Plantronics Press Room » US/Press

Plantronics Calisto 210 USB Handset for Unified Communications Now Rated “Avaya Compliant”

kauby — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:01:32 +0000

lantronics, Avaya’s Preferred Headset Provider, Expands Portfolio of Audio Devices that Provide Immediate Connectivity and Advanced Functionality with Avaya Solutions

Santa Cruz, Calif. - March 11, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that its Calisto(R) 210 USB Handset is compliant with Avaya one-X(R) Communicator 5.2 and Avaya Aura(TM) Communication Manager 5.2. By combining the strength of Plantronics’ audio devices with Avaya communication and user productivity software, the companies are delivering complete Unified Communications solutions that help companies improve business collaboration and reduce operating costs.

In December 2009, Plantronics and Avaya extended their long-standing business and technology relationship to focus on new Unified Communications and Contact Center solutions. At that time, Avaya named Plantronics as “preferred headset provider” for bringing clear audio, reliability and ease-of-use to enterprise business users. Plantronics’ portfolio of audio devices includes one of the only headsets and handsets that deliver plug-and-play connectivity and advanced call control for Avaya solutions such as Avaya one-X(R) Communicator and Avaya one-X(R) Agent.

The latest Plantronics audio device to receive Avaya compliance, the Plantronics Calisto 210 USB Handset helps businesses speed Unified Communications deployments by providing end users with a familiar device for PC-based voice conversations. The Calisto 210 features wideband audio and a noise-canceling microphone to optimize audio quality, and a convenient USB cable that enables immediate use with any computer running Avaya one-X Communicator 5.2 and Avaya Aura Communication Manager 5.2.

“Because our Unified Communications audio solutions are compliant with Avaya, businesses deploying UC have the confidence of plug-and-play compatibility and the benefit of great audio quality and advanced call control functionality,” said Elizabeth Bastiaanse Hamren, vice president of Product Marketing at Plantronics. “Plantronics and Avaya will continue to work closely together to deliver intuitive and seamless solutions that enable enterprises and contact centers to realize the true, real-time collaboration benefits of UC.”

Only Headset Manufacturer to Achieve Platinum DevConnect Status

Plantronics is a Platinum member of the Avaya DevConnect program, an initiative to develop, market and sell third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company’s investment in its network. Plantronics is the only Platinum-level headset manufacturer in the Avaya DevConnect program.

As a Platinum member, Plantronics is eligible to submit products for compatibility testing by the Avaya Solution Interoperability and Test Lab. There a team of Avaya engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify whether it is Avaya-compliant. Doing so ensures businesses can confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure - speeding deployment of new applications and reducing both network complexity and implementation costs.

“Companies like Plantronics are expanding the Unified Communications choices available to Avaya customers,” said Eric Rossman, vice president, Developer Relations, Avaya. “They are able to use Unified Communications to connect employees and customers to information from wherever they are, over whatever device they have available - getting more out of their multivendor network and delivering new value to their bottom line.”

About Avaya

Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com. For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.

Plantronics, the logo design, Calisto, and Sound Innovation are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics, Inc. is under license. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

Plantronics Supports Unified Communications Solutions Providers with Expanded Channel Partner Program

kauby — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:30:17 +0000

New Connect Solution Provider Level Provides Enhanced Product and Program Resources to Help Partners Improve UC Deployments and Generate Revenue Opportunities

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – March 2, 2010 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT), today expanded its Connect Partner Program to include solution providers and systems integrators focused on Unified Communications (UC), a burgeoning global market that Forrester Research forecasts will reach $14.5 billion by 2015.

The Connect Solution Provider (SP) level is designed to help partners with expertise in multiple technology solution sets such as Unified Communications increase revenue growth by offering new business opportunities, full sales and campaign support, and advanced product training. Now, solution providers can easily outfit their UC customers with Plantronics audio solutions, enabling them to take full advantage of the collaboration and productivity benefits of UC.

FusionStorm, a Plantronics partner and national provider of IT products, support and services, is actively involved in Unified Communications implementations. “Plantronics is a great partner for Unified Communications deployments because they offer the industry’s broadest portfolio of high-quality UC audio solutions that our customers love—which speeds implementation and reduces costs,” said Tony Balistrieri, vice president of Partner Strategy, FusionStorm. “The new Solution Provider program has aided our UC deployments because we’re always up-to-date on Plantronics’ new UC products and trained accordingly. Working with a reliable, trusted vendor has resulted in new revenue opportunities and more satisfied customers.”

This new partner level is built to optimize the experience for solutions providers in these key ways:

Business development and sales support for campaign participation, market development funds (MDF), sample programs, tradeshow event materials and involvement in the Channel Employee Purchase Program.
Sales and marketing resources including Plantronics online collateral library, marketing content and sales aids
Ongoing communications delivered by ConnectNews Solution Provider Edition and special Plantronics announcements
Education and training through sales and technical training, events, webinar and online training
Service and care, pre- and post sales support with a customer care hotline, dedicated partner technical assistance
Advance Product Replacement and best-in-class warranties

“Plantronics has always been a channel-focused company and we treat channel partners as one of our most valuable assets” said Cathy Timmerman, senior director of Field and Channel Marketing, Plantronics. “Unified Communications is the next great frontier in business collaboration and we strive to ensure our partners trust us to support them with marketing tools and educational resources while providing quality audio products for their customers.”

The Plantronics Connect Partner Program helps resellers increase revenue opportunities by offering the competitive advantage of a complete UC solution. Plantronics audio devices make UC adoption easier for businesses which can help speed ROI for Connect partners. Connect also allots development funds for joint marketing activities between Plantronics and partners.

Solution Providers can apply for the Connect SP level now. Please visit www.plantronics.com/sp for more information including eligibility requirements.

Plantronics, the logo design, and The Voice of Unified Communications are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics, Inc. is under license. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

Plantronics Introduces New Simplified Unified Communications Product Families for Office, Mobile and Remote Workers

kauby — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:29 +0000

New Audio Solutions Help IT Departments Enhance User Experiences through Clear, Reliable Audio and Ease of Use

CeBIT 2010 – HANNOVER, Germany – March 2, 2010 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today simplified its growing Unified Communications (UC) portfolio and introduced new audio solutions that help IT departments deploy UC quickly and keep costs down . The new solutions, including a USB desk phone, premium corded headsets and wireless DECT (TM) headsets, deliver brilliant audio, unmatched quality and ease of use across all work environments.

The Plantronics Unified Communications product portfolio is now organized into the following product families: Blackwire (TM), Calisto (R), Savi (TM) and Plantronics Voyager (R) UC. The simplified product families are designed for easy IT decision making. Many products provide full call control functions for UC applications from partners including Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Skype.

“Voice is paramount in Unified Communications because it enables us to be more expressive and engaged. Workers won’t adopt UC solutions if they can’t trust the audio to be clear and reliable, so it’s imperative that both IT and end users be able to quickly match an audio solution to their work style and audio needs,” said Elizabeth Bastiaanse Hamren, vice president of Product Marketing at Plantronics. “We developed our new solutions to enhance the UC experience with audio that gives the feeling of true ‘face-to-face’ conversations and the reliability that people have come to expect of Plantronics for nearly 50 years.”

Simplifying UC Deployments

The new Plantronics Unified Communications product families give IT departments a single trusted vendor for a wide variety of audio solutions. From executives in the corner office to mobile sales teams to knowledge workers around campus or in the office, Plantronics’ breadth of product options enable clear, reliable conversations across an array of environments. Equally important, the audio solutions are easy to use and install, so IT departments aren’t burdened with support requests.

Plantronics Blackwire: Corded USB Wideband Headsets

Designed for in-office and mobile PC-based conversations, the Blackwire family includes the new Blackwire 420, a foldable headset designed for a mobile worker which can lay flat next to a laptop for portability. It has in-line controls for volume, answer/end and mute. Installation is easy via USB plug-and-play connectivity. The Blackwire line includes five headsets with wideband audio, call control and noise canceling microphones in both mono and stereo.

Plantronics Calisto: Wideband USB Phones

The Calisto family includes the new Plantronics Calisto 540, an Optimized for Microsoft Office Communicator deskphone. The Calisto 540 is ideal for stationary workers who primarily use the PC for voice conversations and want the familiarity of a desk phone. The Calisto family of products also includes a USB speakerphone and a handset.

Plantronics Savi: Wireless DECT USB Wideband Headsets

The Savi family includes new binaural and monaural headband versions of the award-winning Savi Office. The Savi family of products is designed for knowledge workers who use both a deskphone and the PC for making calls and want the freedom of mobility with the clear audio quality. Savi Office enables in-office professionals to listen to any PC-based audio such as music players, streaming audio and video, webinars and podcasts, and make calls via the desk phone or PC with a simple press of a button. With Savi Office, IT departments looking to standardize on one headset system can offer users a choice in wearing styles.

Plantronics Voyager UC: Bluetooth (R) USB Wideband Headset

For mobile professionals, Voyager PRO UC, introduced in November 2009, combines Plantronics’ award-winning Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset with a plug-and-play Bluetooth USB adapter to deliver richer wideband audio on softphones along with Voyager PRO’s superior noise and wind cancellation on both mobile phones and softphones. The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset supports multipoint technology that allows users to switch between their mobile phone calls and PC calls with the touch of a button.

Pricing and Availability

The full portfolio of UC products is available through authorized Plantronics resellers and will be available in Spring 2010.

Plantronics Blackwire corded USB wideband headsets range in price from $44.95 to $129 MSRP. The ultra portable Blackwire 420 has an MSRP of $89.95.
Plantronics Calisto wideband USB phones range in price from $79 to $179 MSRP. The new Calisto 540 USB Deskphone has an MSRP of $169.95
Plantronics Savi Office, including the new monaural and binaural versions, range in price from $379.95 - $399.95 MSRP and will be available this spring. Over-the-ear and convertible models of Savi Office are currently available.
Plantronics Voyager PRO UC has an MSRP of $199.95 and is currently available.

Blackwire, Calisto, Plantronics Voyager, Savi, and The Voice of Unified Communications are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. DECT is a trademark of ETSI. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics, Inc. is under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Announces One Million Share Repurchase Program

asonnenshine — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:31:41 +0000

Santa Cruz, CA-March 1, 2010 - Plantronics, Inc., (NYSE: PLT) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a new 1,000,000 share repurchase program to follow the nearly completed program announced in November 2009. Under the repurchase program, Plantronics will, from time to time, purchase shares of its common stock, depending upon market conditions, in open market or privately negotiated transactions.

“We have a consistent record of share repurchases, with over 22 million shares repurchased since fiscal 1997. We believe that our future cash flows will provide sufficient liquidity to support an additional 1,000,000 share repurchase program. In addition, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities position of over $316 million as of December 31, 2009 combined with no debt places Plantronics in a very strong financial position,” stated Barbara Scherer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Plantronics. “We purchase shares when we believe it will be strongly accretive to earnings per share to do so in comparison to alternative investment choices. Our Board of Directors believes that Plantronics’ stock presents an attractive investment for the Company and its stockholders,” she continued.

Safe Harbor

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that the Company will generate future cash flow, repurchase of Company stock constitutes an opportunity to increase shareholder value, future cash flows should provide sufficient liquidity to support another share repurchase program, and the repurchase of our stock represents an attractive investment. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by any such statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: (1) failure to achieve the anticipated levels of cash generation due to lower sales, increased costs, higher inventories, slow collection of accounts receivable or other factors; (2) increases in the yield which could be obtained from alternative investment of the funds used to repurchase stock; and (3) an increased need for cash reserves beyond the levels presently anticipated, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

For more information concerning these and other possible risks, please refer to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed May 26, 2009, quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as recent press releases. These filings can be accessed over the Internet at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html.

About Plantronics

Plantronics is a world leader in personal audio communications for professionals and consumers. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers unparalleled audio experiences and quality that reflect our nearly 50 years of innovation and customer commitment. Plantronics is used by every company in the Fortune 100 and is the headset of choice for air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics Helps British Columbia and Winter Olympic Tourists Keep Both Hands on the Wheel While Talking

drace — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:00:32 +0000

British Columbia’s Grace Period Ends Today;

Fines Now Imposed for Using a Handheld Cell Phone Behind the Wheel

VANCOUVER, B.C. - February 1, 2010 - With less than two weeks until the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, British Columbia today lifted the grace period for its law banning the use of handheld mobile electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle unless a hands-free device is used. Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) encourages visitors to prepare for the new hands-free law by educating themselves on the headset options available and following a few simple safety tips.

“With more than 250,000 tourists expected to descend on the Vancouver area for the Olympics, drivers on unfamiliar roadways need to be aware of the law and how to prepare themselves,” explained Clay Hausmann, vice president of Corporate Marketing at Plantronics. “Complying with the law is easy because users have more options than ever before. Plantronics offers a broad portfolio of headsets that fit a wide range of preferences and budgets while providing the superior audio quality, comfort and style that consumers expect from Plantronics.”

Effective today, February 1, B.C. will impose a $167 fine for talking on a handheld cell phone while driving. Hands-free devices, such as headsets, minimize physical and visual distractions associated with talking on the phone and driving by enabling motorists to keep both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road. Drivers in B.C. should consider the following safety tips while using a headset and driving:

Try it out: Test your headset with your phone before you drive. Familiarize yourself with the headset’s controls and adjust the fit and volume. Make sure your headset and phone are connected and store your phone so it is out of your way but still accessible.
Get organized: Make sure frequently called numbers are programmed into your phone. Most phones have voice-dialing; be sure to use this feature so you can always keep both eyes on the road.
Set it up: Add headset preparation to your pre-driving checklist. Buckle your seatbelt, check your rearview mirror, and put on your headset and make sure it’s connected to your phone before you drive.
Focus on the road: Always remember that driving safely is your first priority. You should focus on the road and only place and receive calls when it’s absolutely necessary.

Best-in-Class Bluetooth Headsets

Among the Bluetooth(R) headsets available to drivers in B.C. are the Plantronics Voyager(R) PRO and the Plantronics Discovery(R) 975 headsets.

The Plantronics Voyager PRO provides the industry’s most advanced noise-canceling and wind noise reduction technology. Winner of the coveted Editors’ Choice awards from CNET and PC Magazine, the Plantronics Voyager PRO features AudioIQ2, next generation digital signal processing (DSP) technology, to deliver superior noise and wind cancellation as well as rich, natural inbound audio so you can hear and be heard clearly. Ideal for drivers, Plantronics Voyager PRO is extremely comfortable and the battery provides up to six hours of talk time before having to recharge.

The Plantronics Discovery 975 headset, also a CNET Editor’s Choice award winner, is the perfect blend of innovative design and advanced audio technology. It provides ingeniously simple one-touch controls to keep drivers focused on the road, not the headset. The sleek, elegant design houses sophisticated technology, including AudioIQ2DSP technology with dual-microphones to cancel background noise and three layers of WindSmart(R) technology to minimize wind noise. It comes with an innovative rechargeable carrying case that can triple talk time from 5 hours to up to 15 hours.

Best Buy now features a full line of Plantronics Bluetooth wireless headsets including the award-winning Voyager PRO and Discovery 975. Plantronics headsets can also be found at Wal-Mart, Bell Canada, FutureShop, Telus, and Staples locations in British Columbia and throughout Canada. To learn more about the headsets and see a complete listing of Plantronics’ hands-free products, please visit: www.plantronics.com.

Plantronics recognizes that there are occasions when driving circumstances make talking on a mobile phone - handheld or hands-free - unsafe. In these instances, motorists should pull over or hang up to protect the safety of themselves, their passengers and others on the road.

About Plantronics

Plantronics is a world leader in personal audio communications for professionals and consumers. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers unparalleled audio experiences and quality that reflect our nearly 50 years of innovation and customer commitment. Plantronics is used by every company in the Fortune 100 and is the headset of choice for air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

AudioIQ2, Plantronics, Plantronics Discovery, Plantronics Voyager and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth(R) word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Plantronics Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2010 Results

tcarbone — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:01:03 +0000

Results Exceed Guidance; Company Achieves Targeted Gross & Operating Margins

SANTA CRUZ, CA - January 26, 2010 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced third quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $165.9 million compared with $152.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Net revenues were above the previously provided guidance of $155 million to $160 million. Plantronics’ GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.47 in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.13 in the same quarter of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 were $0.50 compared with $0.14 in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 and were greater than the previously provided non-GAAP guidance of $0.38 to $0.42. The difference between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 includes stock-based compensation charges, purchase accounting amortization and restructuring and other related charges, all net of associated tax benefits along with the release of $1.2 million in tax reserves.

The Company completed the sale of Altec Lansing, its Audio Entertainment Group (”AEG”) segment, effective as of December 1, 2009. All results of operations related to AEG including the loss on the sale are classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

Plantronics also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend is payable on March 10, 2010 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 19, 2010.

“Revenues were above expectations as we experienced better than expected demand in our Office & Contact Center product group, including Unified Communications solutions,” stated Ken Kannappan, President & CEO. “Our margins improved as the result of prior cost reduction efforts combined with higher revenues.”

Business Results (Non-GAAP from Continuing Operations)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Third quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $165.9 million increased 9% compared with $152.6 million in the prior year quarter. Improved economic conditions led to increases in net revenues both year over year and sequentially in Office and Contact Center, Mobile, and Gaming & Computer Audio, while revenues from the Clarity group declined compared with the same quarter of the prior year. Geographically, all regions grew year over year and sequentially, except for EMEA which declined year over year but grew by 34% from the previous quarter.

Office and Contact Center net revenues were $103.1 million, an increase of 1% from $101.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 and a sequential increase of 10% from $93.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Mobile headset net revenues were $47.0 million, an increase of 30% from the year ago quarter of $36.0 million, and a sequential increase of 35% from $34.7 million.

Gross margin in the third quarter of fiscal 2010 was 48.9% compared with 40.1% in the third quarter of the prior year and 48.7% in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. The increase in the current quarter as compared to the same period in the prior year is primarily driven by the improved Bluetooth profitability as a result of outsourcing our manufacturing in fiscal 2010. The sequential improvement was primarily driven by an improved product mix.

Operating expenses declined by 6% from $52.2 million in the prior year quarter to $49.2 million in the current quarter. Operating income in the current quarter was $31.8 million compared with guidance of $26 million to $29 million, resulting in an operating margin of 19.2% as compared to operating income of $9.0 million and an operating margin of 5.9% in the prior year quarter.

Business Outlook

The following statements are based on our current expectations and many of these statements are forward-looking. Actual results are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from our expectations.

Plantronics has a “book and ship” business model whereby it ships most orders to customers within 48 hours of its receipt of those orders and, therefore, the level of backlog does not provide reliable visibility into potential future revenues. The Company’s business is inherently difficult to forecast, and there can be no assurance that the incoming orders it expects to receive over the balance of the quarter will materialize. With continuing uncertainty resulting from the global economic conditions, the Company’s business remains difficult to forecast. In addition, our incoming order rate tends to be low during the last two weeks of December and the first half of January and then rises significantly into February and March. This pattern may be affected due to uncertainty of the strength of the economic recovery. We have experienced a slow start to this quarter and we therefore must realize an increased incoming order flow for the balance of the quarter in order to achieve the revenue range we are projecting.

Net revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 are expected to be lower than the third quarter of fiscal 2010 and higher than the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

Subject to the foregoing, we are currently expecting the following range of financial results for continuing operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010:

Net revenues of $150 million - $155 million;
Non-GAAP operating income of $27 million to $30 million;
Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.40 - $0.44;
Non-GAAP tax rate to be approximately 26%;
GAAP earnings per share of $0.35 to $0.39.

If these results are achieved, the performance compared with fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 would be revenue growth of approximately 17% to 21%.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these targets. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except by its next press release announcing its fourth quarter fiscal 2010 results or by other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the fourth quarter fiscal 2010 will not be based on internal Company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors.

Conference Call Scheduled to Discuss Actual Financial Results

Plantronics has scheduled a conference call to discuss third quarter fiscal 2010 results. The conference call will take place Tuesday, January 26th at 2:00 PM (PST). All interested investors and potential investors in Plantronics stock are invited to participate. To listen to the call, please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled starting time and refer to the “Plantronics Conference Call.” Participants from North America should call (888) 301-8736 and other participants should call (706) 634-7260.

A replay of the call with the conference ID #40971882 will be available for 72 hours at (800) 642-1687 for callers from North America and at (706) 645-9291 for all other callers. The conference call will also be simultaneously web cast at www.plantronics.com under Investor Relations, and the web cast of the conference call will remain available at the Plantronics website for thirty days.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Plantronics excludes non-recurring transactions and non-cash expenses and charges such as restructuring and other related charges, the release of certain tax reserves, stock-based compensation expenses related to stock options, awards and employee stock purchases, purchase accounting amortization and impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets from non-GAAP income from continuing operations, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share from continuing operations, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating margin and non-GAAP effective tax rate on continuing operations. Plantronics excludes these expenses from its non-GAAP measures primarily because Plantronics does not believe they are reflective of ongoing operating results and are not considered as part of its target operating model. Plantronics believes that the use of non-GAAP financial measures provides meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity, and helps investors compare actual results to its long-term target operating model goals. Plantronics believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods.

Safe Harbor

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) our estimates of GAAP and non-GAAP financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, including revenue and earnings per share; (ii) our estimated tax rate for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010; (iii) our estimated stock-based compensation expense for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated are:

economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
the bankruptcy or financial weakness of distributors or key customers, or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
the effect of restructuring actions on GAAP results;
our ability to realize our Unified Communications (”UC”) plans and to achieve the financial results projected to arise from UC adoption could be adversely affected by the following factors: (i) as UC becomes more widely adopted, the risk that competitors will offer solutions that will effectively commoditize our headsets which, in turn, will reduce the sales prices for our headsets; (ii) our plans are dependent upon adoption of our UC solution by major platform providers such as Microsoft, Avaya, IBM and Cisco, and we have a limited ability to influence such providers with respect to the functionality of their platforms, their rate of deployment, and their willingness to integrate their platforms with our solutions; (iii) the development of UC solutions is technically complex and this may delay or obstruct our ability to introduce solutions to the market on a timely basis and that are cost effective, feature rich, stable and attractive to our customers; (iv) as UC becomes more widely adopted we anticipate that competition for market share will increase, and some competitors may have superior technical and economic resources; (v) UC solutions may not be adopted with the breadth and speed in the marketplace that we currently anticipate, and (vi) our support expenditures may substantially increase over time due to the complex nature of the platforms developed by the major UC providers as these platforms continue to evolve and become more commonly adopted;
failure to match production to demand given long lead times and the difficulty of forecasting unit volumes and acquiring the component parts to meet demand without having excess inventory or incurring cancellation charges;
further impairment losses on the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill could be recognized if it is determined the value is not recoverable which would adversely affect our financial results;
volatility in prices from our suppliers, including our manufacturers located in China, have and could negatively affect our profitability and/or market share;
the effects of the sale of AEG, including the level of cash flow and the timing of the receipt of any cash flow resulting from such sale are uncertain; and
additional risk factors including: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico, and unexpected delays and uncertainties affecting our ability to realize targeted expense reductions and annualized savings by outsourcing the manufacturing of our Bluetooth products in China to GoerTek, Inc.

Financial Summaries

The following related charts are provided:

Summary Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Unaudited GAAP to Non-GAAP Statements of Operations Reconciliations for the Three and Nine Months ended December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2008
Summary Unaudited Statements of Operations and Related Data on a Non-GAAP Basis

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About Plantronics

Plantronics, the logo design, Clarity and Savi are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth name and the Bluetooth trademarks are owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and are used by Plantronics, Inc. under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Voyager PRO Wins Prestigious iF Product Design Award 2010

lmoore — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:00:34 +0000

Voyager PRO Design Lauded for Blending All Day Wearing Comfort and Superior Audio Quality

Santa Cruz, Calif. - January 7, 2010 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that the Plantronics Voyager(R) PRO Bluetooth(R) headset won the prestigious international Forum (iF) product design award 2010 in the Telecommunications category.

For 56 years, the iF product design award has served as an internationally recognized trademark for outstanding design. Across the globe, the iF brand, with offices in Hanover, Munich, Taipei, Seoul and Curitiba/Paraná, is an established symbol for exceptional design achievement.

There were nearly 2,500 entries from 39 different nations for this year’s award.

“Plantronics designed Voyager PRO for today’s mobile professionals who value performance and comfort above all else,” said Darrin Caddes, vice president of Corporate Design at Plantronics. “We designed the Voyager PRO to be perfectly balanced so that it is seemingly weightless yet very stable when worn and also extremely discreet as most of the physical volume of the product is concealed behind the ear. Combined with the industry’s best audio technology and extended battery life, Voyager PRO breaks new ground in what users should expect from a headset.”

The iF award is the latest accolade bestowed on the Plantronics Voyager PRO headset since it was introduced last year. Voyager PRO won coveted Editors’ Choice awards from CNET and PC Magazine, and was named a CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award Honoree in the Wireless Handsets Accessories category.

Engineered for Sound Quality(TM)

The Plantronics Voyager PRO provides the industry’s most advanced noise-canceling and wind noise reduction technology. The headset features a unique dual-microphone boom and AudioIQ2, next generation digital signal processing (DSP) technology, to precisely capture the user’s voice and simultaneously cancel background noise. It features three layers of WindSmart(R) technology to minimize wind noise and delivers rich, natural inbound audio so you can hear and be heard clearly.

The Plantronics Voyager PRO endured an extraordinary 24 rounds of human factors testing to perfect the design for all-day wearing comfort and stability. The Voyager PRO ear tip is made of soft silicone for an optimal fit and features a “sound channel” that helps distribute audio evenly to the ear. Ideal for mobile professionals, the Plantronics Voyager PRO is extremely comfortable and the battery provides up to six hours of talk time before having to recharge.

About the iF Design Awards

Since the introduction of the iF product design award in 1953, iF design awards have developed into prestigious trademarks for outstanding achievements in the field of design. Enterprises and design studios use the award to make their customers and additional target groups aware of the potentially decisive difference in product and service quality expressed by this distinction.

About Plantronics

Plantronics, AudioIQ, AudioIQ², Engineered for Sound Quality, Plantronics Voyager, and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth(r) word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Plantronics Introduces Four Digitally Enhanced PC Headsets for Multimedia and Voice Applications

lmoore — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:00:01 +0000

The .Audio Line of PC Headsets Feature High-Performance DSP Technology to Deliver Superior Stereo Sound and Audio

Las Vegas, Nevada - January 7, 2010 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today expanded its award-winning family of .Audio(TM) PC headsets with four new wideband models that feature high-performance digital signal processing (DSP) technology for unparalleled audio quality when listening to music, gaming and for PC-based conversations.

The new lineup includes the Plantronics .Audio(TM) 476 DSP, the Plantronics .Audio 646 DSP, the Plantronics .Audio 626 DSP and the upgraded .Audio 655 DSP. Ideal for podcasts and PC-based conversations on services including Skype and Google Talk, each headset combines a noise-cancelling microphone with advanced DSP technology that work together to effectively remove ambient noise, while still maintaining the natural sound of your voice. Each headset also supports wideband audio to deliver clearer, richer sound that gives the feeling of true ‘face-to-face’ conversations.

The new .Audio headsets also provide outstanding full-range, stereo sound when listening to music and gaming by combining the DSP technology with premium speakers and a precise fit.

“We know consumers want great PC audio experiences so we’ve packed each of the new .Audio headsets with cutting-edge DSP technology, advanced noise-cancelling microphones and wideband support,” said Matt Miller, director of Entertainment Products at Plantronics. “We also know that consumers want choice and the new .Audio lineup delivers just that with various wearing styles, features and prices.”

Plantronics .Audio 476 DSP - Voice on the Go

The Plantronics .Audio(TM) 476 DSP is perfect for frequent travelers. In addition to providing great audio so you can hear and be heard clearly, it features an over-the-head wearing style that folds almost completely flat for traveling. The headset uses a plug-and-play USB connection and includes a three-button inline control for volume up/down and microphone mute. The .Audio 476 comes with a carrying case for added on-the-go convenience.

Plantronics .Audio 655 DSP - Performance and Comfort

The Plantronics .Audio(TM) 655 DSP headset delivers deep bass and full-range digital audio through 40 mm speakers and features Fast Mic Mute^TM technology that lets users quickly mute the microphone by raising the boom. The .Audio 655’s soft, swivel-mounted ear cushions and lightweight design provide all-day wearing comfort. For ease of use, the headset features one-touch volume controls on the earpiece.

Pricing and Availability

The new Plantronics .Audio DSP headsets will be available in February at www.amazon.com and select retailers starting at $39.99. For more information about the products, please visit www.plantronics.com.

About Plantronics

Plantronics and .Audio are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Plantronics Named Preferred Headset Provider for Avaya Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions

asonnenshine — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:00:40 +0000

Companies Expand 40-Year Relationship to Help Customers Realize Unified Communications Business Collaboration and Cost Savings Benefits

Santa Cruz, Calif. - December 21, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced an expansion of its 40-year business and technology relationship with Avaya to deliver Unified Communications (UC) and Contact Center (CC) solutions that help companies improve business collaboration and reduce operating costs. Plantronics has been named the Avaya preferred headset provider to bring unparalleled audio quality, reliability and ease-of-use to enterprise business users.

“Together, Avaya and Plantronics offer customers end-to-end Unified Communications solutions that are seamless, minimize risk and spur adoption for IT decision makers, and deliver great audio and simplicity for end users,” said Linda Dotts, vice president of Product Marketing, Unified Communications, Avaya. “Expanding our relationship will help customers realize the collaboration and cost savings associated with Unified Communications.”

Plantronics’ broad portfolio of headsets are Avaya-certified and provide immediate connectivity and advanced call control functionality with Avaya’s solutions. Additionally, Plantronics and Avaya will jointly introduce future voice solutions that take advantage of Avaya’s suite of collaboration applications and tools to provide a new level of communication intelligence to customers.

The relationship will focus on the following areas:

Technology - Tight integration of Avaya product APIs into Plantronics audio solutions. Several new products from Plantronics for Avaya Unified Communications and Avaya Contact Centers will be announced in 2010.
Marketing - Avaya and Plantronics will collaborate on integrated UC and CC marketing campaigns in 2010 to channel partners and end users.

Avaya will transition from delivering Avaya-branded headsets manufactured by Plantronics in February 2010. Customers will then purchase Plantronics-branded headsets designed for Avaya telephony solutions directly from Plantronics’ extensive channel of distributors and business partners. This is a global action; however, Avaya Germany will continue to purchase headsets directly from Plantronics. The transition will simplify purchase processes for customers while maintaining world-class service and support.

“Above all else, Plantronics seeks to deliver exceptional audio experiences that enable end users and their organizations to realize the true, real-time collaboration benefits of Unified Communications,” said Michael Gjerstad, vice president of Strategic Partnerships at Plantronics. “This relationship delivers on that promise in ways that are consistent with the foundation of our four-decade relationship with Avaya: technology innovation, cost-efficient solutions for business, and intuitive experiences for end users.”

Only Headset Manufacturer to Attain Platinum DevConnect Membership

Plantronics is now a Platinum member of the Avaya DevConnect program, an initiative to develop, market and sell third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology. Plantronics is the only Platinum-level headset manufacturer in the Avaya DevConnect program.

The Avaya DevConnect program promotes the development, compliance-testing and co-marketing of innovative third-party products that are compatible with standards-based Avaya solutions. Member organizations have expertise in a broad range of technologies - including IP telephony, contact centers and mobility applications - helping companies extend the value of multivendor networks and transform voice into an intelligent business application that delivers true value to the bottom line.

About Avaya

Plantronics is a world leader in personal audio communications for professionals and consumers. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth(R) headsets, Plantronics delivers unparalleled audio experiences and quality that reflect our nearly 50 years of innovation and customer commitment. Plantronics is used by every company in the Fortune 100 and is the headset of choice for air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics is a registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

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Plantronics Adds Award-Winning Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset to Unified Communications Portfolio

kauby — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:22:18 +0000

Santa Cruz – November 2, 2009 – Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) today expanded its growing portfolio of wireless headsets for Unified Communications (UC) with the new Plantronics Voyager® PRO UC headset. Voyager PRO UC combines Plantronics’ award-winning Voyager PRO Bluetooth® headset with a plug-and-play Bluetooth USB adapter to deliver richer wideband audio on softphones along with Voyager PRO’s superior noise and wind cancellation on both mobile phones and softphones.

“The Voyager PRO UC headset was designed for the growing number of mobile professionals who rely on unified communications to stay connected,” said Gunjan Bhow, vice president and general manager of Unified Communications at Plantronics. “Because the headset works with both UC applications and mobile phones, mobile professionals no longer need to juggle multiple headsets. They can get superior audio quality with one device.”

Plug-and-Play Simplicity, Reduced Help Desk Costs

The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset features a plug-and-play Bluetooth USB adapter that reduces Help Desk support costs by eliminating cumbersome software setup processes. Users insert the adapter into their PC and can start talking immediately. The headset delivers high-end audio with wideband calling through softphone applications from leading providers, including Avaya, Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft, and other popular services, such as Google Talk and Skype. The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset supports multipoint technology that allows users to switch between their mobile phone calls and PC calls with the touch of a button.

Plantronics Voyager PRO UC includes the PerSono® Suite software providing call answer/end, volume and mute with supported softphones and manages PC audio, such as music, unified messaging and webinars. Call alert provides notification of incoming softphone calls while listening to streaming audio and a single button on the headset lets users answer/end calls. PerSono Suite software also includes feature setting capabilities so users can personalize the system with choice of ring tones, volume levels, and media management, such as pausing music when taking a call.

“We predict that the adoption of Unified Communications is set to significantly change the traditional communication landscape and infrastructure within businesses across the globe. Desk telephones for many knowledge workers will become redundant, as laptops with smartphones become the communication tools of choice,” comments Steve Blood, Research vice president at Gartner. “Headsets will become essential communication tools for collaborators and could become mandatory, because of health and safety policies.”

The Award-Winning Voyager PRO wireless headset: Engineered for Sound Quality

CNET and PC Magazine have bestowed coveted Editors’ Choice Awards on the Plantronics Voyager PRO for delivering unparalleled audio quality, comfort and usability. Voyager PRO features AudioIQ2 technology, the next generation of Plantronics’ AudioIQ® digital signal processing (DSP) technology that is enhanced by a unique adjustable dual-microphone boom. The boom provides the advantage of capturing your voice close to your mouth so the AudioIQ2 technology can more effectively remove ambient noise, while still maintaining the natural sound of your voice. The Voyager PRO UC headset also uses wideband audio technology to provide richer sound quality for PC audio including softphone applications.

Plantronics Voyager PRO features three layers of WindSmart® technology to minimize wind distortion. Dual external stainless steel microphone screens and acoustic fabrics that surround the microphones provide substantial physical barriers to wind noise. At the same time, AudioIQ2 technology intelligently deciphers your voice from the wind to deliver clear sound to your listener.

The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset also delivers unmatched inbound audio quality to ensure every word is heard on both sides of a conversation. It features a custom speaker that delivers full-spectrum audio so conversations are richer and more vibrant. The adaptive 20-band equalizer delivers distortion-free audio and works with AudioIQ2 technology to automatically adjust sound to comfortable levels based on the noise level around you to ensure maximum audibility.

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC is available in November through authorized resellers and office supply retailers such as Staples.com and OfficeDepot.com. The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset system has a suggested retail price of $199.95. For a complete list of supported softphone applications, please visit: www.plantronics.com/personosuite. To learn more about Plantronics Voyager PRO UC please visit: www.plantronics.com/voyagerprouc

Plantronics — The Voice of Unified Communications™

Plantronics offers one of the industry’s most complete families of corded and wireless products for unified communications. Widely recognized for their sound quality, reliability and comfort, Plantronics’ audio solutions help companies extend the benefits of IP communications throughout the extended enterprise, fostering better business communication and efficiency regardless of where professionals are working.

AudioIQ, AudioIQ2, PerSono Suite, Plantronics, Plantronics Voyager PRO, Sound Innovation, The Voice of Unified Communications, and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

Plantronics Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2010 Results

inolan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Second Quarter Revenues and EPS Exceed Guidance; Company Achieves Targeted Gross & Operating Margins

SANTA CRUZ, CA - October 27, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced second quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $167.4 million compared with $216.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Net revenues were above the previously provided guidance of $155 million to $160 million. Plantronics’ GAAP loss per share was $0.02 in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, primarily due to non-cash asset impairment charges, compared with diluted earnings per share of $0.36 in the same quarter of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 were $0.40 compared with $0.44 in the second quarter of fiscal 2009 and were greater than the previously provided non-GAAP guidance of $0.27 to $0.32. The difference between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings (loss) per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 includes a $15.6 million impairment charge, net of tax on our Audio Entertainment Group (”AEG”) long-lived assets, restructuring and other related costs, purchase accounting amortization and the cost of stock-based compensation.

Plantronics also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend is payable on December 10, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business on November 20, 2009.

“Revenues were above expectations as we experienced stable demand in our Office & Contact Center business and increased demand in our consumer markets. Our improved cost structure allowed us to achieve our long-term targeted gross and operating margins at the current revenue level,” stated Ken Kannappan, President & CEO. “Our new corporate organizational structure along with the pending sale of Altec Lansing, our AEG segment, will produce better and more efficient corporate alignment to target our top market opportunity, Unified Communications (”UC”), providing an excellent earnings growth opportunity ahead as UC adoption becomes more substantial”.

Audio Communications Group (ACG) Non-GAAP Results

(Office & Contact Center, Mobile, Gaming and Computer & Clarity)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Second quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $144.4 million decreased 26% compared with $195.3 million in the prior year quarter, but increased 2% from $141.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010. General economic weakness led to declines in net revenues in all major geographies and most product groups compared with the prior year quarter. Revenues in the U.S., Asia Pacific and Latin America regions improved sequentially.

Office and Contact Center net revenues were $93.5 million, a decrease of 22% from $119.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009 and a sequential decrease of 3% from $95.9 million in the prior quarter. Bluetooth headset net revenues were $33.3 million, a decrease of 42% from the year ago quarter of $57.4 million, and a sequential increase of 10% from $30.3 million. The prior year quarter was stronger in part due to higher demand driven by hands-free legislation in California and Washington states which was partially offset by higher average selling prices in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. The Discovery 975 Bluetooth headset, introduced during the quarter, received positive editorial and consumer reviews and is now available through a number of top consumer electronics retailers.

Gross margin in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 was 48.7% compared with 47.9% in the second quarter of the prior year. The improvement was primarily due to a favorable product mix, lower freight costs, and lower requirements for excess and obsolete inventory provisions, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs as a result of lower production volumes.

Actions taken by the Company earlier this calendar year continued to have a beneficial effect, with operating expenses down by 22% from $55.6 million in the prior year quarter to $43.6 million in the current quarter. As a result of the leaner cost structure, operating income was $26.7 million resulting in an 18.5% operating margin. While these results were down from the second quarter in the prior year, the results are within the Company’s long term target model for this business.

The Company continues to believe that the implementation of UC technologies by large corporations will be a significant long-term driver of office headset adoption, and, as a result, a key long-term driver of revenue and profit growth. Our UC portfolio continued to enjoy strong customer and partner reception. The Company expects that there will be a significantly higher level of growth in UC enabled products compared to headsets for desk phones in the future, and continues to believe that revenue from headset sales related to UC will be material to the Company beginning in fiscal 2011.

Audio Entertainment Group (AEG) Non-GAAP Results

(Docking Audio, PC Audio & Other)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Second quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $23.0 million increased 7% from $21.5 million in the prior year quarter driven by higher sales of Docking Audio products in all major geographies, and were up 21% sequentially from $19.0 million in the prior quarter. In addition, we experienced higher PC Audio sales in Asia and EMEA, which were offset by lower PC Audio sales in the U.S.

Gross margin increased to 20.9% from 9.0% as a result of improved product mix and margins along with lower requirements for excess and obsolete inventory provisions. This was partially offset by higher freight charges, royalty costs and other manufacturing costs.

Operating expenses declined by 12% from $6.5 million in the prior year quarter to $5.7 million in the current quarter, and the operating loss decreased from $4.6 million in the prior year quarter to $0.9 million in the current quarter.

On October 2, 2009, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement to sell Altec Lansing, its AEG segment, to an affiliate of Prophet Equity LP, a Southlake, Texas based private equity firm (”Prophet”). On October 23, 2009, the Company and Prophet entered into a letter agreement which amended the Asset Purchase Agreement to provide that the closing date for the sale of the AEG segment will be extended to not later than December 1, 2009.

Subsequent to the closing of the sale of the AEG segment, the Company will report all future and historical AEG segment results as discontinued operations in its financial statements beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

Business Outlook

Continuing Operations (Excludes Audio Entertainment Group business segment due to pending sale expected to be completed no later than December 1, 2009)

The following statements are based on current expectations. As described in “Safe Harbor” below, many of these statements are forward-looking. Actual results are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

Plantronics has a “book and ship” business model whereby it ships most orders to customers within 48 hours of its receipt of those orders, and, therefore, the level of backlog does not provide reliable visibility into potential future revenues. The Company’s business is inherently difficult to forecast, and there can be no assurance that the incoming orders it expects to receive over the balance of the quarter will materialize. With continuing uncertainty resulting from the global economic conditions, the Company’s business remains difficult to forecast. The December quarter tends to be characterized by an increase in incoming sales orders during October which diminishes in December.

Net revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2010 are expected to be higher than the second quarter of fiscal 2010 and the third quarter of fiscal 2009, primarily based on the fact that the December quarter has historically been a stronger quarter than the September quarter and the current bookings trend supports our belief that revenues will be in the ranges below.

Subject to the foregoing, we are currently expecting the following range of financial results for continuing operations (excludes AEG due to the pending sale expected to be completed no later than December 1, 2009) for the third quarter of fiscal 2010:

Net revenues of $155 million - $160 million;
Non-GAAP operating income of $26 million to $29 million;
Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.38 - $0.42;
Non-GAAP consolidated tax rate to be approximately 26%;
The EPS cost of stock-based compensation to be approximately $0.05; and
GAAP earnings per share of $0.33 to $0.37.

If these results are achieved, the performance compared with Q3 Fiscal 2009 would be revenue growth of approximately 2% to 5% and Non-GAAP operating income growth of 189% to 222%.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these targets. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except by its next press release announcing its third quarter fiscal 2010 results or by other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the third quarter fiscal 2010 will not be based on internal Company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors.

Conference Call Scheduled to Discuss Actual Financial Results

Plantronics has scheduled a conference call to discuss second quarter fiscal 2010 results. The conference call will take place Tuesday, October 27th at 2:00 PM (PDT). All interested investors and potential investors in Plantronics stock are invited to participate. To listen to the call, please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled starting time and refer to the “Plantronics Conference Call.” Participants from North America should call (888) 301-8736 and other participants should call (706) 634-7260.

A replay of the call with the conference ID #22257821 will be available for 72 hours at (800) 642-1687 for callers from North America and at (706) 645-9291 for all other callers. The conference call will also be simultaneously web cast at www.plantronics.com under Investor Relations, and the web cast of the conference call will remain available at the Plantronics website for thirty days.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Plantronics excludes non-recurring transactions and non-cash expenses and charges such as restructuring and other related charges, certain tax credits and the release of certain tax reserves, stock-based compensation expenses related to stock options, awards and employee stock purchases, purchase accounting amortization and impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets from non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating margin and non-GAAP effective tax rate. Plantronics excludes these expenses from its non-GAAP measures primarily because Plantronics does not believe they are reflective of ongoing operating results and are not considered as part of its target operating model. Plantronics believes that the use of non-GAAP financial measures provides meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity, and helps investors compare actual results to its long-term target operating model goals. Plantronics believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods.

Safe Harbor

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) implementation of UC technologies by large enterprises as a significant driver of headset adoption, and, its effect on our revenue and profit growth; (ii) our products, including the Discovery 975 and the Savi Office and Savi Go headsets; (iii) revenue from headset sales related to UC and its materiality to the Company beginning in fiscal 2011; (iv) growing adoption and deployment of UC in general and our expectation that this will be advantageous for headset sales; (v) seasonality during the December quarter and its effect on our financial results; (vi) our estimates of GAAP and non-GAAP financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, including revenue and earnings per share; (vii) our estimated tax rate for the third quarter of fiscal 2010; (viii) our estimated stock-based compensation expense for the third quarter of fiscal 2010; (ix) the anticipated closing of the sale of the AEG segment no later than December 1, 2009, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
the bankruptcy or financial weakness of distributors or key customers, or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
the effect of restructuring actions on GAAP results;
our ability to realize our UC plans and to achieve the financial results projected to arise from UC adoption could be adversely affected by the following factors: (i) as UC becomes more widely adopted, the risk that competitors will offer solutions that will effectively commoditize our headsets which, in turn, will reduce the sales prices for our headsets; (ii) our plans are dependent upon adoption of our UC solution by major platform providers such as Microsoft, Avaya, IBM and Cisco, and we have a limited ability to influence such providers with respect to the functionality of their platforms, their rate of deployment, and their willingness to integrate their platforms with our solutions; (iii) the development of UC solutions is technically complex and this may delay or obstruct our ability to introduce solutions to the market on a timely basis and that are cost effective, feature rich, stable and attractive to our customers; (iv) as UC becomes more widely adopted we anticipate that competition for market share will increase, and some competitors may have superior technical and economic resources, and (v) UC solutions may not be adopted with the breadth and speed in the marketplace that we currently anticipate;

failure to match production to demand given long lead times and the difficulty of forecasting unit volumes and acquiring the component parts to meet demand without having excess inventory or incurring cancellation charges;

further impairment losses on the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill could be recognized if it is determined the value is not recoverable which would adversely affect our financial results;

volatility in prices from our suppliers, including our manufacturers located in China, have and could negatively affect our profitability and/or market share;
the consummation of the sale of the AEG segment is subject to certain closing conditions which may not be met and, in the event the sale does not close, our business may be materially and adversely affected;
in the event the sale of the AEG segment is consummated, the effects of the sale, including the level of cash flow and the timing of the receipt of any cash flow resulting from such sale are uncertain; and
additional risk factors including: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico, and unexpected delays and uncertainties affecting our ability to realize targeted expense reductions and annualized savings by outsourcing the manufacturing of our Bluetooth products in China to GoerTek, Inc.

Financial Summaries

The following related charts are provided:

Summary Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Summary Unaudited Condensed Statements of Operations by Segment
Unaudited GAAP to Non-GAAP Statements of Operations Reconciliations for the three and six months ended September 30, 2009 and September 30, 2008
Summary Unaudited Statements of Operations and Related Data on a Non-GAAP Basis

About Plantronics

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, the logo design and Savi are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth name and the Bluetooth trademarks are owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and are used by Plantronics, Inc. under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Plantronics Organizes to Focus on Unified Communications Opportunity, Enters Definitive Agreement to Sell Altec Lansing

inolan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:42:20 +0000

SANTA CRUZ, CA - October 2, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Altec Lansing, the Audio Entertainment Group of Plantronics, to Prophet Equity LP, a Southlake, Texas - based private equity firm, for consideration of approximately $18 million in cash, net of liabilities assumed, and subject to certain adjustments. The transaction, which was approved by Plantronics’ Board of Directors on October 1, 2009, is expected to close by the end of October.

In concert with the sale of Altec Lansing assets, Plantronics also announced a streamlined functional corporate structure, replacing the matrix it had operated with, to best target the Unified Communications opportunity.

“Unified Communications represents the greatest revenue and profit opportunity in the Company’s history. The reorganization and asset sale represent further steps to focus on our core market, improve the Company’s return on invested capital and enhance time to market and profitability through a simpler organizational structure,” stated Ken Kannappan, President & CEO.

Under the terms of the agreement, Plantronics will retain certain Altec Lansing assets and liabilities as of the closing date, including accounts receivable, accounts payable and certain other liabilities. As a result, the Company expects these net assets to result in additional operating cash flow once the retained working capital assets are monetized in fiscal 2010. Plantronics will also retain assets and/or use of certain assets with strategic value to Plantronics, including the right to use the Altec Lansing brand for specific music applications for three years. As a result of the sale of Altec Lansing, we expect all future and historical AEG segment results to be reported as discontinued operations in Plantronics financial statements beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

In the quarter ended September 26, 2009, Plantronics has determined that it will be required to record an impairment charge related to its AEG long-lived assets which includes the remaining intangible assets from the Altec Lansing acquisition in 2005 along with potential other long-lived assets within the AEG segment. The impairment analysis is being performed and we currently estimate the non-cash impairment charge, net of the tax benefit, to be in the range of $13 to $16 million.

“Capital freed up by the sale of Altec Lansing will be redeployed to its highest and best use. Our philosophy is to use excess cash to drive stockholder value and the primary vehicle we have used to accomplish this is through stock repurchase programs. Throughout our history, we have bought back over $425 million of stock and are currently executing on our 19^th stock repurchase program. We intend to continue to buy back stock on a regular basis with cash beyond domestic requirements,” stated Barbara Scherer, Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration & CFO.

“Altec Lansing contributed to our success in the consumer market, where we are today a Bluetooth headset market leader and we will work hard to ensure a smooth transition for Altec Lansing’s partners and customers. We are confident that Prophet Equity LP will continue to manage the business effectively,” Kannappan concluded.

“Prophet Equity is delighted to be partnering with Altec Lansing at this time in its history, as we believe it is an influential and dynamic company with a bright future in many portable digital audio platforms,” commented Ross Gatlin, CEO at Prophet Equity. “This transaction leverages our operational and strategic toolkit as well as underscores our internal capabilities to execute complex carve outs.” Gatlin added.

George Stelling, COO at Prophet Equity, commented further that “Our team sees Altec Lansing’s compelling audio technologies, its global customer and supply base, and its top notch management team as strengths that are unrivaled in the audio market today. We look forward to helping grow the company, to partnering with Plantronics in the future on new platforms, and to serving Altec’s enthusiastic and loyal customers for many years to come.”

Houlihan Lokey is serving as financial advisor, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is serving as legal advisor to Plantronics in connection with the transaction.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) the proposed sale of the Audio Entertainment Group to Prophet Equity, (ii) the opportunities provided by Unified Communications (”UC”); (iii) the effects of the reorganization of the Company’s corporate structure and the sale of the Audio Entertainment Group; (iv) the retained working capital assets and our ability to monetize them; (v) the estimated impairment charge; (vi) our use of the capital from the sale of Altec Lansing, including the stock repurchase program; and (vii) the effects of the sale of Altec Lansing on Altec Lansing, including its effects on Altec Lansing’s partners and customers. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

uncertainty as to whether the sale of Altec Lansing to Prophet Equity will be completed;
the failure of either party to meet the closing conditions set forth in the asset purchase agreement pursuant to which Plantronics will sell Altec Lansing to Prophet Equity;
reaction of Altec Lansing’s customers, suppliers and partners to the sale of Altec Lansing;
economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
the bankruptcy or financial weakness of distributors or key customers, or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
our ability to realize our UC plans and to achieve the financial results projected to arise from UC adoption could be adversely affected by the following factors: (i) as UC becomes more widely adopted, the risk that competitors will offer solutions that will effectively commoditize our headsets which, in turn, will reduce the sales prices for our headsets; (ii) our plans are dependent upon adoption of our UC solution by major platform providers such as Microsoft, Avaya, IBM and Cisco, and we have a limited ability to influence such providers with respect to the functionality of their platforms, their rate of deployment, and their willingness to integrate their platforms with our solutions; (iii) the development of UC solutions is technically complex and this may delay or obstruct our ability to introduce solutions to the market on a timely basis and that are cost effective, feature rich, stable and attractive to our customers; (iv) as UC becomes more widely adopted we anticipate that competition for market share will increase, and some competitors may have superior technical and economic resources, and (v) UC solutions may not be adopted with the breadth and speed in the marketplace that we currently anticipate;

further impairment losses on the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill could be recognized if it is determined the value is not recoverable which would adversely affect our financial results; and

additional risk factors including: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico, and unexpected delays and uncertainties affecting our ability to realize targeted expense reductions and annualized savings through implementation of our plan to outsource the manufacturing of our Bluetooth products in China to GoerTek, Inc.

About Plantronics
Plantronics is a world leader in personal audio communications for professionals and consumers. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers unparalleled audio experiences and quality that reflect our nearly 50 years of innovation and customer commitment. Plantronics is used by every company in the Fortune 100 and is the headset of choice for air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

About Prophet Equity

Prophet Equity is a private equity firm that uses proven, data-driven analytical techniques coupled with over 100 years of investment and management experience to invest in, unlock and realize future value today. Partnering with owners and management teams, Prophet Equity’s team utilizes a toolkit that is Fortune 500 tested and private equity proven to diagnose and drive dramatic value creation. Portfolio company management teams are highly motivated with clear, uncapped incentives based on realized business performance.

Over the last decade alone, Prophet’s Principals have invested and managed approximately $300 million of control equity in entities with over $2.5 billion in revenue. Their control equity investments focus on lower and middle market companies with strategically strong businesses with significant value creation potential, such as those found in partnerships, corporate carve-outs, divestitures and non-strategic businesses of larger companies. Representative business situations include special situations, succession planning, recapitalizations, reorganizations, turnarounds, acquisitions, mergers and bankruptcies. For more information, please visit www.prophetequity.com or call us at +1.817.898.1500.

Altec Lansing and Plantronics are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners

Ingeniously Simple Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Earpiece Marries Innovative Design with AudioIQ2 and WindSmart Noise-Canceling Technologies

drace — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:00:32 +0000

One-of-a-Kind Charging Case Can Triple Talk Time from 5 to Up to 15 Hours

SANTA CRUZ, CA – August 20, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT), the leading manufacturer of premium headsets, today announced the new Plantronics Discovery® 975 Bluetooth® earpiece. The Plantronics Discovery 975 is the next generation of the Discovery 925, which was lauded for its superior audio quality and innovative lightweight design. Customers will enjoy an improved audio experience with advanced AudioIQ²and WindSmart® technologies, which deliver natural sounding voice in harsh noise environments, coupled with Plantronics’ legendary inbound audio quality, comfort, and durability.

“Consumers expect great outbound noise cancellation in a premium headset, but they are tired of sacrificing usability, comfort, and quality,” said Renee Niemi, vice president and general manager of the Plantronics Mobile and Entertainment Division. “At Plantronics we have spent nearly five decades perfecting all aspects of headset design from inbound audio quality to fit. For customers seeking the perfect blend of innovative design and advanced audio technologies, the Discovery 975 is the ingeniously simple solution.”

Industry-Leading Performance

The Discovery 975 features AudioIQ², the next generation of Plantronics’ AudioIQ digital signal processing (DSP) technology, and two microphones to precisely capture the user’s voice and simultaneously cancel background noise. Users don’t have to worry about pressing special buttons or having sensors touch their face to activate the noise-canceling capabilities — AudioIQ² works automatically wherever the user is having a conversation.

Plantronics Discovery 975 addresses wind noise with three layers of WindSmart technology. It features grooved vents on the boom and acoustic fabrics that surround the microphones to block wind. In addition, electronic filters within AudioIQ² remove wind noise during conversations and help deliver your clear, natural voice to the listener.

The Plantronics Discovery 975 also provides the great inbound audio quality for which Plantronics is known. The earpiece includes an adaptive 20-band equalizer that delivers rich, full voice and works with AudioIQ² to automatically adjust incoming calls to comfortable listening levels based on the noise level around you.

One-Of-A-Kind Charging Case

The Discovery 975 comes with an improved rechargeable carrying case that can triple talk time from 5 hours to up to 15 hours while protecting and storing the earpiece. The new case includes an LCD screen that displays the battery and earpiece charge levels, as well as Bluetooth connectivity. With the rechargeable case, users don’t have to worry about constantly finding a wall outlet and can finally see the charge level in their headset, so they won’t run out of battery life in the middle of a call.

Intuitive User Experience & Simple Design

At only 8 grams, the Plantronics Discovery 975 is a lightweight headset featuring Plantronics’ signature boom, which captures speech close to the mouth to ensure your voice sounds natural. Perfect for quick on/off wearing, the earpiece uses the same patented soft gel ear tips customers loved on the Discovery 925 for a stable, comfortable fit that doesn’t invade the ear canal. The Discovery 975 includes two buttons for ease of use: one button for powering on/off and call answer/end and another button for volume control and mute. The Discovery 975 features voice prompts for low battery warnings, mute status and Bluetooth connectivity.

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics Discovery 975 has a retail price of $129.99 and is available at www.plantronics.com and for pre-order at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com today. The Discovery 975 will be available in Best Buy and Apple stores in late August. Availability in AT&T, Radio Shack and Sprint stores follows in September/October. For more information about the Plantronics Discovery 975, please visit: www.plantronics.com/discovery975.

About Plantronics

In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of innovation is the basis for every audio product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing and Clarity. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

# # #

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, AudioIQ², Plantronics Discovery, and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2010 Results

inolan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:00:37 +0000

First Quarter Revenue and EPS Exceed Guidance; Significant Improvement in Gross and Operating Margins

SANTA CRUZ, CA - July 28, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced first quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $160.1 million compared with $219.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Net revenues were above the previously provided guidance of $145 to $150 million. Plantronics’ GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.22 in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 compared with $0.42 in the same quarter of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 was $0.36 compared with $0.47 in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, but were greater than the previously provided non-GAAP guidance of $0.08 to $0.12. The difference between GAAP and non-GAAP operating income and earnings per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 includes restructuring and other related costs, purchase accounting amortization and the cost of stock-based compensation.

“We are encouraged that net revenues for all major product groups were stronger than we had forecasted, particularly in our Office and Contact Center business. Demand appears to have stabilized and is greater than the level we anticipated when we implemented company-wide cost reductions in the last fiscal year. With our streamlined cost structure, we were able to achieve higher gross and operating margins on a lower revenue base in comparison to the same quarter a year ago,” stated Ken Kannappan, President & CEO. “Unified Communications (”UC”) deployments continue at a healthy rate and we are experiencing increased levels of trialing and deployment activity for our headsets and other UC solutions.”

“The combination of our good profitability and successful efforts to reduce inventory led to the generation of nearly $38 million in cash flow from operations. As a result, our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment balance grew to over $250 million,” added Barbara Scherer, SVP Finance and Administration & CFO.

Audio Communications Group (ACG) Non-GAAP Results

(Office & Contact Center, Mobile, Gaming and Computer & Clarity)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

First quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $141.1 million decreased 29% compared with $198.5 million in the prior year quarter, but increased 10% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. General economic weakness led to declines in net revenues in all major geographies and most product groups compared with the prior year quarter; however, most major product groups and geographies improved sequentially.

Office and Contact Center net revenues were $95.9 million, a decrease of 22% from $122.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. However, net revenues for the current quarter increased 12% sequentially from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Bluetooth headset net revenues were $30.3 million, a decrease of 45% from the year ago quarter of $55.2 million, and a sequential increase of 6% from $28.7 million in the prior quarter. The decline from the prior year quarter is attributable to a stronger first quarter in the prior year which was driven in part by hands-free legislation in California and Washington. The recently introduced Voyager Pro Bluetooth headset continued to receive positive editorial and consumer reviews and is now available through a number of top consumer electronics retailers.

Gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 was 49.0% compared with 45.4% in the first quarter last year. The improvement was primarily due to a greater mix of higher margin Office and Contact Center revenue in addition to higher Bluetooth product margins.

Operating expenses declined by 22% from $56.6 million in the prior year quarter to $43.9 million in the current quarter and were lower in all functions. Operating income decreased to $25.2 million from $33.5 million; however, the operating margin increased to 17.9% compared with 16.9% in the prior year quarter.

The Company continues to believe that the implementation of UC technologies by large corporations will be a significant long-term driver of office headset adoption, and, as a result, a key long-term driver of revenue and profit growth. Our first products designed specifically for UC, the Savi Office and Savi Go headsets, enjoyed strong customer and partner reception and began shipping in the first quarter. The Company believes that revenue from headset sales related to UC will be material to the Company beginning in fiscal 2011.

“In addition to winning important enterprise customers in UC, we continue to see growing adoption and deployment of UC in general, which we expect will be advantageous for headset sales,” stated Kannappan. “Most Fortune 500 accounts that we are working with are in some stage of test, trial, or evaluation of UC.”

Audio Entertainment Group (AEG) Non-GAAP Results

(Docking Audio, PC Audio, Other)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

First quarter fiscal 2010 net revenues of $19.0 million decreased 8% from $20.6 million in the prior year quarter driven by lower PC Audio product sales in the United States and Asia. PC Audio product net revenues were lower primarily as a result of an older product portfolio which was being phased out during the first quarter of fiscal 2010 and replaced with a more competitive offering. The Docking Audio product line revenue held up well compared to the year ago quarter on the strength of the refreshed product portfolio.

Gross profit remained consistent between the periods at $2.6 million while gross margin increased slightly from 12.7% in the prior year quarter to 13.8% in the current quarter. The increase was due to material cost reductions and lower freight costs partially offset by higher promotional activities due to customer mix.

Operating expenses declined by 26% from $7.1 million in the prior year quarter to $5.2 million in the current quarter, and the operating loss decreased from $4.4 million in the prior year quarter to $2.6 million in the current quarter.

Business Outlook

Plantronics has a “book and ship” business model whereby it ships most orders to customers within 48 hours of our receipt of those orders, and, therefore, the level of backlog does not provide reliable visibility into potential future revenues. The business is inherently difficult to forecast, and there can be no assurance that the incoming orders the Company expects to receive over the balance of the quarter will materialize. With continuing economic uncertainty, the Company’s business remains more difficult to forecast than it was historically. The September quarter tends to be characterized by a slowdown in incoming purchase orders during July which intensifies in August, but historically picks up strongly at the beginning of September. This pattern tends to be particularly true in our higher margin Office and Contact Center business. This historical trend is included in our model for forecasting the second quarter net revenues; however, if this trend does not reoccur in the current year, we may not be able to achieve our forecasted net revenue levels.

Net revenues in the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 are expected to be flat to slightly below first quarter of fiscal year 2010 primarily based on the fact that the September quarter has tended to be a bit weaker than the June quarter for ACG.

Subject to the foregoing, we are currently expecting the following range of financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010:

Net revenues of $155 - $160 million;
Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.27 - $0.32;
Non-GAAP consolidated tax rate to be approximately 27%;
The EPS cost of purchase accounting amortization of approximately $0.01;
The EPS cost of restructuring of approximately $0.04;
The EPS cost of stock-based compensation pursuant to FAS 123(R) to be approximately $0.05; and
GAAP earnings per share of $0.17 to $0.21.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these targets. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except by its next press release announcing its second quarter fiscal year 2010 results or by other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the second quarter fiscal year 2010 will not be based on internal Company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors.

Conference Call Scheduled to Discuss Actual Financial Results

Plantronics has scheduled a conference call to discuss first quarter fiscal 2010 results. The conference call will take place Tuesday, July 28 at 2:00 PM (PDT). All interested investors and potential investors in Plantronics stock are invited to participate. To listen to the call, please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled starting time and refer to the “Plantronics Conference Call.” Participants from North America should call (888) 301-8736 and other participants should call (706) 634-7260.

A replay of the call with the conference ID #12172987 will be available for 72 hours at (800) 642-1687 for callers from North America and at (706) 645-9291 for all other callers. The conference call will also be simultaneously web cast at www.plantronics.com under Investor Relations, and the web cast of the conference call will remain available at the Plantronics website for thirty days.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

SAFE HARBOR

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) implementation of UC technologies by large enterprises as a significant driver of headset adoption, and, its effect on our revenue and profit growth; (ii) our products, including the Voyager Pro and the Savi Office and Savi Go headsets; (iii) revenue from headset sales related to UC and its materiality to the Company beginning in fiscal 2011; (iv) growing adoption and deployment of UC in general and our expectation that this will be advantageous for headset sales; (v) seasonality during the September quarter and its effect on our financial results; (vi) our estimates of GAAP and non-GAAP financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010, including revenue and earnings per share; (vii) our estimated tax rate; (viii) our estimated stock-based compensation expense; (ix) our estimated purchase accounting amortization, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
the bankruptcy or financial weakness of distributors or key customers, or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
the effect of restructuring actions on GAAP results;
our ability to realize our UC plans and to achieve the financial results projected to arise from UC adoption could be adversely affected by the following factors: (i) as UC becomes more widely adopted, the risk that competitors will offer solutions that will effectively commoditize our headsets which, in turn, will reduce the sales prices for our headsets; (ii) our plans are dependent upon adoption of our UC solution by major platform providers such as Microsoft, Avaya, IBM and Cisco, and we have a limited ability to influence such providers with respect to the functionality of their platforms, their rate of deployment, and their willingness to integrate their platforms with our solutions; (iii) the development of UC solutions is technically complex and this may delay or obstruct our ability to introduce solutions to the market on a timely basis and that are cost effective, feature rich, stable and attractive to our customers; (iv) as UC becomes more widely adopted we anticipate that competition for market share will increase, and some competitors may have superior technical and economic resources, and (v) UC solutions may not be adopted with the breadth and speed in the marketplace that we currently anticipate;

failure to match production to demand given long lead times and the difficulty of forecasting unit volumes and acquiring the component parts to meet demand without having excess inventory or incurring cancellation charges;

further impairment losses on the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill could be recognized if it is determined the value is not recoverable which would adversely affect our financial results;

volatility in prices from our suppliers, including our manufacturers located in China, have and could negatively affect our profitability and/or market share; and
additional risk factors including: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico, and unexpected delays and uncertainties affecting our ability to realize targeted expense reductions and annualized savings through implementation of our plan to outsource the manufacturing of our Bluetooth products in China to GoerTek, Inc.

Financial Summaries

The following related charts are provided:

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation^® is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, the logo design, Savi, Sound Innovation, Volume Logic and AudioIQ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth name and the Bluetooth trademarks are owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and are used by Plantronics, Inc. under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

###

Plantronics Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.05 per Share

inolan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:00:02 +0000

Santa Cruz, CA-July 28, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend is payable on September 10, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 20, 2009.

“We generated approximately $38 million in cash flow from operations in the first quarter of fiscal 2010. Our Board of Directors is pleased to continue to return a portion of our cash flow to stockholders directly in the form of a dividend,” said Ken Kannappan, President and Chief Executive Officer.

About Plantronics

In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation® is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, Sound Innovation, Volume Logic and AudioIQ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Mexico Wins Mexico’s 2009 National Logistics Award

drace — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:00:39 +0000

Santa Cruz, Calif. — July 1, 2009 — Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) announced today that Plantronics Mexico (PLAMEX), its internationally acclaimed manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico, won Mexico’s 2009 National Logistics Award in the big industrial category (more than 250 employees). Mexico’s National Logistics award is granted to organizations that have implemented best logistics practices to boost competitiveness through improved customer satisfaction, supply chain innovation, human resources development and care for the environment.

Plantronics Mexico was selected among more than 160 companies by a technical committee that included representation from Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, the Industrial and Education sector and Logistics chamber. PLAMEX was recognized for its world class human resources development programs and advanced logistics practices that have improved the company’s competitiveness.

“Being recognized with this award in such a highly competitive field, and during a very tough economic climate, truly reinforces the outstanding accomplishments and commitment of all our associates at PLAMEX,” said Alejandro Bustamante, president of PLAMEX.

PLAMEX — A Legacy of Excellence

Plantronics Mexico associates enjoy an environment that promotes a continuous process of innovation and creativity and are trained to prevent problems by proposing solutions to any potential risks they identify. Everyone contributes to quality processes to increase customer satisfaction, minimize rework, reduce cost, maintain production output, and uphold product excellence.

Plantronics Mexico is certified in ISO 9001, ISO 14001, CTPAT, FAST, PAPS, DOT and CHP. PLAMEX has received numerous awards and commendations for its excellence in environmental matters, community work, customer satisfaction, and work safety. Previous awards include the Mexico Quality, Mexico Export, Mexico Technology and Mexico Labor awards; the Federal Ministry of Labor’s Safe Industry Certificate; PROFEPA’s Clean Industry Certificate; the PROFEPA/CNIME Environmental Award (EPA/National Maquiladora Council); the 2005 Asia-Pacific International Quality Award; the 2005 Iberoamerican Quality Award; the 2005 Century International Quality Era Award; and the 2008 Latin American Quality award.

About Plantronics

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, and Sound Innovation are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

###

Acclaimed Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset Broadly Available at Major Retail and Wireless Carrier Stores in the US

drace — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:00:32 +0000

CNET and PC Magazine Bestow Editors’ Choice Awards on Voyager PRO for Superior Noise Cancellation, Wind Reduction and Inbound Audio

SANTA CRUZ, CA – June 5, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced the broad availability of the award-winning Plantronics Voyager^® PRO Bluetooth^® headset at major retail and wireless carrier stores across the United States.

The broader availability comes on the heels of multiple industry accolades, in just six weeks since launch, including the coveted CNET and PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Awards. The Plantronics Voyager PRO breaks new ground in Bluetooth headsets delivering total audio quality that features world-class noise and wind cancellation as well as rich, natural inbound audio. With Voyager PRO you can finally hear and be heard clearly.

The CNET Editors’ Choice award recognizes outstanding consumer electronics that represent the best available choice for quality, performance, design, service, value, and its logo is a mark of excellence denoting the best possible investment for consumers.

CNET Editors’ Choice winners are recognized as top products in their respective technology categories, and contribute to the standard by which all future products are judged. A key selection requirement is that it must also change the competitive landscape of its market, whether through innovative features, exceptional value for the price, remarkable ease of use, or a demonstrable boost to the lives of its users.

PC Magazine delivers authoritative, labs-based comparative reviews of computing and Internet products to highly engaged technology buyers. Its highly acclaimed PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Awards are given to the products they have identified as the best from the hundreds tested in PC Magazine Labs.

“Our goal with Voyager PRO was to create the premier headset for today’s demanding professional user, and with these two prestigious awards along with the overwhelmingly positive response we have gotten from the media, bloggers, and consumers we know we hit the mark,” said Renee Niemi, vice president and general manager for Plantronics Mobile and Entertainment Division. “Consumers now have more options to purchase the Voyager PRO with expanded availability across the US so they can experience the Voyager PRO difference first hand.”

Nationwide Availability

The Plantronics Voyager PRO will be available at Amazon.com, Fry’s and Sprint for $99.99 beginning this Sunday, June 7, 2009. It will also be available at both Airport Wireless and Tech Showcase stores beginning June 15, 2009. Voyager PRO is currently available at Best Buy and www.plantronics.com.

Engineered for Sound Quality™

The Plantronics Voyager PRO delivers world-class noise-cancellation with AudioIQ²technology, the next generation of its AudioIQ(R) digital signal processing (DSP) technology that is enhanced by a unique adjustable dual-microphone boom. The boom provides the advantage of capturing your voice close to your mouth so the AudioIQ²technology can more effectively remove ambient noise, while still maintaining the natural sound of your voice.

Plantronics Voyager PRO features three layers of WindSmart^® technology to minimize wind distortion. Dual external stainless steel microphone screens and acoustic fabrics that surround the microphones provide substantial physical barriers to wind noise. At the same time, AudioIQ²intelligently deciphers your voice from the wind to deliver clear sound to your listener.

Voyager PRO also delivers unmatched inbound audio quality to ensure every word is heard on both sides of a conversation. It features a custom speaker that delivers full-spectrum audio so conversations are richer and more vibrant. The adaptive 20-band equalizer delivers distortion-free audio and works with AudioIQ² technology to automatically adjust sound to comfortable levels based on the noise level around you to ensure maximum audibility.

For more information about the Plantronics Voyager PRO, please visit: http://www.plantronics.com/voyagerpro.

About Plantronics

# # #

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, AudioIQ², Engineered for Sound Quality, Plantronics Voyager, and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Introduces New Wireless PC Headset for Enhanced Multimedia and Voice Experiences

drace — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:00:32 +0000

The .Audio 995 Wireless Headset Provides Digital Stereo Sound for Music, Movies, Gaming and Internet Calls Without the Cords

SANTA CRUZ, CA – May 27, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today introduced the new .Audio™ 995 Digital Wireless Stereo Headset for multimedia and voice applications on the PC. The .Audio 995 combines rich digital stereo sound and great voice quality to provide users with a single headset for all of their PC activities — including music and movie listening, gaming, PC calls and podcasting — without the cords.

The Plantronics .Audio 995 headset utilizes advanced Plantronics audio technology and the digital 2.4gHz frequency for exceptional audio and lower interference with other wireless devices. Users can wirelessly roam up to 40 feet away from the PC and remotely control volume, play and skip tracks on iTunes® and Windows Media® Player via music controls directly on the earpiece.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to decide between superior audio quality and the benefits of wireless when selecting a PC headset,” said Matt Miller, director of PC and Entertainment at Plantronics, Inc. “Unlike other wireless products on the market, there are no compromises with the .Audio 995. We designed it to enhance the array of multimedia and voice-intensive activities that PC users perform everyday through full-range stereo sound, clear audio and a comfortable fit.”

The Plantronics .Audio 955 includes pillow-soft, swivel-mounted ear cushions and a lightweight design for long-wearing comfort. The headset features Plantronics’ noise-canceling Fast Mic Mute™ technology, which quickly mutes audio when the boom is raised. Users can connect the .Audio 995 in one simple step with the plug-and-play wireless USB connector.

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics .Audio 955 is available today at Best Buy and select retailers for $99.99. The product is also available at www.plantronics.com. For more information about the .Audio 995, please visit www.plantronics.com.

About Plantronics

# # #

Altec Lansing, .Audio, Clarity, and Fast Mic Mute are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. iTunes is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows Media is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.05 per Share

inolan — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:00:50 +0000

Santa Cruz, CA-May 5, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend is payable on June 10, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 20, 2009.

“We generated approximately $39 million in cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and nearly $100 million during the entire fiscal year. Our Board of Directors is pleased to continue to return a portion of our cash flow to stockholders directly in the form of a dividend,” said Ken Kannappan, President and Chief Executive Officer.

About Plantronics

In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation® is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2009 Results

inolan — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:00:23 +0000

Fourth Quarter Revenue and Operating Results Exceed Guidance

SANTA CRUZ, CA - May 5, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced fourth quarter fiscal 2009 net revenues of $146.8 million compared with $208.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. The Company’s GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $11.4 million compared with a GAAP operating income of $19.0 million in the fourth quarter of the prior year. The non-GAAP operating income for the quarter was $3.7 million compared with non-GAAP operating income of $25.7 million in the fourth quarter last year. Plantronics’ GAAP loss per share was $0.23 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 compared with diluted earnings per share of $0.36 in the same quarter of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the current quarter was $0.01 compared with $0.46 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. The difference between GAAP and non-GAAP operating income and earnings per share for the current quarter includes restructuring and other related costs, purchase accounting amortization and the cost of stock-based compensation.

Net revenues for fiscal year 2009 were $765.6 million, a decrease of approximately 11% compared with $856.3 million for fiscal year 2008. The GAAP operating loss for fiscal 2009 was $81.2 million compared with GAAP operating income of $79.4 million in the prior year. Non-GAAP operating income declined from $107.6 million in fiscal 2008 to $70.3 million for fiscal 2009, a decrease of approximately 35%. The Company’s GAAP loss per share was $1.34 for fiscal year 2009 compared with diluted earnings per share of $1.39 in the prior fiscal year. The Company’s non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.02 for fiscal year 2009 compared with $1.80 in the prior fiscal year.

“We are beginning to see signs of stabilization in many parts of our business and are encouraged that demand for our products was stronger than we forecasted for the quarter. During the last several months, we took significant steps to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, and we now believe our cost structure is aligned with current market conditions,” stated Ken Kannappan, President & CEO. “We are entering fiscal year 2010 with a strong balance sheet, a lean cost structure and a better competitive position. We are committed to executing on our goals for fiscal year 2010 to win in Unified Communications and to improve profitability and return on invested capital from their current levels.”

Audio Communications Group (ACG) Non-GAAP Results

(Office & Contact Center, Mobile, Gaming and Computer & Clarity)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Fourth quarter fiscal 2009 net revenues of $128.1 million were down 31% compared with $185.4 million in the prior year quarter. General economic weakness led to revenue declines in all major geographies and product groups. Office and Contact Center revenue was $85.6 million, down 32%; Bluetooth headset revenue was $28.7 million, down 31%; and Gaming & Computer products revenue was $6.9 million, down 18%.

Gross margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 was 39.2% compared with 45.6% in the fourth quarter last year. The lower gross margin was primarily due to higher provisions for excess and obsolete inventory primarily from Bluetooth products, lower rates of factory utilization, and unfavorable foreign exchange impact offset in part by improved product margins. Operating expenses declined by 24% from $54.9 million to $41.9 million and were lower in all functions. Operating income decreased to $8.4 million from $29.7 million, and the operating margin was 6.5% compared with 16.0% in the prior year quarter.

The Company continues to believe that the implementation of Unified Communications (”UC”) technologies by large corporations will be a significant long-term driver of office headset adoption, and, as a result, a key long-term driver of revenue and profit growth. During the quarter, the Company disclosed that it expects an incremental revenue opportunity from Unified Communications of $350 million annually by fiscal 2015.

“We’ve had important wins in UC for large enterprise customers and continue to see growing adoption of UC,” stated Kannappan.

Audio Entertainment Group (AEG) Non-GAAP Results

(Docking Audio, PC Audio, Other)

Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Fourth quarter fiscal 2009 net revenues of $18.7 million were down 20% from $23.4 million in the prior year quarter driven by continued global weakness in consumer spending, a product mix shift toward lower priced products in addition to a negative foreign exchange impact. As a result, all product line revenues were down versus the prior year quarter despite better product placements. Domestic revenues were down 5% while international revenues were down 34% as a result of weak international retail sales.

Gross margin declined from $4.5 million, or 19.4%, in the prior year quarter to $1.0 million, or 5.3%, in the current year quarter as a result of a product mix shift to lower margin products, reduced sales of previously reserved items and an unfavorable exchange rate impact.

Operating expenses declined by 33% from $8.5 million in the prior year quarter to $5.7 million in the current quarter; and the operating loss increased from $4.0 million to $4.7 million.

Business Outlook

Plantronics has a “book and ship” business model whereby it ships most orders to customers within 48 hours of our receipt of those orders, and therefore the Company cannot rely on the level of backlog to provide visibility into potential future revenues. The business is inherently difficult to forecast, and there can be no assurance that the incoming orders Plantronics expects to receive over the balance of the quarter will materialize. With increasing economic uncertainty, the Company’s business is even more difficult to forecast than usual.

Revenues in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 are expected to be similar to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, ranging from slightly below to slightly above the reported net revenues of $146.8 million. Gross margins are expected to improve by several points sequentially, primarily as a result of lower provisions for excess and obsolete inventory. On January 14, 2009 and March 26, 2009, the Company announced a series of actions to lower its cost structure and improve efficiencies. The measures announced in the fourth quarter were expected to bring total non-GAAP operating expenses down to approximately $195 million in fiscal year 2010 and while the fourth quarter fiscal year 2009 run rate was slightly lower than that, the Company is continuing to target approximately $195 million in non-GAAP operating expenses in fiscal 2010.

Subject to the foregoing, we are currently expecting the following range of financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010:

Net revenues of $145 - $150 million;
Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.08 - $0.12;
Non-GAAP consolidated tax rate to be approximately 28%;
The EPS cost of purchase accounting amortization of approximately $0.01;
The EPS cost of equity compensation pursuant to FAS 123(R) to be approximately $0.05; and
A small GAAP loss per share. GAAP loss per share is not estimable due to tax rate and restructuring charge uncertainties.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these targets. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except by its next press release announcing its first quarter fiscal year 2010 results or by other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the first quarter fiscal year 2010 will not be based on internal company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors.

Conference Call Scheduled to Discuss Actual Financial Results

Plantronics has scheduled a conference call to discuss fourth quarter results. The conference call will take place Tuesday, May 5 at 2:00 PM (PDT). All interested investors and potential investors in Plantronics stock are invited to participate. To listen to the call, please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled starting time and refer to the “Plantronics Conference Call.” Participants from North America should call (888) 301-8736 and other participants should call (706) 634-7260.

A replay of the call with the conference ID #86162125 will be available for 72 hours at (800) 642-1687 for callers from North America and at (706) 645-9291 for all other callers. The conference call will also be simultaneously web cast at www.plantronics.com under Investor Relations, and the web cast of the conference call will remain available at the Plantronics Web site for thirty days.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Plantronics excludes non-recurring transactions and non-cash expenses and charges such as restructuring and other related charges, certain tax credits and the release of certain tax reserves, stock-based compensation expenses related to stock options, awards and employee stock purchases, purchase accounting amortization and goodwill and long-lived asset impairment charges from non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin and non-GAAP effective tax rate. Plantronics excludes these expenses from its non-GAAP measures primarily because Plantronics does not believe they are reflective of ongoing operating results and are not part of its target operating model. Plantronics believes that the use of non-GAAP financial measures provides meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity, and helps investors compare actual results to its long-term target operating model goals. Plantronics believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods.

SAFE HARBOR

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) our restructuring plan, (ii) our expectations that our non-GAAP operating expenses will be approximately $195 million for fiscal year 2010, (iii) our objective to maintain our profitability, be cash flow positive, increase our return on invested capital, and increase our competitive position, (iv) our ability to continue to focus on certain strategic initiatives, (v) the future of UC technologies, including their implementation, growth in deployments, the effect on headset adoption, and our expectation that our revenue opportunity from UC will be $350 million annually by fiscal year 2015, (vi) our position in the UC market, (vii) our estimate of revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, and our statement that revenues will be slightly down or slightly up and gross margins will improve, and (viii) our estimate of GAAP and non-GAAP financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 and related components of earnings (loss) per share, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements.

Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated are:

Economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
Work disruptions, factory or other facility closures, border closures or delays, transportation interference or delays, or perceptions that our product may make people sick related to the H1N1 “swine flu” illness in Mexico or other places in the world;
Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
The bankruptcy of distributors or key customers, or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
The effect of additional actions on GAAP results;

Failure to match production to demand given long lead times and the difficulty of forecasting unit volumes and acquiring the component parts to meet demand without having excess inventory or incurring cancellation charges;

We have significant intangible assets and goodwill recorded on our balance sheet. If the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill is not recoverable, additional impairment losses must be recognized which would adversely affect our financial results;

We have experienced volatility in prices from our suppliers, including our manufacturers located in China, this volatility could negatively affect profitability and/or market share; and
Additional risk factors include: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico, and unexpected delays and uncertainties affecting our ability to realize targeted expense reductions and annualized savings through implementation of our plan to outsource the manufacturing of our Bluetooth products in China to GoerTek, Inc.

For more information concerning these and other possible risks, please refer to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed May 27, 2008, quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as recent press releases. These filings can be accessed over the Internet at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html.

Financial Summaries

The following related charts are provided:

Summary Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Summary Unaudited Condensed Statements of Operations by Segment
Unaudited GAAP to Non-GAAP Statements of Operations Reconciliations for the three and twelve months ended March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2008
Summary Unaudited Statements of Operations and Related Data on a Non-GAAP Basis

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic fourth words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation^® is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

###

New Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset with AudioIQ2 Delivers Breakthrough in Sound Quality and Comfort

drace — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:00:10 +0000

Advanced Design Combines Superior Noise Cancellation, Wind Reduction and Inbound Audio

SANTA CRUZ, CA – April 23, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today continued its 47-year legacy of audio expertise and ingenuity with the new Plantronics Voyager^® PRO Bluetooth^® headset. Plantronics Voyager PRO features AudioIQ², the next generation of its AudioIQ digital signal processing (DSP) technology, to deliver superior noise and wind cancellation as well as rich, natural inbound audio so you can hear and be heard clearly.

The Plantronics Voyager PRO is the successor to the popular Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset, a cult favorite among headset enthusiasts. Like the Voyager 510, the new Plantronics Voyager PRO is designed for mobile professionals who need all-day wearing comfort and excellent audio wherever they are working.

Engineered for Sound Quality

Today’s headset users expect great noise cancellation and Plantronics Voyager PRO delivers it with AudioIQ²and a unique adjustable dual-microphone boom. While other headsets deliver noise cancellation at the expense of overall audio quality, the boom provides the advantage of capturing your voice close to your mouth so the AudioIQ²technology can more effectively remove ambient noise, while still maintaining the natural sound of your voice.

The headset also effectively minimizes wind noise – a major cause of disruption during calls. Plantronics Voyager PRO features three layers of WindSmart^® technology. Dual external stainless steel microphone screens and acoustic fabrics that surround the microphones together provide substantial physical barriers to wind noise. At the same time, the AudioIQ²DSP algorithms intelligently decipher your voice from the wind to deliver clear sound to your listener.

Finally, Voyager PRO delivers unmatched inbound audio quality to ensure every word is heard on both sides of a conversation. It features a custom speaker that delivers full-spectrum audio so conversations are richer and more vibrant. The adaptive 20-band equalizer delivers distortion-free audio and works with AudioIQ² to automatically adjust sound levels based on the noise level around you to ensure maximum audibility.

“Plantronics is singularly focused on one thing – the headset perfected. With the Plantronics Voyager PRO we set out to engineer a high-performance headset for today’s professional user who not only demands unparalleled sound quality on both sides of call, but also insists on comfort and usability,” said Renee Niemi, vice president and general manager of the Plantronics Mobile and Entertainment Division. “Voyager PRO breaks new ground in Bluetooth headsets, and consumers will be delighted by the total experience.”

Engineered for Comfort

The Plantronics Voyager PRO endured an extraordinary 24 rounds of human factors testing to perfect the design for all-day wearing comfort and stability. The behind-the-ear wearing style is perfectly counterbalanced so weight is distributed evenly, rendering it virtually weightless when worn. The Voyager PRO ear tip is made of soft silicone for an optimal fit and features a “sound channel” that helps distribute audio evenly to the ear.

Engineered for the Mobile Professional

The Plantronics Voyager PRO was designed for the mobile professional user. It includes easily accessible power, volume and mute buttons. It can seamlessly connect to two different mobile phones with multipoint technology, and it folds up easily for storage. The Voyager PRO also features voice prompts for low battery warnings and mute status. Finally, the lithium polymer battery provides up to six hours of continuous talk time and five days of stand-by time, exceeding the talk and standby times of most mobile phones.

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics Voyager PRO is available exclusively at Best Buy and www.bestbuy.com for $99.99. The Plantronics Voyager PRO is also available at www.plantronics.com, and will be available in other major consumer retail and wireless carrier stores beginning in late May. Availability in Asia and Europe will follow in late June and late July, respectively. For more information about the Plantronics Voyager PRO, please visit: http://www.plantronics.com/voyagerpro.

About Plantronics

# # #

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, AudioIQ², Plantronics Voyager PRO, and WindSmart are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Plantronics is under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Headsets Are an Essential Tool at Top Service Companies

asonnenshine — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:00:40 +0000

Ninety-Six Percent of BusinessWeek’s “Customer Service Champs” Use Plantronics Headsets

SANTA CRUZ, CA – February 26, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced that 24 of the 25 companies named in BusinessWeek’s third-annual customer service report use Plantronics headsets in their customer service centers.

BusinessWeek’s special report on customer service makes it clear that companies focused on protecting the customer experience, and not short-term cost gains, in today’s difficult economy are rewarded with long-term brand loyalty. In fact, the best performers are investing in, not cutting, customer service programs to enhance satisfaction and differentiate from the competition. BusinessWeek identified the 25 “Customer Service Champs” by combining data from market research firm J.D. Power & Associates and supplemental surveys using the BusinessWeek Market Advisory Board.

“Now, more than ever, it is critical for businesses to deliver top-quality customer service because customers reward it,” said Nick Eisner, director of Global Contact Center Marketing at Plantronics. “For more than 40 years, Plantronics has helped companies around the world improve customer service through products that improve audio intelligibility and reduce call times and data entry errors. Seeing our customers on the BusinessWeek list reinforces the importance of making conversations valuable to the customer.”

Plantronics – A Customer Service Partner

Plantronics offers one of the industry’s most complete families of corded and wireless headsets and audio processors, giving purchasers a broad selection of products for their customer service department needs. Widely recognized for their sound quality, reliability and comfort, Plantronics headsets are designed to improve productivity while increasing customer satisfaction and agent retention. Plantronics also offers the industry’s most comprehensive service program to its customers, including headset installation, agent training, headset management, warranty and repair. For more information, please visit: www.plantronics.com/contactcenter.

Plantronics is working closely with its customers as they evaluate new technologies, such as Unified Communications, to further enhance customer service experiences and maximize resources. Plantronics today announced the availability of a new Unifed Communications presentation for investors and analysts that outlines the market opportunity for the company. The presentation is available at www.plantronics.com/investor.

BusinessWeek “Customer Service Champs”

BusinessWeek’s special report, “Customer Service Champs,” is featured in the March 2, 2009 issue. Additional content, including the report methodology and company profiles, is available online at www.businessweek.com/magazine.

About Plantronics

Altec Lansing, Clarity, Plantronics, and Sound Innovation are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Plantronics Announces Third Quarter Results

inolan — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:00:07 +0000

SANTA CRUZ, CA - January 27, 2009 - Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today announced third quarter fiscal 2009 net revenues of $182.8 million compared with $232.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. Plantronics’ GAAP diluted loss per share was $1.90 in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 compared with earnings per share of $0.39 in the same quarter of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the current quarter was $0.08 compared with $0.53 in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. The Company took a $117.5 million non-cash asset impairment charge on the carrying value of some of its goodwill and long-lived assets exclusive of the $23.9 million related tax benefit. The difference between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share for the current quarter includes goodwill and asset impairment charges, purchase accounting amortization, restructuring and other related costs, the cost of stock-based compensation, and the release of tax reserves due to expiration of certain statutes of limitation.

“Worsening economic conditions affected all parts of our business and make us cautious about the outlook for fiscal 2010. As announced on January 14^th, we have taken significant steps to reduce our cost structure with the objective of being profitable and cash flow positive through this economic cycle while continuing to focus on core strategic initiatives such as Unified Communications. Our focus on inventory reduction in the December quarter resulted in a reduction of more than $25 million or approximately 16%, and enabled us to remain cash flow positive in the quarter,” said Ken Kannappan, President and CEO. “We’ve made progress in our consumer businesses by introducing competitive products, gaining market share and reducing costs. However, it’s clear that this economic cycle will require further actions to improve profitability and we are actively evaluating our alternatives,” Kannappan concluded.

Audio Communications Group (ACG) Non-GAAP Results
(Office & Contact Center, Mobile, Gaming and Computer, Other)
Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Third quarter fiscal 2009 net revenues of $152.6 million were down 22.1% compared with $196.0 million, with weakness in all geographies and product groups other than our Clarity products. Office and Contact Center revenue of $101.7 million declined 22.4%, with office corded products revenue declining 21% while office cordless products revenue declined 24%. Bluetooth headset revenue was $33.6 million, down 22%, and Gaming & Computer products revenue was $8.5 million, down 18%.

Gross margin in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 was 40.1% compared with 46.2% in the year-ago quarter. The lower gross margin was due to poor overall factory utilization and lower Bluetooth gross margin as the result of higher warranty costs. Operating income decreased to $9.0 million from $35.4 million, and the operating margin was 5.9% compared with 18.1%. Operating expenses declined by 5.4% from $55.2 million to $52.2 million.

The Company continues to believe that the implementation of Unified Communications (UC) technologies by large corporations will be a significant long-term driver of office headset adoption, and as a result, a key long-term driver of revenue and profit growth. “Despite weak economic conditions, trial deployments of UC solutions and headsets continue to grow, with some evidence that the cost savings and productivity enhancements derived from UC are driving the expansion of existing deployments in both in the U.S. and Europe. This is encouraging, but further growth during the recession may be unlikely,” stated Kannappan.

Audio Entertainment Group (AEG) Non-GAAP Results
(Docking Audio, PC Audio, Other)
Comparisons are to the Same Quarter in the Prior Year

Gross margin declined from $5.0 million to $1.1 million or 13.5% to 3.6% as a result of higher requirements for inventory provisions and makers’ claims, foreign exchange, and the overall composition of revenue. Relative to our internal plans and the related guidance for the quarter, the principal factors which caused the shortfall in gross profit were rework and expediting costs on a key product line, the negative impact of foreign exchange movements and the composition of revenue.

Operating expenses declined 28.5% from $8.3 million to $5.9 million. Despite the progress on the cost structure, the operating loss increased from $3.3 million to $4.8 million as a result of the lower gross margin.

Business Outlook

We have a “book and ship” business model whereby we ship most orders to our customers within 48 hours of our receipt of those orders, and we thus cannot rely on the level of backlog to provide visibility into potential future revenues. Our business is inherently difficult to forecast, and there can be no assurance that the incoming orders we expect to receive over the balance of the quarter will materialize. With increasing economic uncertainty, our business is even more difficult to forecast than usual. On January 14, 2009, we announced a series of actions to lower our cost structure and improve efficiencies. These actions include a restructuring plan to reduce our worldwide workforce by approximately 18% in comparison to September 30, 2008, along with other cost cutting measures including management salary reductions and decreases in other operating expenses. As a result of the reduction in the worldwide workforce, we expect to record restructuring and other related charges, primarily for employee termination benefits, of approximately $7.7 to $8.2 million in total, of which $1 million was recognized in the third quarter. We expect the balance of $6.7 million to $7.2 million to be recognized in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Annualized savings from the cost reductions are expected to be over $50 million in fiscal 2010 compared with our annualized expenditure level in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. In addition, the Company plans an approximate 50% reduction in capital expenditures for fiscal year 2010.

Revenues in all portions of our business are expected to decline in the fourth quarter. Gross margins are expected to be under pressure due to lower production, a weak demand environment and competitive pricing in the Bluetooth segment. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to decline further in the fourth quarter as a result of the restructuring activities announced on January 14, 2009. In addition the company remains committed to managing expenses in line with its goal of remaining profitable and positive cash flow generation.

Subject to the foregoing, we are currently expecting the following financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009:

Net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to be in the range of $125 - $135 million;
A Non-GAAP operating loss of $4 - $10 million;
A GAAP loss.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these targets. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except by its next press release announcing its fourth quarter fiscal year 2009 results or by other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the fourth quarter fiscal year 2009 will not be based on internal company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors.

Plantronics has scheduled a conference call to discuss third quarter results. The conference call will take place Tuesday, January 27 at 2:00 PM (PST). All interested investors and potential investors in Plantronics stock are invited to participate. To listen to the call, please dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled starting time and refer to the “Plantronics Conference Call.” Participants from North America should call (888) 301-8736 and other participants should call (706) 634-7260.

A replay of the call with the conference ID #60282103 will be available for 72 hours at (800) 642-1687 for callers from North America and at (706) 645-9291 for all other callers. The conference call will also be simultaneously web cast at www.plantronics.com under Investor Relations, and the web cast of the conference call will remain available at the Plantronics Web site for thirty days.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Plantronics excludes non-recurring transactions and non-cash expenses and charges such as restructuring and other related charges, certain tax credits and the release of certain tax reserves, stock-based compensation expenses related to stock options, awards and employee stock purchases, purchase accounting amortization and goodwill and long-lived asset impairment charges from non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin and non-GAAP effective tax rate. Plantronics excludes these expenses from its non-GAAP measures primarily because Plantronics does not believe they are reflective of ongoing operating results and are not part of its target operating model. Plantronics believes that the use of non-GAAP financial measures provides meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity, and helps investors compare actual results to its long-term target operating model goals. Plantronics believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods.

SAFE HARBOR

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements relating to (i) our restructuring plan, (ii) our expectation that we will incur approximately $7.7 to $8.2 million in related restructuring charges and the timing of such charges, (iii) our expectation that we will realize annualized savings from cost reductions of over $50 million, (iv) our expectations regarding our capital expenditures, (v) our objective to maintain our profitability, be cash flow positive and increase our competitive position, (vi) our ability to continue to focus on certain strategic initiatives, (vii) further actions we may take to improve profitability, (viii) the future of Unified Communications technologies, including their implementation, growth in deployments and the effect on headset adoption, (ix) our position in the Unified Communications market, (x) our estimate of revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, and (xi) our estimate of GAAP and Non-GAAP financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and related components of earnings per share, as well as other matters discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data. Plantronics does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new developments or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements.

Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated are:

All aspects of our business are difficult to predict, particularly in light of the current economic conditions in both the domestic and international markets;
We do not know how the market for each of our product groups will continue to be negatively affected as a result of the recession in the United States or global economy;
Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
The bankruptcy of additional distributors or key customers or the bankruptcy of or reduction in capacity of our key suppliers;
Additional actions we take may affect GAAP results;
Failure to match production to demand given long lead times and the difficulty of forecasting unit volumes and acquiring the component parts to meet demand without having excess inventory or incurring cancellation charges;
We have significant intangible assets and goodwill recorded on our balance sheet. If the carrying value of our intangible assets and goodwill is not recoverable, additional impairment losses must be recognized which would adversely affect our financial results;
We have experienced volatility in prices from our suppliers, including our manufacturers located in China, and in light of the uncertainties of the economy in the United States and around the world, which could negatively affect profitability and/or market share; and
Additional risk factors include: interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, and problems which might affect our manufacturing facilities in Mexico or in China.

Financial Summaries

The following related charts are provided:

Summary Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Summary Unaudited Condensed Statements of Operations by Segment
Unaudited GAAP to Non-GAAP Statements of Operations Reconciliations for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2008 and December 31, 2007
Summary Unaudited Statements of Operations and Related Data on a Non-GAAP Basis

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic third words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation^® is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics and Altec Lansing Win Six Innovation Awards from the Consumer Electronics Association

jshanks — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:43:08 +0000

Winning Products Demonstrate the Importance of Consumer Products that Balance Performance, Function and Design

LAS VEGAS (CES 2009) — Jan. 7, 2009 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) and Altec Lansing today announced the two companies won a combined six 2009 Innovations Design and Engineering Honoree Awards from the Consumer Electronics Association. The awards highlight leadership in developing innovative audio communications and entertainment solutions across numerous categories including headsets, gaming, and digital audio.

The winning products will be showcased under the banner theme “The Fusion of Voice, Music and Life” in the joint Plantronics and Altec Lansing booth #20908, South Hall 1, during the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 8-11, 2009.

“Plantronics and Altec Lansing share a high standard for acoustic and design excellence,” said Clay Hausmann, vice president of Corporate Marketing, Plantronics. “Technical ingenuity delivered in the Voyager 835 and Expressionist BASS alongside audio and design breakthroughs like the Plantronics Discovery 925 and Orbit MP3-237 demonstrate our commitment to products that harmoniously combine performance, function and style.”

Plantronics Sound Innovation® for all Lifestyles
Plantronics took home three Innovations awards, demonstrating its expertise in Bluetooth and gaming technology. Following is the list of award-winning Plantronics products and categories in which they were recognized.

• Plantronics’ signature Discovery 925 Bluetooth Earpiece – Wireless Handsets Accessories product category.

• Plantronics’ first dual-mic with windscreen Voyager 835 Bluetooth Headset – Headphones product category.

• Plantronics GameCom 777 Surround Sound Headset with Dolby technology – Electronic Gaming product category.

Altec Lansing Professional Audio Performance & Premium Design
Altec Lansing was also awarded three Innovations awards for three new audio systems that exemplify the company’s legendary stereo ingenuity and digital music leadership. Following is the list of award-winning Altec Lansing products and categories in which they were recognized.

• The industry’s first 2.2 combined speaker and subwoofer system, Altec Lansing Expressionist BASS FX3022 – Computer Peripherals product category.

• Altec Lansing’s first portable “Works with iPhone” system, the inMotion MAX iMT702 – Audio Components product category.

• Altec Lansing’s latest edition to its highly popular Orbit line, the inMotion Orbit iM237 – Personal Electronics product category.

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About the Innovations Design and Engineering Award
The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards is an annual competition which honors consumer technology manufacturers’ and developers’ outstanding design and engineering in CE products. It is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the producer of the International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, and endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the voice of industrial design, committed to advancing the profession through education, information, community and advocacy. A full list of the 2009 Innovation Design and Engineering Award winners can be seen here: www.CESweb.org/Innovations.

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of innovation is the basis for every audio product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing and Clarity. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

About Altec Lansing
For more than 70 years Altec Lansing has been viewed among audiophiles as the world’s most valuable and innovative audio brand and boasts a unique history of innovation that includes the introduction of first talkie film speakers, the first iPod docking station and the first “Works with iPhone” speaker system. Altec Lansing makes a wide range of audio systems for the home and office; a line of headphones for personal listening; and the popular line of inMotion speaker systems for portable digital players. Altec Lansing, a division of Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT), is headquartered in Milford, PA.

Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Discovery, Voyager, GameCom, Expressionist BASS and inMotion are trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. More information can be found at www.plantronics.com and www.alteclansing.com.

Press contacts:

Jennifer Elyse Shanks
Altec Lansing and Plantronics
T. 831-458-7084
E. jennifer.shanks@plantronics.com

Plantronics Brings Sound Innovation to Award-Winning Professional Wireless Headset System Line

admin — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:30:05 +0000

New Plantronics CS70N Offers Noise-Canceling Technology, Specially Designed Boom for Optimal Use in All Office Environments

Santa Cruz, Calif.– May 1, 2007 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today introduced the new Plantronics CS70N™ Professional Wireless Headset System, its third-generation headset solution that provides the perfect combination of audio performance, style and comfort. Designed for both traditional and IP deskphones, the Plantronics CS70N provides office professionals with hands-free mobility for increased accessibility and efficiency at work.

“As today’s workplace becomes increasing distributed and virtual, phone calls have evolved beyond just voice communications,” said Chuck Yort, vice president and general manager of Business Solutions at Plantronics. “They often involve multimedia, document collaboration and other interactive elements that require professionals to be active and hands-free. The Plantronics CS70N provides this mobility, along with the industry’s best combination of audio, style and comfort.”

Based on the award-winning Plantronics CS70, the new CS70N features a specially-designed boom and noise-canceling microphone that eliminates distracting background noise in any office environment. The excellent audio, combined with remote answer/end* capabilities, helps the Plantronics CS70N put an end to office “phone tag” — ensuring important calls are never missed. Professionals can be up to 300 feet away from their desk to take a call, providing the freedom and confidence to bring conversations with them in less predictable environments, such as the hallway, or continue calls in more private areas.

The Plantronics CS70N enables users to talk hands-free and accomplish simultaneous tasks that fill the work day, such as using a keyboard and mouse, leading a webinar, or reaching for an important file. The headset is built on digitally encrypted, voice-dedicated DECT™ 6.0 technology to provide exceptional audio quality and lower interference with other wireless devices.

“In addition to providing employees with a great communication solution for smarter, more efficient business communications, the Plantronics CS70N provides peace of mind to IT departments that might be moving to VoIP in the near future,” added Yort. “We’re helping our customers, from large enterprises to small businesses, plan for the future.”

Other Plantronics CS70N features include:

Discreet, behind the ear design and lightweight (0.75 oz) for all-day wearing comfort,
One-touch call answer/end, volume and mute headset controls for ease of use,
Boom swivels for use on either ear for optional wearing preference,
64-bit digital encryption and up to 6 hours of in-use battery life, and
Integrated base and charging cradle for easy access and reduced desk clutter.

The CS70N Wireless Office Headset System has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US $329.95 and is available today at www.plantronics.com/cs70n and through Plantronics’ authorized resellers.

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, Plantronics has become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of Sound Innovation™ is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. The Plantronics family of brands includes Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Clarity, and Volume Logic. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

Altec Lansing, Clarity, CS70N, Plantronics, Sound Innovation, and Volume Logic are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. DECT is a trademark of ETSI.

* The HL10 Handset Lifter adds the convenience of remote ring notification and one-touch answer and ending calls while away from the desk by lifting the deskphone handset when calls come in.

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Plantronics Introduces New Family of Commercial Aviation Headsets

chithra — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 05:45:31 +0000

Three New Products Deliver Superior Sound Quality, Comfort and Reliability for Commercial Aviation Pilots

New York, NY and Santa Cruz, Calif. - July 20, 2005 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) today announced a new portfolio of headsets for the commercial aviation industry. The three new headsets are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and continue the company’s tradition of delivering superior communication products within the aerospace and aviation industries. The headsets provide pilots excellent sound quality, comfort and reliability, enabling clear communications between air and ground.

“Plantronics’ Specials Group has a legacy of delivering customized headsets for mission-critical applications such as aviation and aerospace, emergency dispatch, military personnel, among many others,” said Mike Erbe, director of Special Products at Plantronics. “We listened to the needs of pilots and developed a new suite of lightweight products that emphasize comfort, reliability and audio clarity for commercial aviation communications.”

Plantronics has more than 40 years of aviation communication expertise and has supplied headsets to air traffic controllers since 1965. In 1999 the FAA selected Plantronics to be its sole provider of headsets for Air Traffic Control.

The new family of commercial aviation headsets incorporates noise-canceling sound technology and new designs and ergonomics to meet the unique needs of commercial pilots, such as comfort during long-haul flights and sound quality with both ATC and cabin communications. All of the new products are certified by the FAA to comply with the stringent TSO C57a and C58a specifications, and incorporate a new lightweight cable that is more flexible and durable. The new Plantronics commercial aviation headsets are:

Plantronics MS200
The Plantronics MS200 headset combines a unique lightweight design and advanced technology to deliver the ultimate in comfort and reliability. The MS200 uses a compact, under-the-ear design, and utilizes a noise-canceling microphone that enables clear transmissions from the pilot to the tower. It is convenient to carry and stow, and features the Plantronics Flex Grip® to ensure a secure, comfortable fit for extended wear.

The MS200 has a suggested list price of US $196 and is available immediately at www.plantronics.com/aviation or 866-304-6654.

Plantronics MS250 and MS260
The Plantronics MS250 and MS260 commercial aviation headsets leverage a proven design to provide unparalleled comfort and reliability for pilots. Both products use over-the-head designs to offer a stable fit for extended wear. The MS250 uses a monaural design for convenient cockpit conversations, while the MS260 uses a binaural design for maximum audio clarity. Like the MS200, both the MS250 and MS260 include noise-canceling microphones for excellent transmission clarity.

The MS250 has a suggested list price of US $230 and the MS260 has a suggested list price of US $260. Both products are available immediately at www.plantronics.com/aviation or 866-304-6654.

“I used the MS200 and found it to be light weight and comfortable,” said Rick Perry, A320 Captain. “The audio reception was the best I have ever had in my 26 years of flying. ATC was asked many times on the quality of transmissions and most responses were excellent — one ATC controller said the audio was ‘near perfect’.”

The new products augment Plantronics’ existing line of award-winning aviation headsets — the MS50 and MS30 — and provide pilots with a greater variety of wearing styles to fit their preferences. The Plantronics MS50 and MS30 commercial aviation headsets have been popular choices for pilots for more than 40 years. The MS30 features an over-the-ear design, while the MS50 offers a choice of wearing configurations that include a headband and an eyeglass clip.

About Plantronics
In 1969, a Plantronics headset carried the historic first words from the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, we’ve become the headset of choice for mission-critical applications such as air traffic control, 911 dispatch, and the New York Stock Exchange. Today, this history of sound innovation is the basis for every product we build for the office, contact center, personal mobile, entertainment and residential markets. For more information, go to www.plantronics.com or call (800) 544-4660.

New Safety Study Shows 71% of Drivers Steer More Accurately When Using a Headset with Their Mobile Phones

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 16:57:24 +0000

Study is First in Series of Driving Impairment Tests from Plantronics; Research is Part of An Overall Initiative Aimed at Greater Customer Understanding

SANTA CRUZ, CA - August 2, 2004 – A new study that measured the physical impairment drivers experienced while using a mobile phone found that reaction time, accuracy and consistency of speed improved significantly when a headset was used with the phone. The study, commissioned by Plantronics (NYSE:PLT), used a state-of-the-art driving simulator to compare the driving ability of subjects using a mobile phone under two conditions – one holding a mobile phone, and the other using a headset, leaving their hands free.

The Plantronics study is one of the first of its kind to analyze physical impairment experienced while driving and using a mobile phone; to date most other studies have focused solely on the mental distraction of using a mobile phone while driving. The study was conducted by Design Science, an independent human factors research firm that has conducted other driving-related studies for a wide range of organizations including the Department of Transportation.

“The central question of our study was, ‘For a person using a mobile phone, does driving improve if he or she uses a headset?’ What the research showed is that, across all conditions, the answer is a resounding yes,” said Stephen Wilcox, Ph.D., Principal of Design Science. “Driving with both hands on the wheel is the safest option for motorists who use mobile phones, and headsets are tools to enable that improvement.”

The driving performance of 24 subjects in three major categories was measured: steering accuracy, braking reaction time and speed variability. Key initial findings of the research found:

71% of the test subjects steered more accurately when using a headset
100% of the test subjects had faster brake reaction times when using a headset
92% of the test subjects maintained a more consistent speed when using a headset

“This initial research provides strong evidence that driving and talking on a mobile phone while using a headset is significantly safer than driving while using a handheld mobile phone. Plantronics believes the most important thing is to help promote safer conditions for everyone, and headsets enable drivers to keep both hands on the wheel,” said Beth Johnson, Plantronics senior director of product marketing. “We’re sharing these results with our customers and the public at large as part of an ongoing effort to better educate drivers on options for using mobile phones comfortably and responsibly while driving.”

Initiative Focuses On Customers

Plantronics’ study is part of a recently launched research initiative aimed at better understanding the customer, their needs, buying habits and how they use telecommunications devices, including headsets. As part of the initiative, the company has contracted with Design Science, who will continue to study the physical impairment of mobile phone use while driving.

Plantronics also completed a national Omnibus survey earlier this year to measure people’s attitudes regarding headsets and mobile phone use. The survey of 1,000 individuals revealed that 75% surveyed said they wished their friends and family would use a hands-free device while driving and talking on a mobile phone. In addition, 77% said they thought all motorists should use a hands-free device while driving and talking on their mobile phones.

Recent Hands-Free Legislation

Plantronics’ research findings follow closely on the heels of “hands-free” legislation that was enacted July 1 in Washington, D.C. and New Jersey, requiring drivers to use a hands-free device while driving and talking on a mobile phone. New York is currently the only other state with a law banning the use of handheld mobile phones while driving, but similar laws have been proposed in more than 20 other states, including California and Massachusetts.

“It’s important to keep in mind that our study is not intended to address the issue of whether or not it is safe to talk on a mobile phone while driving, but rather what type of technology is safest for drivers to use while talking on their mobile phones,” said Johnson. “In that regard, we’ve found that headsets are a much safer alternative to handheld phones.”

Plantronics recognizes that there are occasions when driving circumstances make talking on a mobile phone – handheld or hands-free – unsafe. Plantronics encourages motorists to initiate calls while off the road, to not conduct highly emotional phone discussions while driving and to pull over or hang up in many instances to protect the safety of themselves, their passengers and others on the road. For more safety tips, visit the Plantronics website at www.plantronics.com

About Plantronics

Plantronics introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is recognized as the world leader in communications headsets. A publicly held company with approximately 4,000 employees, Plantronics is the leading provider of headsets to telephone companies and the business community worldwide. Plantronics headsets are also used widely in many Fortune 500 corporations and have been featured in numerous motion pictures and high-profile events, including Neil Armstrong’s historic “One small step for man” transmission from the moon in 1969. Plantronics, Inc., headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, was founded in 1961 and maintains offices in 18 countries. Plantronics products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of authorized Plantronics marketing partners. Information about the Company and its products can be found at www.plantronics.com or by calling (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics, and Plantronics and the logo design combined, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Plantronics Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

75 Percent of Americans Want Loved Ones To Use Hands-Free Device While Driving and Talking on Mobile Phone

admin — Mon, 24 May 2004 17:02:16 +0000

National survey reveals widespread interest in safer phone habits for drivers

SANTA CRUZ, CA - May 24, 2004 – A new national survey released today by Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) shows that 75 percent of respondents wish their friends and family would use a hands-free device such as a headset while driving and talking on a mobile phone.

The survey, which underscores America’s growing concern regarding individuals driving while talking on handheld mobile phones, also shows that 69 percent are concerned about other drivers talking on a mobile phone without a hands-free device

The Plantronics poll, issued during National Wireless Safety Week, asked 1,000 adults about their mobile telephone habits while driving

“Nearly half of the people surveyed use a mobile phone while driving, making wireless safety more of a priority than ever,” said Beth Johnson, Plantronics senior director of product marketing. “Plantronics believes the most important thing is to help promote safer conditions for everyone by encouraging responsible use of mobile phones, and headsets are one way to help people drive more safely. Headsets enable drivers to keep both hands on the wheel, to feel more comfortable as they drive, and to hear and be heard better, all benefits that can contribute to improved driving safety.”

On July 1, laws that prohibit the use of handheld mobile phones while driving will go into effect in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., continuing the nationwide trend of states devoting increased attention to driver safety laws. In 2001, New York became the first state to prohibit drivers from using a mobile phone without a hands-free device. In addition, measures similar to those of New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. are being considered by almost half of the state legislatures across the country

“We’re finding that, regardless of whether or not hands-free legislation has been passed in their state, people are taking a greater interest in driving safety,” added Johnson. “In fact, our survey indicates that 77 percent of Americans agree that motorists should use hands-free devices with their mobile phones.”

Plantronics recognizes that there are occasions when driving circumstances make talking on a mobile phone – handheld or hands-free – unsafe. In these instances, motorists should pull over or hang up to protect the safety of themselves, their passengers and others on the road. For more safety tips, visit the Plantronics website at www.plantronics.com

For a copy of the survey, contact Joanna Andrade at 408-571-2334.

About Plantronics

Plantronics introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is recognized as the world leader in communications headsets. A publicly held company with approximately 3,350 employees, Plantronics is the leading provider of headsets to telephone companies and the business community worldwide. Plantronics headsets are also used widely in many Fortune 500 corporations and have been featured in numerous motion pictures and high-profile events, including Neil Armstrong’s historic “One small step for man” transmission from the moon in 1969. Plantronics, Inc., headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, was founded in 1961 and maintains offices in 20 countries. Plantronics products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of authorized Plantronics marketing partners. Information about the Company and its products can be found at www.plantronics.com or by calling (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics Selected By IBM To Enhance Speech Recognition Applications

admin — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:21:08 +0000

Plantronics PC Headsets Packaged with IBM ViaVoice Release 10 Speech

SANTA CRUZ, CA. - Plantronics, (NYSE: PLT) announced that IBM® will bundle Plantronics headsets for selected editions of IBM’s newly-announced ViaVoice for Windows Release 10. Plantronics PC headsets are engineered for superior speech recognition accuracy, providing digitally-enhanced audio and noise-canceling microphones that enhance dictation applications such as IBM’s ViaVoice software.

Speech recognition applications can boost productivity of PC-based office work. Plantronics computer audio headsets when used with IBM Via Voice Release 10 for Windows provide a productive input tool that can be vital to computer users with limited typing skills and for those with limited capacity to use computers with their hands. ViaVoice allows users to launch and surf the Internet, access Web pages through voice-activated links, dictate directly into popular applications including Microsoft Word, as well as utilize specialized vocabularies. The combination of ViaVoice software and Plantronics PC headsets can offer users enhanced speech recognition, delivering a more complete package for voice recognition applications.

“Businesses and consumers look to technology to enhance work, life and play. Simply responding to e-mail with your voice is a perfect example of how speech recognition technology is increasing productivity and making life easier,” commented Ken Kannappan, Plantronics President and CEO. “Being selected by IBM to enhance the world’s most popular voice recognition software is a great testament to Plantronics quality, innovation and advanced communication technology.”

IBM’s ViaVoice for Windows Release 10 product family offers a complete suite of products to suit the needs of every level of user, from beginners in voice recognition to power users who know that dictation can be a powerful productivity tool.

“With the combination of IBM’s award-winning ViaVoice Technology and Plantronics’ feature-rich, noise-canceling headsets, we hope to offer our customers a desktop dictation product unmatched in the market today,” said Toby Maners, Director, Retail Voice Segment, IBM Pervasive Computing.

Plantronics award-winning .Audio and digitally-enhanced USB series PC Headsets will be bundled with IBM’s new ViaVoice products. Plantronics PC headsets are available worldwide at leading computer retail superstores, office superstores, consumer electronic stores and online merchandisers.

About Plantronics

Plantronics, Inc. is the world leader in lightweight communications headsets, offering a wide range of products for call center, office, mobile and computer applications. Founded in 1961, the company introduced the world’s first lightweight headset in 1962, and in 1969, Plantronics supplied the headset from which the first words from the moon were transmitted. A publicly held company (NYSE:PLT), Plantronics is headquartered in Santa Cruz, Calif., and maintains offices in 20 countries with more than 2,600 employees. Plantronics products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of authorized Plantronics partners, and are available directly, nationwide through retail, consumer electronics, cellular and PCS stores. Products and information about the company can be found at www.plantronics.com or by calling (800) 544-4660.

Plantronics is a registered trademark and .Audio is a trademark of Plantronics Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Plantronics Reshapes Mobile Headset Category with Groundbreaking Product Design and Innovation

admin — Mon, 05 Aug 2002 17:20:16 +0000

Radical new MX100 headset is a fusion of style and technology

SANTA CRUZ, CA - August 5, 2002 – Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) is reshaping the communications headset market today with the introduction of the MX100 mobile communications headset. Combining breakthrough advances in style, comfort and sound, Plantronics has created the “must have” mobile communications accessory.

With the introduction of its patent-pending Flex Grip™ design, Plantronics has literally reshaped the traditional earbud headset. Flex Grip™ is a small, flexible rubber tail that rests comfortably and securely behind the ear. This discreet design makes the Plantronics MX100 headset so stable and comfortable it can be worn all day – even during extreme activities such as skateboarding and cycling.

“The MX100 is designed for youth by youth; it connects with their active lifestyles,” said Libby Walikis, product manager for the Plantronics MX100. “We sought their input in the development of the MX100. This influence is clearly seen in the form factor and style of this groundbreaking headset. It’s also reflected in the interchangeable color covers of metallic green, blue and graphite, so it can be customized to individual taste.”

The new Plantronics MX100 headset doesn’t just look great, it sounds great as well. It includes Plantronics AcuSpeak™ technology, incorporating some of the most advanced sound quality and microphone technology in the world.

“More than 67 million youth in the U.S. and Europe will be using cellular technology in 2002¹,” said Joyce Shimizu, president of Plantronics Mobile Communications Division. “A market of this magnitude demands products tailored to its specific needs and desires. The new Plantronics MX100 is just that product. It is a landmark in the design and technology of personal communications headsets. It represents a fusion between style and technology that moves headsets into the realm of the personal accessory.”

Pricing and Availability

The Plantronics MX100 mobile headset will be available nationwide in mid-August with an estimated U.S. retail price of $24.99. It will be available through major retail outlets, including RadioShack, Best Buy and Circuit City, and cellular stores. The MX100 is compatible with most cellular phones, including Audiovox, Kyocera, Motorola, and Samsung. The MX103-N1 and -N2 models will be available for Nokia phones.

About Plantronics

Plantronics introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is recognized as the world leader in communications headsets. A publicly held company with approximately 2,600 employees, Plantronics is the leading provider of headsets to telephone companies and the business community worldwide. Plantronics headsets are also used widely in many Fortune 500 corporations and have been featured in numerous motion pictures and high-profile events, including Neil Armstrong’s historic “One small step for man” transmission from the moon in 1969. Plantronics, Inc., headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, was founded in 1961 and maintains offices in 20 countries. Plantronics products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of authorized Plantronics marketing partners. Information about the company and its products can be found at www.plantronics.com or by calling (800) 544-4660.

¹Strategy Analytics Worldwide Cellular Forecast Update, January 2002 and Strategy Analytics European End User Market Dynamics, October 2001.

Flex Grip and AcuSpeak are trademarks, and Plantronics is a registered trademark, of Plantronics, Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.