BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications, today announced a collaboration with the Education Commission of Beijing Xicheng District for the establishment of the first remote and international exchange education system in Beijing using Polycom® RealPresence® video solutions. The first stage of the remote education system will involve construction of video classrooms in 10 middle schools, 50 standard schools, and 200 cooperative schools to be completed by September 2012.
Through the use of high-definition video collaboration in classrooms, students in Xicheng District Education Commission-allied schools will have access to a richer and more stimulating face-to-face learning experience, more access to information and knowledge, and dialogue with students in other school regions in China as well as other countries.
“In the past, the education institutions under the Xicheng District Education Commission – consisting of elementary and secondary schools, private schools, supplementary education providers, and private education institutions – functioned relatively independently of one another,” said Liu Zhong, deputy director of the Education Commission of Beijing Xicheng District. “There was also the obvious distance barrier when attempting to implement exchange programmes with education providers overseas. The implementation of Polycom video collaboration solutions is enabling us to not only provide an advanced remote video teaching system covering all major schools in Xicheng District, but also to support interaction with schools abroad.”
With a mandate to develop a remote education system that delivers high-quality video collaboration and audio for the most interactive learning experience, whilst utilising minimal bandwidth to keep costs low, the Education Commission selected Polycom® RealPresence® Room Solutions, including the Polycom® HDX® 7000 and Polycom® HDX® 8000, combined with the Polycom® RealPresence® Whiteboard (Polycom® UC Board™). The UC Board supplements the interactive learning experience, allowing students and teachers to simply pick up a digital pen to transform LCD monitors or plain surfaces into digital whiteboards so that users can share ideas and collaborate across any distance. Polycom® EagleEye Director cameras are also being installed to enhance the classroom environment with the ability to locate and focus automatically on active speakers; and Polycom® HDX® Ceiling Microphones, delivering superior audio coverage and noise reduction. The complete solution is powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform, connecting the hundreds of video classrooms into a seamless video collaboration network, so that all authorized users can easily and securely collaborate via video regardless if they’re in a classroom, remote or mobile.
“Polycom video collaboration solutions for education have brought teachers and classrooms together from all over the world, enhancing collaboration between education providers and creating greater trust and understanding through visual connections,” said Steven Li, vice president and general manager, Polycom China. “We are focused on providing customized video solutions for our customers. Our innovative remote education solutions are a perfect fit for the Education Commission’s requirements, which we believe will further accelerate the development of digital education in Xicheng District.”
Digital education is a priority initiative for the Xicheng District Education Commission, and the Commission plans to extend the use of the new remote education system to include seminars that build professional competencies and bilingual education.
About Education Commission of Beijing Xicheng District
Education Commission of Beijing Xicheng District is marked by a long-standing history and a large number of reputed schools. It has rich and diversified educational resources, which are utilized by top-level schools, including the century-old schools such as No. 4 Middle School, the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, Huangchenggen Primary School, and No. 1 Experimental Primary School, as well as schools set up soon after the establishment of People's Republic of China such as Yucai School and Beijing Primary School. These schools, which boast excellent cultural traditions, have built a solid cultural foundation for the development of the education field of Xicheng District.
The education system of Xicheng district is comprised of 189 basic-level organisations, 51 middle schools, 71 primary schools, 24 kindergartens, five occupational high schools, eight after-school educational institutions, 21 institutions directly under the district government. Collectively, the schools have 120,000 students and more than 16,000 faculty members. Xicheng District has rich educational resources with prominent specialized features and great potential for future development. It provides high-standard pre-school education, good-quality compulsory education, top-notch high school education, and adult and community education. The district’s educational programmes have helped the economical development of the district and community.
About Polycom Education Solutions
With their budgets under strain, administrators are using Polycom video solutions to give students more interactive, immersive, and innovative educational experiences — with a technology that pays for itself by reducing administrative costs and improving staff productivity. All of the top five universities worldwide, as well as hundreds of schools, colleges, and universities around the world, are using Polycom to improve all facets of education from teaching to course development to administrative meetings to advanced blended learning applications.
About Polycom
Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC) solutions for telepresence, video, and voice powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform. The RealPresence Platform interoperates with the broadest range of business, mobile, and social applications and devices. More than 400,000 organizations trust Polycom solutions to collaborate and meet face-to-face from any location for more productive and effective engagement with colleagues, partners, customers, specialists, and prospects. Polycom, together with its broad partner ecosystem, provides customers with the best total cost of ownership, interoperability, scalability, and security for video collaboration, whether on-premises, hosted, or cloud-delivered. Visit www.polycom.com or connect with Polycom on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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