So why is it that a conference phone needs design? Why is a conference phone referred to as a spider? And why is Polycom continuing to revolutionise the design?

Honestly, Konftel is the inventor of the conference phone, but Polycom took the device by storm. Decades of development and millions of conference rooms worldwide preceded C60.

The only correct name for the device here is ‘conference phone’. Although called ‘Spider’ or ‘Spiderphone’ by many, there is nothing arachnid about the device. Three legs maybe? In all fairness, feel free to comment if you know the origin of the weird spider-cognition.

After generations of VoiceStations and SoundStations, Poly (f.k.a. Polycom) introduced Trio several years ago. Trio debuted with Trio 8800, offering a touch-screen based conference phone solution for Skype for Business (or SIP and H.323). What makes C60 so extremely cool and what makes it stand out against other conference phones?

There is only Poly (and some competition)
The conference phone has very little competition. There is Konftel (part of Avaya) and there is Poly. Obviously there are some factory errors like Phoenix and some copy stuff from Asia, but that can’t be seriously referred to as conference phone.

Versatility meets design (and functionality)
C60 by Poly brings the conference phone into a new arena. It is no longer just a conference phone, but it is also a controller for a variety of Poly’s devices. Studio X50 and G7500 can be controlled by this conference phone. For that matter, the design of C60 also relates to Studio X30 and X50 (the video bar from Poly).

The conference phone dubs as extended microphone to enhance audio on the table and in conjunction with G7500 a number of 3 C60 devices can be daisy chained to enlarge the reach of the conference room. This practically puts all problems with acoustics and audio in a boardroom to an end.

The design of the conference phone resembles X50. The same colours and fabrics are used, to harmonise the look and feel of the equipment above the display and on the table.

Great audio features
Noise blocking, acoustic echo cancellation and acoustic fence are extremely cool features, but they are all hard to explain. And in particular, it is hard to explain how it works. Bottom line: C60 has great audio. With processors making the device much faster than their predecessors, and speakers and microphones boosted by algorithm-rich codecs, the conference produces full rich sound that is unmatched in the industry. Noise Block AI is somewhat new and is something that must be highlighted: it filters speech from non speech and eliminates annoying sounds from the conference. The participants on the other side of the conversation can be assured of crisp and clear sound, without sounds that weren’t intended to be transmitted (think of making noise with paper, chewing, sounds from computers and many more disturbing occurrences).

Most important characteristics:
– Meeting initiation with one touch
– Dubs as controller for video systems, such as X50 or G7500
– NoiseBlockAI allowing natural flow of speech without interruption
– Comfort noise generation (no stupid silence)
– Siren 14, Acoustic Clarity
– 5″ HD Touch Display (720 x 1280 color)
– USB & Bluetooth
– Audio bridge for 5 participants
– Busy lamp indicator
– Management through Poly Lens
– Zero Touch Provisioning

Skype for Business certified
Microsoft Teams certified
Open SIP

10/100/1000 Base-TX (2 port gigabit)
2.4 / 5 GHz WiFi