Didn't see this one coming:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/business-wire-polycom-announces-agreement-for-strategic-acquisition-of-obihai-technology.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/business-wire-polycom-announces-agreement-for-strategic-acquisition-of-obihai-technology.html)
Hmm!
Could be good. Could be bad. Time will tell.
I exchanged emails with Obihai today. They're all very happy about this, as it will enable the combined company to provide more products, better documentation and support, and greater market share for future company stability and growth. It's bad news for their competition. ;)
There is no impact to any of the current OBi products from an operational or warranty perspective.
Personally, I've used Polycom conference and speaker phones for decades, and they're outstanding products. I see this as very good news for both companies.
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 04, 2018, 04:48:17 PM
I exchanged emails with Obihai today. They're all very happy about this, as it will enable the combined company to provide more products, better documentation and support, and greater market share for future company stability and growth.
It would certainly be nice to have better documentation and support.........especially on this forum.
Can't help but wonder if CEO Jan Fandrianto is going stick around after the acquisition, though. He hasn't in the past.
https://plus.google.com/+w8sdz/posts/F28wyWW6MJP (https://plus.google.com/+w8sdz/posts/F28wyWW6MJP)
That's glass-half-empty speculation. If you look at that article, he spun off the technology to Sipura, and then started Obihai to continue developing and selling SIP VoIP products. He hasn't been like the typical "serial entrepreneur", who jumps from one start-up to another, different type of venture.
Nobody knows at this point, but I wonder if the take over will mean new life for ASP's?
Quote from: Taoman on January 04, 2018, 05:10:35 PM
....especially on this forum.
While making predictions is hard (especially about the future), I would actually expect that this forum will (eventually) get migrated (or closed) in preference to the existing Polycom community (one community to rule them all) as part of any eventual rebranding and integration.
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 04, 2018, 04:48:17 PM
... as it will enable the combined company to provide more products
But there is also some product overlap (VoIP desktop phones), which in most acquisitions tends to mean some consolidation/alignment will occur for future products.
Do you have any experience with the current Polycom IP phone line compared to the current OBi IP phones? What features would a best of both worlds IP phone have (and which features would come from which line)?
Quote from: RFC3261 on January 11, 2018, 11:50:23 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 04, 2018, 04:48:17 PM
... as it will enable the combined company to provide more products
But there is also some product overlap (VoIP desktop phones), which in most acquisitions tends to mean some consolidation/alignment will occur for future products.
Do you have any experience with the current Polycom IP phone line compared to the current OBi IP phones? What features would a best of both worlds IP phone have (and which features would come from which line)?
I do expect that they will eventually merge the two companies' IP phone product lines somehow, but not in the near term. Polycom's products have had outstanding audio quality and reliability for years, and I suspect they'll evaluate many factors, such as manufacturing cost, market surveys, support cost, and features, before changing anything. Since the SIP IP phone market is pretty mature, the features and settings available on the two companies' products won't be that different, nor that big of a decision-point as the other factors (with the obvious exception of Google Voice, and of Obihai's remote management and provisioning expertise for carriers and ITSPs).
As someone who has come to rely on the Google Voice since it's beginnings in 2009 and the OBi products since 2011 for my telephone, it worries me that a large company like Polycom may not choose to maintain the relationship that Obi/Google have nursed along. I didn't read anything in the Polycom press release to indicate one way or another.
I certainly hope OBi made it a priority in their agreement that the GV connection service would remain a stable part of their portfolio.
"Polycom Announces Agreement for Strategic Acquisition of Obihai Technology"
Lovely....The keyword that says it all is right in front of us...."Strategic", which means... OBI has a huge user base, so let's monetize it.
Translate to.... Expect to get screwed over as the end user consuming a product you were sold and marketing as never having a monthly fee. They will find ways to screw with us to eek in MRC (monthly reccuring charges). They always do.
Once the "just out of college, gotta justify that loan" kid consultants enter the fray and due-diligence begins (which I'm sure it already has), we will look like low hanging fruit and we'll be added as a contribution "savings" spreadsheet. Then comes "Change in terms in conditions", which will probably knock off all your connections without warning (BAU with acquisition incompetence) to force you to sign with heavy hand a new agreement which states they can charge monthly, then come the fees and nickel and diming...
We are and will be viewed as freeloaders (in their view - even though they, OBIHAI marketed and sold their product as never having a monthly fee). When and if this should occur, I hope the class action lawyers are geared up and ready to jump on this. Since idiot MBA's seem to be behind nearly every bad decision nowadays, keep an eye out for the internal decision makers that possess this "quality". It will be painful. Time to look for alternatives.
And to OBIHAI - If I'm flat out wrong on all the above, now would be a good time to put your post acquisition commitment in writing. Please release a statement with specific guarantees to existing users that no change in service will occur and existing services will remain without incremental (gotta pay for that acquisition) costs passed to the end user. If you fail to do this, then you choosing to passively acknowledge what is stated above.
OBIHAI prices doubled here in the UK just after the announcement so it doesn't look good!
https://www.ukvoipforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=5147#p5141
Quote from: IterationIsFailure on January 21, 2018, 06:00:00 PM
Lovely....The keyword that says it all is right in front of us...."Strategic", which means...
Strategic means that OBi had *something* Polycom wanted. It could be the potential of service fees (as you jumped to), but it could also be that there is some specific IP, or specific people, that OBi has/had that were desirable to acquire (often multiple of those things).
While it is certainly possible to spread FUD, facts still usually matter for the educated, and we have very few facts at this point as to what the direct impact will be on the OBi products, capabilities, and support going forward.
Quote
While it is certainly possible to spread FUD, facts still usually matter for the educated, and we have very few facts at this point as to what the direct impact will be on the OBi products, capabilities, and support going forward.
Exactly this. Without any actual evidence, speculating about this is of no value.
Quote from: RFC3261 on January 22, 2018, 10:16:55 AM
Quote from: IterationIsFailure on January 21, 2018, 06:00:00 PM
Lovely....The keyword that says it all is right in front of us...."Strategic", which means...
Strategic means that OBi had *something* Polycom wanted. It could be the potential of service fees (as you jumped to), but it could also be that there is some specific IP, or specific people, that OBi has/had that were desirable to acquire (often multiple of those things).
While it is certainly possible to spread FUD, facts still usually matter for the educated, and we have very few facts at this point as to what the direct impact will be on the OBi products, capabilities, and support going forward.
I understand what you're saying, and I respect your point of view, but would like to understand how you personally define "fact"? A press release? An official posting in the forums? You also seem to imply (although perhaps it wasn't your intent) I am not educated yet ironically no "facts" are provided to back such a statement. ;)
To clarify my post, it was actually intended to
avoid FUD, thus my ask to OBI to make their position known.
All of the alleged "FUD" was based on historical fact with M&A activity (especially with tech companies) as I encourage anyone to name one acquisition that was net-positive for employees and customers which either didn't lead to immediate product retirement, new fees, massive layoffs, pass-the-buck outsourcing with reliability going down hill (with later layoffs), and/or massive firmware issues and non-responsiveness.(i.e. tenured people bail, newbies have no clue and jack it up).
Failure on our part to be proactive as consumers means the inverse opposite reaction becomes true in that we are forced to be reactive. Not sure about you, but I'd rather ask, make concerns known upfront, then sit around and wait for the outcome, which historical fact says is not good.
Bottom-line - I really want to be wrong about all this. I really do. But history says otherwise. I've been using my OBI202 for years without as even having to worry. That won't be the case now. After OBI's forced firmware update which blatantly disrespected user settings to disable FW updates, this only amplifies the point I'm trying to make above.
I have to agree with RFC3261: you may not be aware of the opinions and assumptions behind your posts, but you are starting off from the position that mergers are almost always bad (completely unfounded) and companies are evil, not interested in customer satisfaction (completely unfounded). So you are making baseless accusations first, then insisting that they be disproved.
