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BT, TANDBERG sign MoU for inter-company video conferencing platform

Tony Chan | June 19, 2009 | 0 Comments

BT Conferencing and TANDBERG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up a platform to deliver “the first global non-proprietary solution for inter-company telepresence and video conferencing.” Under the MOU, the BT One Source service, using TANDBERG’s standards-based infrastructure, allows an enterprise to collaborate internally and externally across differing video and telepresence systems.

According to the companies, the platform is made possible by BT’s One Source managed services and MPLS network and the expansion of BT Global Video Exchange with TANDBERG’s infrastructure. TANDBERG is the only company to offer a telepresence solution that maintains the multi-screen, high-definition experience when calling out to a third-party telepresence system.

“Telepresence is all about collaboration. BT One Source for TANDBERG makes telepresence easy to use, reliable and cost effective throughout a customer’s enterprise,” said Aaron McCormack, CEO of BT Conferencing. “We are helping companies maximise their investment in telepresence technology by allowing them to collaborate both within their own business and across networks with partners, suppliers, customers and others, around the globe.”

Fredrik Halvorsen, CEO of TANDBERG, said: “Our vision is to connect people visually within and between organizations — regardless of network or vendor choice. The visually enabled B2B supply chain will revolutionize the way that companies communicate with each other, allowing them to truly streamline processes, be cost-efficient and bring products to market faster. TANDBERG was first to market with telepresence interoperability. Now this new initiative and MOU with BT further strengthens our relationship and makes the vision of seamless interoperability across different networks and devices a reality for our customers.”

The companies say that “for the first time, TANDBERG Telepresence T3 users and Polycom TPX/RPX users will be able to collaborate regardless of the platform or network. This is only possible with the TANDBERG Telepresence Server infrastructure interoperability feature.”

What the companies do not say specifically is whether each users of the platform will need to be on BT’s network to connect to the service, or whether in fact the platform operates like the PSTN, where users dial/connect into a central exchange to establish a session. Also, the platform does not seem to support Cisco’s TelePresence systems, which is often deemed proprietary.

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