Polycom Video Conferencing Connects Troops with their Families in Freedom Calls Foundation Thanksgiving Reunions.

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Polycom Partners with Raytheon, Expedite to Link 118th Medical Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard in Iraq with Family Members in Waltham

Polycom(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCM), the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, today announced it has donated video communications systems to the Freedom Calls Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing state of the art video conferencing, telephone and Internet services for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep in touch with their families during their deployments free of charge. The first large-scale reunion took place Saturday, November 20 at Raytheon Corporation headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, when 100 family members visited with 10 soldiers from the 118th Medical Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard stationed at Camp Cooke in the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad.

Defense contractor Raytheon Corporation, Polycom, and systems integrator ExpediteVCS are all corporate contributors to the Freedom Calls Foundation. Raytheon will be making its Polycom-equipped video conferencing facilities available in select locations nationwide during the Thanksgiving season for the family reunions. Polycom is donating the VSX 3000 video systems which use the latest video compression and security standards to deliver near broadcast quality audio and video. The systems are being deployed to Camp Cooke in Iraq as well as to sites in Afghanistan. Expedite is providing technical support for the video conferencing systems in Iraq, network gateway services and broadband connections for the reunions. The Freedom Calls mission and communications network enables military personnel to remotely attend and participate in family milestones events such as graduations and communions, see newborn babies and witness their children's first steps, as well as conduct everyday family business. Freedom Calls has even hosted a remote wedding since its inception a year ago!

Throughout history, tours of duty in wartime have served to separate families. The Freedom Calls Foundation is transforming the experience of soldiers on extended deployments in wartime. "Though separated from their families by overseas duty, soldiers no longer need be estranged from their families. They can now virtually celebrate and participate in their family milestone events from the front lines thanks to video conferencing, which today delivers such a lifelike experience it is almost like being there," said John Harlow, Executive Director of the Freedom Calls Foundation.

"Polycom is proud of the role our video communications technology is playing in keeping family relationships strong during separation from loved ones serving their country," said Bob Hagerty, Chairman and CEO of Polycom. "Studies have shown that being able to see faces and body language and interact with each other is fifty-five percent of the impact of communication. To these families, of course, numbers mean little in the importance of these reassuring and life-affirming encounters."

"The Expedite team is thrilled to be involved with this effort. This allows us to not only expand on our current services to Raytheon but also provide our team with the pleasure of supporting our troops and their families here at home," said Larry Roher, President of Expedite.

"We are grateful to Polycom and Expedite for contributing state of the art technology and their expertise, and to Raytheon for taking a leadership role in making their facilities available to military families for these Thanksgiving reunions," said Edward Bukstel, co-founder and director of operations at the Freedom Calls Foundation. "It is our plan to ultimately connect over 3000 university and corporate sites in the next year with bases in Iraq and Afghanistan."

About Freedom Calls Foundation

The Freedom Calls foundation is a public charity building a communications network dedicated to providing state of the art video conferencing, telephone and Internet services to enable our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep in touch with their families and loved ones at home 24 hours per day, free of charge. The Foundation is authorized by the Secretary of the Army to provide communications services to the troops and their families and recently received a Commendation from the Army as well as a personal letter of appreciation from Major General Taguba. The Foundation provides services to more than 20,000 soldiers and Marines and the Army has requested that the Foundation install 8 additional facilities in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan in the coming months. The Freedom Calls Foundation is supported by donations of corporations and the American people on the foundation's website www.freedomcalls.org.

About Expedite

Expedite Video Conferencing Services, Inc. is a total solutions provider that specializes in world class, high quality, secure videoconferencing solutions and services. Expedite has successfully delivered customized videoconferencing solutions to state and local government agencies, as well as commercial accounts ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Expedite also supports a number of regional, national and international clients in the business, education, entertainment, law and medical sectors with a reputation for application and engineering innovation. Expedite's core services include hardware, bridging and bridging services, managed services, and VRM, a revolutionary new web-based scheduling software. Headquartered in the New York metropolitan region with satellite offices in Boston, Albany, Rochester and Missouri, Expedite has an in-house certified technical staff available 24/7/365 for client support. Call 888-YES-VIDEO or visit www.expeditevcs.com.

About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. is the world's technology leader of high-quality, easy-to-use video, voice, data and web conferencing and collaboration solutions. The Polycom Office(TM) is our continued commitment to make distance communications as natural and interactive as being there by providing best-in-class conferencing solutions that are interoperable, integrated and intuitive to the user. The Polycom Office is based on industry standards and supported by an open architecture that promotes interoperability in multi-vendor environments and complements leading network infrastructure platforms. For additional information, call 1-800-POLYCOM (765-9266) or 408-526-9000, or visit the Polycom web site at www.polycom.com.

Polycom, the Polycom logo and VSX 3000 are trademarks of Polycom in the U.S. and various countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. (C)2004, Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved.