Plantronics to focus on Unified Communication Headsets
Communications Giant Plantronics announced the decision that its future is in unified communications, focusing on its corded and cordless headsets. And as proof that it is serious about this change in direction, it has limited its portfolio. Selling the Audio Entertainment Group to Prophet Equity for close to $20 million dollars.
Plantronics has good reason to focus on the UC market. Sales for the worldwide unified communications headsets grew by almost 300 percent in 2008, according to Frost & Sullivan. The analyst firm also forecasts going forward a compound annual growth rate of 72 percent for the market from 2008 to 2014.
“UC(Unified Communications) represents the greatest revenue and profit opportunity in the company’s history The reorganization and asset sale represent further steps to focus on our core market” declared Ken Kannappan the Plantronics’ president and CEO referencing the sale of the AE group.
Plantronics also demonstrated its focus on and commitment to the Unified Communications space with the release in of its Savi Series in March 2009, which it claimed was the industry’s first suite of Unified Communications wireless headset systems that integrate multiple devices and applications.
The Savi Series comprises of two distinct wireless headset systems: Savi Office and Savi Go. The Savi Office is purposed for the office environment and provides a single wireless headset for phone calls, PC audio and softphone calls. Savi Go gives mobile professionals a wireless headset to connect to PC and mobile phone communications. Both products support UC offerings from leading providers, including Avaya,Cisco IBM, and Microsoft.
“Plantronics is participating in numerous UC pilot projects, helping IT departments increase adoption by understanding end-user needs and preferences,” claimed Chuck Yort, general manager and VP, at Plantronics, he states. “Experience is teaching us that the last leg of UC – how well end users interface with devices – is just as critical as the infrastructure. Our new Savi products are reliable, minimize risk and spur adoption for IT decision makers, and deliver great audio, comfort and ease of use for end users.