Migrating from a Polycom only environment to Zoom presence

[Dan-TheITGuy]

Hi all,

In the past we had Polycoms HDX7000's that connected from room to room. We are considering making the move to something with a Zoom base. The idea is to get away from a point to point ITV type situation to a Zoom between the same two points but the ability for people using Zoom to connect to our meetings also. 

We already have large Flat screens we would like to keep, plus windows 10 workstations in each room.  A smartboard would be nice for notation during meetings, and possibly a document camera - plus the face to face Zoom experience of course.  

Any suggestions or accolades for certain products would be greatly appreciated. Tia

[Dan_ZoomSE · Accepted solution]

Hello @Dan-TheITGuy 

The best option is to turn these in Zoom Rooms.

https://explore.zoom.us/docs/en-us/zoomrooms.html

There are numerous ways to build and deploy Zoom Rooms from all in one appliances to on the shelf components.  We have lots of great resources and design guides along with our certified hardware partners available for you to review here:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200108436

I would recommend reaching out to our Sales team to learn more, get some demos, discuss room deisgns and meet with a Sales Engineer.

If this has answered your question, please click the Accept as Solution button below so that others in the Community may benefit as well.

Thanks!

[Dan-TheITGuy]

Thanks Dan, I will definitely follow those links. Thanks for the speedy response. 

[ericafw]

Hi there! I completely agree with @Dan_ZoomSE . We were a 100% Poly shop, almost in your exact situation with almost the same set-up. Zoom Rooms have been the way to go for us! Would love to share more about our experience if interested, and to learn some from you too! 😊

[Dan-TheITGuy]

Hi Erica,

Thanks for offering to help. Did you keep your existing Polycom monitors or go with something new. Plus, did you implement a smartboard of some sort or use a computer/bring your own device solution in the zoom room to push content? 

[ericafw]

Hi, Dan - 

We haven't kept anything Poly. We were previously using Group Series 300/500 and HDX 8000 codecs with 1-2 Samsung/LG/Sharp TV's. Like Jonathan who's also comment on this thread, we've switched completely over to Logitech and are installing the Rally Plus / Rally Bar Zoom Room Tap Bundles. 

We tore out of all our SmartBoards several years ago because they were never getting used. Now, every employee has a laptop to join meetings at their desk, or to use as the content source in Zoom Rooms.

Thanks,

Erica

[JonathanM]

Dan,

I figured I'd weigh in here to finish out my day in the office. We use Zoom Rooms and our go-to for hardware has been Logitech. Rally Plus kits, easy to install, cheaper overall and good quality for the price.

You have the PC and if your monitors are compatible you could continue using them. As far as a SmartBoard, we got rid of a few of them when we went from Cisco to Zoom and never looked back. In a Zoom Room with 2 displays you will see the video portion of the meeting on the left side screen and content sharing happens on the right side screen. 

What is nice is the Room Controller software (ours are iPads) will 'See' laptops with a Zoom client on them and it allows you to share wirelessly from the laptop itself. Works great, no HDMI cables, no more Clickshare units.

Upside is most Smartboards are way more spendy than a good quality TV. We use Samsung 55", 65" and 75" for most of our rooms and the one off's have 80" and 98" in them for larger spaces.

Good luck