Tata Communications and BT have entered into an agreement to provide customers on either of their existing video exchanges to establish conferences with customers on the other’s video exchange.
The collaboration will provide each organisation with open access to a much broader network of businesses. The new commercial service will help enable telepresence users to reach more partners, suppliers, customers and prospects at public and private end-points as well as facilitate virtual conference meetings, the companies said.
The new intercompany service will allow any Cisco TelePresence customer of BT’s Global Video Exchange or Tata Communications’ Global Meeting Exchange to invite clients of the other service provider to join them in multipoint telepresence meetings. The meetings can be hosted on either the Tata Communications or the BT Telepresence Exchange.
Both Tata Communications’ and BT’s video exchanges are based on Cisco’s immersive video collaboration technology, which allows for enhanced visual and audio transmission quality.
Jeff Prestel, general manager for BT Conferencing, Americas, said: "BT’s agreement with Tata Communications is strategic and paves the way for the video industry to expand and truly deliver a highway of video connectivity to end users. BT Global Video Exchange customers continue to increase their use of our exchanges and their number one request is to maximise the reach of their Telepresence endpoints.
"The agreement with Tata Communications will expand the reach of BT customers via Tata Communications’ public rooms for added convenience and global reach. BT also will be announcing a comprehensive suite of services, as part of the Global Video Exchange, including multiple manufacturers’ video platforms for expanded customer communication and interoperability."
