Case Study: Polycom achieves fast, scalable global video interoperability for Office 365 with Microsoft Azure

Videoconferencing leader creates innovative interoperability bridge in the cloud

Polycom, a longtime leader in video, voice, and content collaboration, needed to solve a common enterprise problem: hundreds of videoconferencing devices and services often don’t interoperate as customers move to Skype for Business Online and Office 365. To bridge that gap, Polycom developed RealConnect for Office 365 so third‑party endpoints (Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, etc.) can join Skype for Business meetings seamlessly.

Polycom built and runs RealConnect on Microsoft Azure using an all–open‑source stack and Azure services (containers, load balancing, Traffic Manager, VM scale sets, etc.), which cut development time in half, saved roughly two staff‑years, and enabled instant scaling (from a few to thousands of VMs), global deployment across datacenters, and continuous, rapid updates. The result is a Microsoft‑certified, integrated video interoperability service with faster feature velocity, high availability, simplified license management, and broad global reach.

Polycom

Jeff Adams

Distinguished Engineer