Conference phone turns 25

On the 25th anniversary of the iconic three-legged phone, Polycom has unveiled the Trio 8500, another new standard in conference performance for mid-sized conference rooms.

Twenty-five years ago, Polycom introduced its iconic three-legged conference phone and changed the rules of how the world communicates at work. The Polycom phone, with its unique shape and breakthrough audio quality, quickly became the conference phone of choice for all – from Fortune 1000 companies to world leaders and even characters on The Simpsons – earning its place in pop culture and selling millions of units. 

Today, Polycom is once again setting the standard for conference phone excellence, introducing new and updated conferencing solutions that meet business needs within rooms of all sizes. 

The  Polycom Trio™ 8500, is instantly recognizable as a sharp new interpretation of the well-known three-legged shape and is the perfect communication tool for mid-sized conference rooms. The Trio 8500 is a future-proof solution that delivers all the latest Polycom innovations today, including HD voice audio quality, Polycom NoiseBlock™ and multi-line registration and will be expandable to include video and content sharing in the future. 

The Polycom Trio 8500 also includes a modern full color touch screen interface and Microsoft Exchange calendar integration, which makes joining a meeting as easy as one touch. 

“In today’s connected world, high quality audio conferencing that bridges the communication gap between geographically dispersed workforces, regardless of location or device is fundamental to the future of work.  

“For a quarter century, businesses have known to look for Polycom’s visually distinctive phones and have counted on them to provide superior and unparalleled call quality,” said Tony Simonsen, Managing Director, Polycom Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Japan & Korea. 

Video and content sharing support will be added to the Polycom Trio 8500 later in the year, providing business-quality video conferencing and content sharing for huddle spaces and mid-sized rooms. 

Polycom has also added new features to the Polycom Trio™ 8800, the company’s fastest selling conference phone. The Polycom Trio 8800 now allows participants to pair personal devices to share local content over Apple® AirPlay® or Miracast® certified devices for wireless flexibility and later this year will also support enterprise-class motorized pan-tilt-zoom (MPTZ) cameras that offer a broader degree of visibility for high-definition collaboration experience in larger conference rooms.  

Both Trio solutions will support multi-line registration, allowing businesses to easily migrate between open SIP environments, Skype for Business environments, or both and work with other cloud-based audio and video platforms, including Zoom, BlueJeans, Cisco, Avaya, WebEx and others.

Ten Things People Do While On Conference Calls:

Conference calls have become such an integral part of doing business that certain recognisable behaviours have developed around them. We have all probably seen, or even done, something on this list at one point or another (sometimes without even knowing it).

Here are some of the bizarre things that people do when they get on a conference call:

1) Dial in from an impractical place

Including, but not limited to, the toilet, a car full of screaming infants, a beach, a bar, a beach bar, the train. 

2) Lurk in the background saying nothing

They are almost certainly on mute and concentrating on something totally different. Probably other work but possibly PlayStation. Or they might be waiting to see if anyone gossips about them. They will say something at the end, like ‘yep, thanks for the call guys’, to remind everyone they were there all along.

3) Forget to go on mute

This can sometimes lead to the odd moment of accidental hilarity, such as when your manager complains about her hangover without realising everyone can hear.

4) Wait in awkward silence for the last person to dial in

That weird limbo of call etiquette that dictates, aside from a brief exchange of pleasantries, no words shall be wasted on non-essential chatter. Instead, we all sit there listening to the faint clatter of laptop keys, the occasional cough and that one guy who slurps his tea.

5) Drop out and dial back in at least five times

There are two options in this situation. You either restart your conversation every time they dial back in. Or you carry on regardless and suffer the regular interruptions of the dial-in tone. Both are agony.

6) Talk over each other

Some people, without the visual cues that signal someone is just about to speak, are only capable of beginning a sentence at the exact moment someone else begins a sentence. No, you go first…

7) Hear a sound that has no rational explanation

It might sound like an apocalyptic cough. It might sound like an explosion of weird clicks and beeps. No one can explain what it is or where it came from, and you tacitly agree to ignore it and move on.

8) Enter midway through a conversation

“I think what we should all bear in mind is – “ BLEEP BLOOP DAVE HAS JOINED THE MEETING. “Hi everyone, sorry I’m late!” Thanks for killing the flow, Dave. Thanks a whole bunch.

9) Press mute and throw some shade

As Dom entered his eighth straight minute of talking through spreadsheet best practice, Diane hit mute, turned to everyone in the conference room and said, “I’m so bored right now I would rather die than endure another second of this man speaking”.

10) Not show up

Without fail, this will be the most important single participant, without whom the entire call is essentially pointless. They will be asleep, sky diving, lost in the wilderness, or otherwise unavailable. Crucially, they won’t have told anyone about their absence.