Sierra Pacific Resources is one of the fastest growing energy companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, providing electricity, gas and water to a collective 1+ million customers in Nevada and California. With a service area that covers over 54,531 square miles of Nevada-the fastest growing state in the U.S.-Sierra Pacific's vision is to create a premier distribution, transmission and energy services company.

Polycom Video Conferencing System Adds Exciting New Capabilities

"Our business challenge was to provide network resources that could meet all the demands of a merger between Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power, as well as the demands of any new applications and functionality needed after a merger," says Chuck Benton, network analyst at Sierra Pacific Resources. Sierra Pacific Power deployed a new network in 1997 and looked to Polycom to provide the video conferencing tools it needed.

"When Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power merged two years later," says Benton, "we had a network and high-quality, interactive video communications that could easily facilitate collaboration between the sites in Las Vegas and Reno."

Sierra Pacific Resources saved $277,000 on the travel expenses within the first year of having implemented the appliance-based ViewStation® systems to enable video conferencing. Today, 40 Polycom systems enable between eight and 12 video conferences each day over T1 lines between their Las Vegas and Reno facilities. "This video conferencing capability is a new tool in the toolbox of everyday business," says Benton.