This is not much different than saying "The sun isn't going to come up tomorrow. I won't believe anything to the contrary unless you can prove otherwise".
If you would simply read the press release (click the banner at the top of the forum), it clearly states:
Quote
After completion of the deal, Polycom expects to add more cloud-based capabilities and Analog Terminal Adapter solutions to its solutions portfolio. The combination is expected to expand the markets available to Polycom solutions for both the company and its worldwide network of channel partners.
The deal is expected to close early in first quarter of this year.
If the leaders of the two companies posted here, swearing on a stack of virtual bibles, and put one billion dollars in escrow, would you then trust them? I suspect not.
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 22, 2018, 09:29:45 PM
I have to agree with RFC3261: you may not be aware of the opinions and assumptions behind your posts, but you are starting off from the position that mergers are almost always bad (completely unfounded) and companies are evil, not interested in customer satisfaction (completely unfounded). So you are making baseless accusations first, then insisting that they be disproved.
This is not much different than saying "The sun isn't going to come up tomorrow. I won't believe anything to the contrary unless you can prove otherwise".
If you would simply read the press release (click the banner at the top of the forum), it clearly states:
Quote
After completion of the deal, Polycom expects to add more cloud-based capabilities and Analog Terminal Adapter solutions to its solutions portfolio. The combination is expected to expand the markets available to Polycom solutions for both the company and its worldwide network of channel partners.
The deal is expected to close early in first quarter of this year.
If the leaders of the two companies posted here, swearing on a stack of virtual bibles, and put one billion dollars in escrow, would you then trust them? I suspect not.
I promise, I'm not trying to be a downer here - just trying to be realistic. I do appreciate your optimism and in fact, I want to be wrong and perhaps this deal will be a historical first. As a consumer, I value OBI for being out of sight and out of mind. No fees. No worries. In essence, today's model you pay a fair upfront cost for the hardware and set and forget.
I assume we're both in the same boat of wanting one less product playing the "gotcha" game of chess with cost, service or features, so thus my concerns?I actually do not think the vast majority of companies or people for that matter are evil. I do however think leaders and companies make bad decisions and then are forced to recover, which is exponentially costly and not linear as one might assume. How companies recover is the sum total of the concerns I've expressed. Not evil, but pun intended a "necessary evil" to cover bad decision making.
I'll explain.
Start with the understanding all companies, which Polycom is, are in business to make money, as they should. That in and of itself is not a bad thing and that's capitalism. Understand no one in their right mind expends the human and financial capital to initiate an acquisition with the intent to take on and bear incremental cost (net of revenue) long term.
There is always a financial benefit and payback period associated with these type of deals. M&A at the highest level is solely for financial gain, which may be derived from acquiring a combination of human, intellectual and physical capital as part of the deal. People. Paper. Product.
The marketing magic puff piece you reference (press release) I would pay zero mind to. I highly doubt this is about adding analog POTS equipment as quoted. Polycom is already one of the leaders in this space and if memory serves, that is the playground is which they stated. Adding cloud capabilities, perhaps.
So, in my experience, being on multiple ends of M&A activity (living through it, providing decision support for it and being the recipient as a consumer many times over and over) M&A activities are rarely good for the consumer and a crapshoot for the employees.
Should we worry for the next 6 months, probably not. Give it about a year. If financial and deal objectives are missed, then that will likely triggers typical knee jerk changes, which I've over simplify recovery options to illustrate how this could impact us... some options are.... 1) Sell more 2) Borrow more 3) Downsize or "rightsize", 4) Product retirement, which enables you to downsize 5) Addition of monthly fees or.....for the super lazy that which to only push paper .... 6) Outsource part of your operations. Everything is a push and pull and net positive is the game they'll play.
Now, please don't take my word on any of this... You can ask Harvard Business Review or the multiple studies which cite M&A failure rates ....HBR I do think sums it up best... "When a CEO wants to boost corporate performance or jump-start long-term growth, the thought of acquiring another company can be extraordinarily seductive. Indeed, companies spend more than $2 trillion on acquisitions every year.
Yet study after study puts the failure rate of mergers and acquisitions somewhere between 70% and 90%.
https://hbr.org/2011/03/the-big-idea-the-new-ma-playbook
So, to answer your last comment about leaders posting and believing them... I would believe them. Please go back and re-read my post.
It was my specific ask for either OBI or Polycom to put their commitment in writing like many large companies do when M&A is announced. If they state in writing no changes, then.... hallelujah! Case closed. That would be great and this issue and thread would be put to rest. If they say nothing, as is the case in many instances, historical fact and personal experience by default serves as the guide of what to expect.
Anyone else notice the link to the Polycom site about this announcement no longer works. Is the deal dead?
Quote from: StevePierce on February 10, 2018, 04:58:37 AM
Anyone else notice the link to the Polycom site about this announcement no longer works. Is the deal dead?
Looks more like a general problem with part of the Polycom site. I cannot find any press releases using http://www.polycom.com/company/news/press-releases.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20180107094918/http://www.polycom.com/company/news/press-releases/2018/20180104.html
The press release section of Polycom's site is now working again. The link on various pages at obihai.com and obitalk.com is functional.
Polycom branding* now at the top of the Dashboard pages.
(* I don't mean the "Polycom Announces Agreement ......." banner as at the top of these forum pages.)
Plantronics just bought Polycom. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/28/plantronics-to-buy-video-conferencing-gear-maker-polycom-for-2-billion.html
Quote from: Mango on March 28, 2018, 12:23:41 PM
Plantronics just bought Polycom. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/28/plantronics-to-buy-video-conferencing-gear-maker-polycom-for-2-billion.html
WelshPaul beat you to it. :)
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=9983.msg88112#msg88112
I'm more concerned that the Obi line retains it's versatility (underused though it may be) compared to other products in the market. That's what originally drew me in. Google Voice was just a bonus.
Quote from: Ostracus on May 03, 2018, 07:03:13 PM
I'm more concerned that the Obi line retains it's versatility (underused though it may be) compared to other products in the market. That's what originally drew me in. Google Voice was just a bonus.
Based on my conversations with the Polycom (former Obihai) execs, they aren't dropping any "legacy Obihai" features. In other words, if you are referring to the various expert-mode settings, there is no plan to get rid of them. I expect that you will see some "re-branded" products soon, meaning cosmetic changes to the logos and plastic casing colors, but the same or newer-revision-level hardware guts inside, using the same XML settings.
I posted this elsewhere, I think, but the names have changed like this:
Obihai --> Polycom
OBi products -->OBiTALK products
So, they are retiring the "Obihai" and "OBi" branding.
i just attempted to open the Obi web page and found Polycom has acquired it, then I see that Plantronics acquired Polycom??? . Polycom/Plantronics seems to be Microsoft, is this true?
Quote from: Pedro675 on July 31, 2018, 06:42:07 PM
i just attempted to open the Obi web page and found Polycom has acquired it, then I see that Plantronics acquired Polycom??? . Polycom/Plantronics seems to be Microsoft, is this true?
Whuuuuuut? What does Microsoft have to do with this?
The three-company merger creates one company that can supply a complete business-class solution, that includes telephone hardware, conference hardware, headsets and remote device deployment and management. There is very little overlap.
Whuuuuuut? What does Microsoft have to do with this?
This ?
http://www.polycom.com/voice-conferencing-solutions/microsoft-phones.html
I get nervous when Microsoft gets involved with anything, Skype's never been the same.
::)
Just have to laugh at the direction this topic has turned.
Quote from: Marc on July 31, 2018, 07:05:57 PM
::)
Just have to laugh at the direction this topic has turned.
I know, sheesh.
