2013 2014 INSERT COMPANY LOGO HERE 2014 Global 2013 North Installed American Audio SSL Conferencing Certificate Systems Product Market Leadership Award 2013 Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth
Market Leadership Award Installed Audio Conferencing Systems Global, 2014 Frost & Sullivan s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan is in its 50th year of business with a global research organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. The company s research philosophy originates with the CEO s 360-Degree Perspective, which serves as the foundation of its TEAM Research methodology. This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation, and leadership. Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan is very pleased to present the 2014 Global Market Leadership Award in Installed Audio Conferencing Systems to ClearOne. Significance of the Market Leadership Award Key Industry Challenges The conferencing and collaboration space has evolved rapidly thanks to new technologies and business models; mobility, cloud computing, and social applications continue to disrupt and transform the enterprise communications and collaboration industry. As a result, the overall focus on conferencing and collaboration has been shifting from the highend conference room to the desktop, tablets, and mobile use cases. This presents a major challenge for the installed audio conferencing systems market that heavily relies on enterprises investing in these high-end audio conferencing systems. Furthermore, the cost of installed audio conferencing systems is significantly higher than tabletop conference phones, which may be an acceptable alternative for some pricesensitive customers. Vendors therefore need to provide customers with a wide range of options for installed and tabletop conference phones for conference rooms of different sizes and connectivity needs. For larger conference or meeting rooms, the installed audio conferencing system needs to deliver superior audio quality and performance, including filtering out echo and noises. Customers are also looking for flexible mounting options for microphones to ensure high audio quality for all meeting participants. Finally, customers want their conferencing endpoints to seamlessly work with their unified communications and collaboration applications. ClearOne has successfully addressed all of these industry challenges and customer needs. In spite of the shift of industry focus from the high-end conference room to the desktop, tablets, and mobile use cases, ClearOne continues to innovate and maintain its leadership position in the installed audio conferencing market. At the same time, the company offers a complete product line of personal and group conferencing systems for all possible use 2013 Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth
cases. ClearOne s products are also more competitively priced than other competing products available in the market, while delivering all of the rich product functionality, superior audio quality and performance, and flexibility to meet a wide variety of customer needs. Best Practice Award Analysis for ClearOne The Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing the highest market share within its industry. The Award recognizes the company's leadership position within the industry in terms of revenues or units, as specified. ClearOne s Leadership in the Installed Audio Conferencing Systems Market While ClearOne has been rapidly expanding its product line to enter new and adjacent markets for audio and video applications, the company remains focused on its core audio conferencing business. Backed by a strong product line, ClearOne continues to lead the Installed Audio Conferencing Systems market in terms of worldwide market share. Installed Audio Conferencing Systems are non-portable audio conferencing endpoints designed specifically for use in larger meeting rooms, such as large conference rooms, boardrooms, training rooms, etc. These systems handle multiple audio inputs and outputs and perform various sophisticated audio processing functions, to deliver high-quality and immersive audio conferencing for meetings. Key factors that have enabled ClearOne s continued success and leadership in the Installed Audio Conferencing Systems market include: Factor 1: Complete product portfolio ClearOne offers the most comprehensive, sophisticated, and feature-rich product lines on the market today. These high-quality installed audio conferencing systems are designed specifically for use in larger meeting rooms, such as large conference rooms, boardrooms, training rooms, auditoriums, etc. ClearOne s portfolio of professional audio conferencing systems includes: CONVERGE Pro series (CONVERGE Pro 880, 880T, 880TA, 840T, 8i, TH20, VH20) of installed audio conferencing systems INTERACT Pro series (INTERACT Pro, Pro 8i) of installed audio conferencing systems Sound reinforcement systems: CONVERGE SR 1212, 1212A Professional microphones: Product models include Beamforming Microphone Array, Ceiling Microphone Array, Wireless microphones, and Tabletop microphones Network bridges for use with CONVERGE Pro devices 2013 Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth
Accessories and peripherals to connect to desktop video conferencing applications and UC applications This comprehensive product line offers customers unrivaled flexibility and customization options for different conference room environments. Factor 2: Product innovation ClearOne has a long history of innovation in the audio conferencing industry. The company pioneered the use of distributed echo cancellation technology, wireless conference phones, and fully-expandable conference phones by daisy-chaining multiple phone units. ClearOne continues to develop and introduce innovative audio and video products for conferencing, collaboration, streaming, and digital signage applications. The new and innovative products introduced by ClearOne in 2013 for the installed audio conferencing market were the: Beamforming Microphone Array: Key features include beamforming and adaptive steering technology; next-gen acoustic echo cancellation; 24 microphone elements; flexible mounting for ceiling, tabletop and wall modes. CONVERGE USB network device that provides plug-and-play connectivity between ClearOne s installed audio conferencing systems and popular UC applications. These products are optimized to work with ClearOne s CONVERGE Pro installed audio conferencing systems and COLLABORATE Room video conferencing systems. Factor 3: Large and well-developed partner ecosystem ClearOne sells its commercial products to end users primarily through a global channel of distributors, retailers, VARs, systems integrators, and service providers. ClearOne s comprehensive portfolio of audio and video communication products for conferencing, collaboration, streaming, and digital signage make the company an attractive technology supplier for new and existing channel partners. These channel partners can in turn go to market with broader and deeper capabilities in the AV industry. ClearOne s products are also more competitively priced than other competing products in the market, allowing channel partners to make better margins selling and implementing ClearOne s solutions. ClearOne also works closely with leading UC technology vendors to develop conferencing endpoints that work seamlessly with popular UC applications. These include technology partnerships with Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, NEC, Siemens, and other leading UC vendors. From a customer standpoint, this means lower IT costs, increased user productivity, more productive meetings, and greater ROI from their UC investments. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth
Factor 4: Expanded use cases ClearOne s comprehensive professional audio product line allows the company and its partners to develop and implement numerous industry-specific solutions that leverage the core components of audio conferencing systems. Examples of these include: Government courtrooms and government offices Education classrooms and meeting rooms Healthcare hospitals Houses of Worship Hospitality hotels and other meeting/conference room use cases ClearOne s CONVERGE Pro and SR products offer the high audio quality and performance combined with the flexibility to customize audio solutions for these industry applications. Conclusion ClearOne has been a highly respected pioneer and leading innovator in the audio conferencing industry for the last 30 years. The company continues to develop cutting-edge audio conferencing solutions and it remains focused on delivering superior value for its customers and partners worldwide. Frost & Sullivan firmly believes that ClearOne s complete product line of audio conferencing systems, strategic focus on innovation and product line expansion, as well as large channel partner network will help the company maintain its leadership position in the installed audio conferencing market. Based on Frost & Sullivan's independent analysis of the Global Installed Audio Conferencing Systems market, ClearOne is recognized with the 2014 Market Leadership Award. Critical Importance of TEAM Research Frost & Sullivan s TEAM Research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360-degree view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all seven of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Our experience has shown over the years that companies too often make important growth decisions based on a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Frost & Sullivan contends that successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. In that vein, the letters T, E, A and M reflect our core technical, economic, applied (financial and best practices) and market analyses. The integration of these research disciplines into the TEAM Research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry players and for creating high-potential growth strategies for our clients. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth
Chart 1: Benchmarking Performance with TEAM Research About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth