Orange Business Services is looking to market its video conferencing service like a traditional telephone service, complete with equipment rental and inter-company support. The company’s new Open Videopresence service will be offered on a wholly-managed platform for video conferencing that features a packaged price that includes the necessary equipment and systems integration services.

The new service is ‘as simple as a phone call,’ Orange said. The service is available in 104 countries around the world and support all types of networks, including IP VPN, Internet and ISDN, as well as any type of vendor or equipment, the company added.

Users are offered an online reservation system that is accessible from a Web portal or integrated with their Outlook, from which they can set up meetings. Once a session is reserved, the equipment of the corresponding parties will start at the appointed time.

“With Open Videopresence, all of the complexity is taken over by Orange Business Services in order to guarantee simplicity for the end-users,” Orange said. “Through the expertise of Orange Labs, Orange Business Services guarantees a successful user experience by testing the service from end-to-end, taking into account the equipment and network access. In addition, the support provided by Orange ensures the successful operation of meetings.”

Orange will also offer an administrator access to the system for corporations to monitor usage.

“The Open Videopresence service is based on a package that includes the service and usage, ranging from €259 (US$363.87) for moderate usage to €489 (US$687) for high usage, per month and per equipment and depending on various custom-configurations,” the company said. “Existing equipment need not be replaced and the setup of new videoconference rooms can be done by either purchasing or renting terminals, therefore limiting equipment investment.”

Meanwhile, Orange also added two new features to its Telepresence offering, which will now offer a 24/7 personalized concierge help-desk service to facilitate sessions and support inter-company sessions.
With the new Telepresence Community feature, anyone on the Orange network can be linked together via the operator’s network.

“This solution is compatible with all Telepresence-related solutions offered to businesses anywhere in the world, on the Orange network. By integrating their customers, partners or even service providers into the Telepresence user community, businesses drastically increase their productivity and speed up decision-making processes,” Orange said.