None of these three companies were/are owned by, or have anything whatsoever to do with, Microsoft.
Quote from: SteveInWA on July 31, 2018, 07:10:12 PM
None of these three companies were/are owned by, or have anything whatsoever to do with, Microsoft.
Then that's good.
Quote from: Pedro675 on July 31, 2018, 06:42:07 PM
i just attempted to open the Obi web page and found Polycom has acquired it, then I see that Plantronics acquired Polycom??? . Polycom/Plantronics seems to be Microsoft, is this true?
More capitalism at it's worse! Uncontrolled mega mergers. >:(
I just found out about this now 11 months later when I logged into my OBi202. Nice if they would on informed their customers. ::)
Quote from: Pedro675 on July 31, 2018, 07:00:41 PM
Whuuuuuut? What does Microsoft have to do with this?
This ?
http://www.polycom.com/voice-conferencing-solutions/microsoft-phones.html
It's obviously referring to what I just stated in my previous post.
Another mega merger!
Quote from: videobruce on December 23, 2018, 10:58:15 AM
Quote from: Pedro675 on July 31, 2018, 07:00:41 PM
Whuuuuuut? What does Microsoft have to do with this?
This ?
http://www.polycom.com/voice-conferencing-solutions/microsoft-phones.html
It's obviously referring to what I just stated in my previous post. Another mega merger!
Well then why not take the conspiracy theory to the next logical conclusion?
- Polycom phones can use Skype, owned by Microsoft
- Obi phones can use Google Voice, owned by Google
-- Polycom buys Obi --> Clearly they are going to merge Skype and Google Voice into one service and to do that, they will have to buy both Google and Microsoft.
There's your next
mega merger!OR, and don't bother reading further if you can't accept rational thinking...
- Microsoft has a phone service called Skype. Microsoft seeks out a hardware partner and finds Polycom interested.
- Google has a phone service called Google Voice. Obihai partnered with Google, which appreciates having their service on a hardware platform.
- Polycom has commercial/business line of hardware and phones. Polycom wants to strengthen their portfolio and expand into personal/residential hardware. Instead of spending time and money on R&D, Polycom see's Obihai has quality products and services. Polycom says, 'hey Obi, here's a boat load of stock & cash.'
-- Now Polycom could alienate a big swath of their current customers and tell Microsoft they have a partner with Google Voice and don't need them anymore. Or Polycom could alienate a huge portion of the Obi customer base they just spent a boat load on, and tell Google they already partner with Microsoft, so they don't need them anymore.
--- OR Polycom could make good business decisions and maintain their partnerships, which are already separated by product lines.
But what fun would it be if we couldn't cry conspiracy and fight the corporate overlords.
...or, the non "fake news" explanation:
The present and future market for business telephony is as a cloud-based service, fully integrated with enterprise computing solutions that don't depend on any particular location or device. Employees should be able to use a softphone on their laptop or desktop while sitting at a desk, or on a mobile device while elsewhere. They should be able to use their corporate directory and corporate CRM, calendar and other applications to manage calls, keep track of conversations, conduct online chats and conference calls, and so on, all working seamlessly.
Microsoft's Skype For Business and Google Voice for Enterprise, as well as solutions from Cisco and Avaya, all need hardware partners that can deliver all of the pieces, not just a headset or a desk phone or an app.
Combining Plantronics, Polycom and Obihai, created one company that can competitively bid on all-inclusive telephony solutions for customers who use enterprise telephony solutions: VoIP everywhere, with automated provisioning of phone numbers and deskphones, headsets and conference devices for the office and for mobile workers.
Is it politically-enabled? No; this is a merger of complementary businesses with little overlap. Any political administration, controlled by either party, would have approved this merger.
None of this has anything to do with the consumer market, which is not where the growth potential exists.
Who said anything about a "conspiracy"?? Sure as hell I didn't.
You two keep feeding capitalism, since you obviously been brainwashed that way into believing mergers are always best. ::)