Polycom adds cloud access to video hosting service

Polycom has announced that its video storage system will be available as a cloud-hosted service, in response to growing demand from businesses of all sizes for video management systems.

The Accordent Media Services tool is powered by Microsoft's Azure platform and allows firms to create a single video content management hub where staff can search for video to replay at their convenience.

Mike Newman, vice president and general manager of video content management at Polycom, claimed that the product will help far more businesses to benefit from the service by reducing outlay on additional network or hardware equipment.

"This offering is in response to tremendous demand for us to provide Accordent media management capabilities in an off-premise cloud-based model," he said.

"We look forward to working with Microsoft to bring this powerful solution to market and to enable entirely new classes of users to experience the benefits of ‘at-your-fingertips' video content."

The service will let companies submit content created from Accordent Capture products by using Microsoft's Expression Encoder and Lync 2010 desktop clients.

Customers can fully manage the content being put online by categorising, indexing and setting retention guidelines, and can watch live content.

Polycom acquired Accordent Technologies in March for around $50m (£30m) having partnered with the company for a number of years.