You are here: Home » Green ICT » Applications » Telepresence: C&W, Regus go public, Tandberg boasts interoperability

Telepresence: C&W, Regus go public, Tandberg boasts interoperability

Tony Chan | April 30, 2009 | 0 Comments

Following the launch of public telepresence points by Tata Communications, a host of companies are jumping on the bandwagon with similar offerings and capabilities that bring high definition video communications into the public domain.

This week, Cable & Wireless announced that it has joined up with Regus, the business centre operator, to introduce a public telepresence points in the latter company’s operating locations around the world.

The joint initiative will cost an estimated £32 million over the next five years and consists of the installation of Polycom telepresence suites in Regus business centres, in London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Manchester, Mumbai, Moscow, Frankfurt, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, the companies said.

“As the world’s largest operator of video conferencing studios, we know that our customers appreciate the benefits of this leading-edge technology and are excited to use the product,” Regus CEO, Mark Dixon, said. “Companies who utilise this virtual tool will save time and money on business travel while minimizing their impact on the environment. We are revolutionising how people meet by delivering services that will optimise their performance.”

The new systems will be available from summer 2009 on an hourly rental basis. The systems offer meetings of up to 10 people per site, the companies said.

“This will be a new way of working for many businesses but it’s a method where cost savings and improved productivity are realised immediately,” said Jim Marsh, Cable & Wireless CEO, Europe, adding that the operator’s Managed Video Conferencing will also give existing video users the opportunity to expand their footprint without the need for significant investment in new Telepresence hardware.

TANDBERG’S MULTI-SCREEN INTEROPERABILITY
Meanwhile, telepresence systems maker, Tandberg, also announced that a major breakthrough would make the technology more applicable in the public domain. The technology announced is an upgrade to Tandberg’s Telepresence Server software, which now supports interoperability with telepresence systems from Polycom.

While Tandberg has maintained an open standards approach and already supports connections to any standards-based video communications systems, the new ability allows Tandberg’s Telepresence T3 (three-screen telepresence system) to connect to multi-screen, high-definition systems specifically from Polycom, which presumably means it will NOT support a similar interoperability with Cisco’s solution.

“Tandberg Telepresence systems are already interoperable with a broad range of third-party solutions. With high-definition multi-screen interoperability, Tandberg delivers the best possible experience for customers connecting to their existing, or their partners’ telepresence systems,” said Lars Rønning, Tandberg president for Asia Pacific (excluding China and Japan).

One of the key messages that Tandberg is bringing to the table is that this type of interoperability now enables service providers to become the conduit for inter-company telepresence use.