Tata Comm ties up with BT

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Tata Communications and BT announced on Tuesday that they have entered into an agreement for video connectivity exchange services.

The service would allow customers on either of their existing video exchange to establish conferences with customers on the other’s video exchange.

The collaboration would provide each organization with open access to a much broader network of businesses, said a press release.

The service would help enable Telepresence users to reach more partners, suppliers, customers and prospects at public and private end-points and will facilitate globally distributed, real time face-to-face virtual conference meetings that drive greater value to the collaborating businesses.

Using the inter-company service that both organizations are launching, any Cisco TelePresence customer of BT’s Global Video Exchange or Tata Communications’ Global Meeting Exchange can 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.

“Trials with current customers across both exchange networks have been strongly received. We are excited that two of the world’s leading Telepresence service providers have come together to open up this unprecedented collaboration opportunity for our existing and future customers”, says John Landau, SVP, global head of voice, Video and Mobility, Tata Communications.

He added that cooperation was easy because BT Conferencing and Tata Communications share a common goal to provide our customers open video conferencing sessions with any other business around the world.

Jeff Prestel, general manager, BT Conferencing, Americas, says, “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 maximize the reach of their Telepresence endpoints.”

He added that the agreement with Tata Communications would expand the reach of BT customers via Tata Communications’ public rooms for added convenience and global reach. BT also would 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.

Both Tata Communications’ and BT’s video exchanges are based on Cisco’s immersive video collaboration technology.

The technology allows for superior visual and audio transmission quality and ensures that participants’ full range of facial and vocal emotions and body language are conveyed, making them feel as if they are all in the same room, the release added.