 is a high performance business media desk phone suited for business executives, managers and any other high volume staff requiring maneuverability room.

The phone comes with a large 7-inch touchscreen LED display and the legendary audio technology that ensures conversations stay on track! Powerful chipsets supporting next generation features including Noiseblock AI makes the phone responsive and fast. The phone is designed to include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 2 USB ports, making headsets connection easy because the phone comes with the option of a headset or not.

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Conference Phones:Polycom Trio C60

Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800 IP Conference Phone - Replaces Polycom IP7000
  • Conference Phone Flexibility: Video conferencing and content sharing can be easily added, ensuring...
  • Outstanding Audio: Hear every inflection, without the distracting background noise. Room filling audio up...

Conferencing ensures people in the same meeting are not necessarily in the same room. With Polycom conference phones however, it feels like they are, thanks to the advanced audio technology! The Polycom Trio C60 brings smart conferencing experiences to rooms of any size with the signature Polycom brilliant audio that has no interruptions.

It promises every participant satisfaction on their favorite collaboration platforms with its one touch meeting initiation and simple, easy to control video solution.

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Cisco Overview

Cisco Systems is a world leader in internet networking. In its service, Cisco aspires to accelerate digital transformation, manage compliance and costs, and connect teams and technologies. It provides small and medium enterprises solutions for everything ranging from data center and networking to collaboration and security. Its telephony products include:

  • Collaboration systems like Cisco Telepresence (Mobile video collaboration)
  • IP (VoIP) Telephony, appliances and servers
  • Cisco unified IP phones -Wireless

VoIP Desk Phone: Cisco CP–8861

Cisco IP phones offer great value to business with their innovative AI powered Spark Assistant. The Cisco CP-8861 is designed with 5 lines, Bluetooth integration, Wi-Fi support and a fast charging USB port. It has a gigabit internet switch with echo cancelation and wideband audio for voice clarity.

The phone is user-friendly, has a high-resolution color display and cutting edge features like the intelligent proximity for mobile voice – a suite of features activated when mobile devices are brought close by.

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Conference Phone: Cisco IP Conference Phone 7832

Cisco IP Conference Phone 7832, 360-Degree Microphone Coverage, 3.4-inch Monochrome LCD, Class 2 PoE, Supports 1 Line, 1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty (CP-7832-K9=), Black
  • AUDIOPHILE SOUND: Office conference phone built with a unique acoustic architecture that accurately...
  • FULL COVERAGE: Four microphones with 360-degree coverage allow users to speak in a normal voice and be...

This easy-to-use, reliable phone is ideal for private office desktops and small conference rooms. Supporting full duplex communication and wideband audio, the 7832 delivers crystal clear, high quality audio conferencing for a business.

The phone is raised for easy handling and positioning, covers spaces of up to 16 sq meters with microphone pick up of about 2 meters.  The monochrome, pixel display is backlit and has antiglare bezel that makes interaction and viewing easy.

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Let’s now compare the 2 popular Polycom and Cisco desk phone models

Polycom CCX 600

 

Cisco CP–8861
Display
7” Multicolored touchscreen
5” High resolution color display
Line Keys
16
5
Audio
HD Polycom Audio Technology
Wideband Audio and Echo cancelation
Artificial Intelligent
Spark Assistant
NoiseBlock AI
Gigabit Switches
2
1
USB ports
2
1
Bluetooth integration
Yes, together with Polycom intelligent proximity facilitates integration with mobile devices.
Yes, together with Cisco intelligent proximity facilitates integration with mobile devices.
Wi-Fi Support
Yes
Yes
Check Price

Conclusion

Both Polycom and Cisco are IT giants, based in California USA.  They not only make phones, but also servers and appliance hardware that store, manage, move data across the Cloud. Cisco has an edge in terms of diversity of products and solutions but Polycom leads in terms of personalization of products. Polycom products being highly specialized, makes them a bit more costly. If you already have Cisco infrastructure on your premises, then it is a good brand to pick. Otherwise, the initial cost of installing systems supporting its endpoints can be inhibitive. Due its interoperability with SIP based systems, Polycom is a better brand when you are just after an endpoint with great features, or you prefer value-added products.

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