BT, Cisco champion state-of-the-art conferencing solution

Issued by BT

Johannesburg, 03 Apr 2009

BT South Africa, in collaboration with Cisco, has launched Cisco TelePresence as part of its growing Conferencing and Unified Communications Video portfolio. TelePresence is a revolution in virtual meeting solutions that will highlight inter-company connectivity and the lifelike collaboration that can take place within it - to a much broader audience.

The Cisco TelePresence solution makes it possible for colleagues, customers and partners to communicate and collaborate 'face-to-face', even if they are in different locations all over the world. As a breakthrough technology for remote meetings, the technology integrates advanced audio, high-definition video and interactive elements with the power of the underlying network, with no perceivable time lag.

This new service is the first of a series of conferencing solutions that will be launched by BT in South Africa over the next few months.

“Our international customers often have a presence in 30 or more countries and have substantial communications requirements, coupled with the need to drive down the cost of travel and lower CO2 emissions. With Cisco TelePresence, we offer companies a virtual conferencing platform, which can simulate face-to-face meetings much more realistically than any of the other currently established technologies,” explained Keith Matthews, Country Manager of BT South Africa.

“The new system differs from conventional videoconferencing in that participants can see and speak to each other across the table, while facial expressions, gestures, and the documents in use, are as visible as if they were in the same room. By creating a realistic environment in which to conduct conference calls, the need for expensive business trips and extended working hours will be greatly reduced.”

Cisco TelePresence will be offered as a fully managed, end-to-end build and operate service over BT's Unified Communications infrastructure services. Use of BT's global MPLS network will help ensure reliable provision of the required bandwidths and prioritisation of the data stream over all other data. This configuration offers voice, data and image transmission of the highest quality, so the viewer perceives no difference compared with a real presentation.

Furthermore, BT's One Source for Cisco TelePresence services simplify the solution with “concierge” support that optimises collaboration and delivers the best possible service.

Key features of BT One Source for Cisco TelePresence include:

* Design and provisioning: which includes hardware procurement, room readiness and network path assessments
* Detailed room configuration design and set-up
* Global project management
* Optional IP overlay network
* Proactive device and network monitoring
* 24x7 help desk support
* Hosting services for CTMS switch, TelePresence Manager and Cisco Communications Manager
* Automated call scheduling and launching tools
* Support for TelePresence interoperability with traditional video-conferencing devices
* Producer-assisted TelePresence calls

Linked to this offering, BT has also launched the Global Video Exchange (GVE), a unique business-to-business videoconferencing service that sees multiple companies, which may have their own private networks, being able to engage in videoconferencing using their own respective Cisco TelePresence rooms. In this instance, BT's role would be to bridge the connection between the various networks, thus enabling the event. “This capability is especially important, given that our focus is on multinationals operating in South Africa or local companies that are expanding into global markets. In cases like these, it is highly unlikely that customers, suppliers and partners worldwide will share the same network infrastructure, thus validating the need for our service,” added Matthews.

Commenting on the relationship between Cisco and BT, Mr. Kumaran Nair, operations director at Cisco South Africa said: "BT has recently received Cisco's Global Certification status, which reflects its focus on maintaining best practices across all areas of its business. Video is rapidly becoming the most effective way to communicate and share information, but Cisco TelePresence is much more than video. It puts you into the meeting in every important sense and is a technological advancement in unified communications.”

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