The Lifesize partner community is truly the backbone of our business, and we couldn’t thank you enough for being as dynamic, dedicated and diligent as you are in supporting the way we grow as a business. In just this year alone, we’ve been able to launch the very first 4K video collaboration solution, promote several product integrations and push more than 700 feature updates, all with the support of our partner community paving our path to success.

This year we conducted the very first global partner summit, Lifesize Connect, bringing resellers and distribution partners from all over the world together for three full days of networking, team building and live demonstrations. We heard from industry experts, analysts and Lifesize customers about how far we’ve come as an organization and shared the roadmap for the future of Lifesize in 2020 and beyond. Thank you for taking the time to come and connect with us and help shape the future of our business; we couldn’t do it without you.

Wainhouse Research: State of the Industry

Craig Durr, Senior Analyst at Wainhouse Research, shared the firm’s insight, research and predictions about the continued growth of the global video conferencing market. And rather than focusing on “millennials in the workforce,” he provided a new angle — that today we have five unique generations working side by side and have to solve for their unique needs with our technology. The who, where and how of work continues to evolve leading to an even greater emphasis on ease of use for business conferencing and collaboration solutions. And that ease of use is being defined by the end users, not the solution providers.

Craig also shared the latest data points trending toward a renewed interest in the video conferencing codec/appliance as a driver for a consistent user experience across meeting rooms. Today, the cost of dedicated hardware is competitive with BYOP (bring your own problem) room kits, whereas the value of the dedicated video conferencing appliance far outweighs the extended component flexibility for many, especially the IT administrator in charge of maintenance and connectivity.

Video Collaboration in 2020 and Beyond

The Connect mainstage was packed with informative demos, exclusive product teasers and executive insights about video collaboration in 2020 and beyond.

The Past, Present and Future of Lifesize

Lifesize CTO Bobby Beckmann shared what the engineering team has been working on for the past few months and teased a few new features of what we have in store for the upcoming year. From small bug fixes and product integrations like Digital Signage and whiteboard sharing to major enhancements to the Lifesize app and the launch of Lifesize Go, the engineering team has pushed more than 700 updates so far this year with big things to come in the remainder of 2019 and beyond.

Roadmap Overview: Delivering Differentiated Experiences for Customers

Lifesize COO Michael Helmbrecht took the opportunity to discuss this week’s new product launches — Lifesize Dash as the first free video conferencing kit solution (all the benefits without the Zoom tax!) to our new Micpod and tablet-controlled Icon 300 huddle room solution. These new innovations continue to expand the flexibility of the Lifesize solution for any person and any meeting space.

CEO Remarks: State of the Industry

Lifesize CEO Craig Malloy took the stage to give an update on the state of the industry, share his perspective on the new UCC space and recap a few key milestones Lifesize has been able to achieve thanks to our incredible global partner channel. From being recognized as a Visionary in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions to becoming leaders in the G2 Crowd review platform, Craig reiterated that we couldn’t have done it without our dedicated partners supporting us all the way through.

Delivering a Virtual Homeland for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska

Larry Wright Jr., Chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and cherished Lifesize customer, joined Tim Maloney, Senior VP Global Channel, to tell the history of his tribal nation and talk about the challenges of keeping his language and culture alive. Having been stripped of their land holdings and without a central reservation, Wright needed a way to unite his tribe’s 4,200+ members and preserve their culture across county and state borders.

Now equipped with 4K video and high-quality collaboration technology, the Ponca Tribe has drastically reduced the time and expense of traveling between regional sites and incorporated a language preservation program to keep their culture alive. With only 12 fluent Ponca language  speakers in the entire world, it has become a priority for a tribe to get this program up and running, and with Lifesize, it has become possible. Check out our recent case study to read more.

Voice of the Customer

Lifesize customers Yelp, WP Engine and the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD took part in a customer panel discussion to provide real-world examples of how Lifesize has played a pivotal role in their communication and collaboration program facilitation projects.

Yelp IT AV Technician Nate Cook shared a story about the organization’s transition from Lifesize on-prem to Lifesize cloud and how open communication between Yelp IT and Lifesize support and engineering led to a 24-hour hot fix that enabled a global switch to cloud in about 18 hours. The new cloud deployment not only simplified administration for the global IT team, it also enabled Yelp to deploy more licenses to more teams throughout the organization and helped redefine their communication strategy.

Trey Celaya, IT Infrastructure Administrator from WP Engine talked about his team’s evolving decision criteria for video conferencing. WP Engine has been a Lifesize customer through multiple renewals, always revising their needs and continually testing Lifesize against the competition. The ease of use both in the app and in the conference room is what keeps Lifesize ahead of the pack for his globally dispersed users. Watch case study video.

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD CIO, Mustafa Cochinwala, shared a slightly different perspective. His organization is one of the largest mental health systems in the country and uses Lifesize virtually connect mental health clinicians with law enforcement deputies to turn a law enforcement response into a health response during mental health crises. Mustafa complimented the quality of the Lifesize solution on mobile networks and noted a 54% reduction in avoidable hospitalizations thanks to their new Lifesize telepsychiatry program. Read full case study.

The Lifesize Experience Center

Lifesize partners play a critical role in defining product improvements and testing new features and capabilities. During Connect, Lifesize partners had the opportunity to get a firsthand look at what the engineers have been working on; demo the new Dash system, Micpod, and integration with Microsoft Teams; take home a Kaptivo and Lifesize Share™ unit; and test out a few top-secret projects never before seen outside of the Lifesize lab. Feedback from partners is that it’s an experience you have to touch, see and hear to believe.

2019 Lifesize Global Partner Awards

This has been a great opportunity to take a moment to appreciate all of our partners’ hard work and dedication in being the collaboration evangelists of Lifesize. Our partners are not only dedicated to promoting our Lifesize products and solutions to their customers — they also live the Lifesize values and philosophy in their partnership. By looking at our partners’ growth, longevity, ability, tenure, flexibility and commitment to the Lifesize brand, we’d like to recognize our award winners who really stood out this year and outperformed their own expectations.

Global Winners

Best 4K Product Launch: AudeoNet (M) Sdn Bhd

Distribution Partner of the Year: SYNNEX Corporation

Retention Excellence: i2i technologies


AMR Winners

Distribution Partner of the Year: Jenne, Inc.

Reseller of the Year: CDW

Greatest Advancement: PC Connection, Inc.


EMEA Winners

Distribution Partner of the Year: Nuvias

Reseller of the Year: DEKOM

Greatest Advancement: DWPro


APAC Winners

Distribution Partner of the Year: Green Sources

Reseller of the Year: AudeoNet (M) Sdn Bhd

Greatest Advancement: Hwari Video Communication Co., LTD.


Congratulations to our regional and global partners who are committed to delivering customers the Lifesize unparalleled 4K video conferencing solution and thank you again for joining as at Lifesize Connect 2019.

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