BT News
BT Demonstrates Inter-Company TelePresence Service at Cisco Expo
QUINCY, Mass., April 30 PRNewswire-FirstCall — Today, BT (LSE: BT.A; NYSE: BT) performed a groundbreaking demonstration highlighting inter-company TelePresence connectivity at the Cisco Expo 2008 in Berlin, Germany. The occasion was also used to announce that BT will have global business-to-business services available to customers by September 2008.
The demonstration showcased a life-like TelePresence call between the headquarters of the Media-Saturn Group, a BT client, in Ingolstadt, Germany, and Wolfgang Lux, Managing Director Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH, who was located at the Cisco Expo presentation forum in the Estrel convention center, Berlin, Germany.
The Media-Saturn Group has been a first mover to use BT Unified Communications Video (UCV), which is based on Cisco TelePresence. In early 2007, Media-Saturn chose BT Germany to deploy and manage UCV, and has subsequently rolled it out to locations in 15 countries throughout Europe.
Wolfgang Lux, Managing Director Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH, who opened the first public inter-company TelePresence session during his presentation at the Cisco Expo in Berlin, said, "We have been using this technology for more than a year now. The innovative character of TelePresence has enhanced our internal, especially cross-border communications and shortened the distance between the countries. Furthermore it helps us, saving costs and it will allow us now to include our external business partners in our video conferences. BT and Cisco are our dedicated partners in this area. Media-Saturn is cutting edge in the electronic retail business in Europe and we always strive for excellence in everything we do. This is what we expect from our international partners as well."
This demonstration reinforced BT's ability to deploy the Cisco TelePresence service in multiple theatres around the world and to support inter-enterprise B2B communication from a Cisco TelePresence room to a BT-provided TelePresence room.
Chris Dedicoat, President, European markets, Cisco said, "Inter-company Cisco TelePresence will help companies transform their business models and relationships with customers, suppliers and partners. Today's live call illustrates just how soon this service will be available."
Aaron McCormack, Chief Executive Officer of BT Conferencing said, "Our announcement today is another demonstration of BT's commitment to the video conferencing market. In December of 2007, BT announced the development of its inter-company B2B service based on Cisco TelePresence, which has generated lots of excitement in our customer base. Now the service is proven to work and we are preparing for commercial launch. Our recent announcement regarding our intended acquisition of Wire One Communications will significantly enhance our service wrap for Cisco TelePresence services."
Wire One Communications, a market leader in video communications, was the first to commercially launch a managed concierge service for Cisco TelePresence and has successfully deployed services for 8 global customers with over 30 TelePresence systems in 7 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. Their fully-managed TelePresence solution, available today includes full video "concierge" capabilities.
Notes to Editors
About BT
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; higher-value broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.
In the year ended 31 March 2007, BT Group plc's revenue was 20,223 million pounds Sterling with profit before taxation of 2,484 million pounds.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt
About BT Conferencing
BT Conferencing was established more than 20 years ago and is now one of the leading global provider of audio, video and web collaboration services. Year on year growth has seen the company out-perform the conferencing industry expectation and with its extensive global portfolio, is now one of the largest conferencing providers in the UK and Europe with current reach in more than 70 countries. BT Conferencing is based in the USA, EMEA and Asia Pacific and specialises in the delivery of reliable, robust and innovative conferencing solutions and product hardware to some of the largest companies in the world. The company offers tailor-made solutions to customers, whether they are small SMEs or major global businesses. With businesses now juggling to increase productivity, being more environmentally aware and at the same time looking to improve the work-life balance of its employees, conferencing and collaboration services provide a cost effective and time saving solution. For more information visit www.bt.com/conferencing.
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