Last week Cisco was honoured to be named the Enterprise Video Vendor of the Year as well as Unified Communications Vendor of the Year as part of Frost & Sullivan’s research on the ICT market in Australia. To be recognized by Frost & Sullivan with not one but two prestigious awards is a testament to the technologies, our partners and of course our customers and all of their efforts over the past twelve months in Australia.

Here are just a few that showcase the breadth and depth of our partner and customer engagements in Enterprise Video and Unified Communications:

• Most recently, the Australian Federal Government announced it has saved AUD$12M in travel related costs from its now 18 month deployment of its National TelePresence Network with Telstra and Cisco.
• With its partners iVision and Sommerville, Pymble Ladies College have adopted a range of video technologies such as Cisco TelePresence and WebEx to experience new things outside the classroom.
• The implementation of immersive UC technologies by top-tier multinational law-firm Minter Ellison has been a hit with the CIO Peter Westerveld, saying, “video-supported collaboration technologies has given Minter Ellison an important tool to connect in a meaningful and personal way with our clients, suppliers and, of course, other staff, wherever they might be located.”

Cisco is always striving to help customers achieve their goals so it’s fantastic to also be recognised by industry analyst firm Frost & Sullivan for our achievements.  We’re thrilled to share these awards and industry recognition with all our partners and customers!

Special Minister of State Gary Gray today said that the system, which has been operating since October 2009, was returning on the government’s $24m investment much more rapidly than expected.

“We’re well ahead of where we thought we would be and that’s allowing us to think optimistically and expansively about the future (of the system),” Mr Gray told reporters in Sydney via a video conferencing session in Canberra.

The MP’s praise for the telepresence system went beyond applauding its service to the public purse and became personal.

“There’s been occasions when I’ve been able to make it to my little boys cricket training which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I wasn’t able to hook up to this system,” he said.

“The system was capable of preserving the robust political discussion of face-to-face contact between officials,” he added.

“The capability allows a conversation which is not only clear, audible and engaging but it allows emotion to be brought into the room as well. You can have an argument over these things,” he said.

The government has primarily used the system to facilitate interaction between Council of Australian Governments (COAG) officials and other inter-governmental activity.

The government estimated that officials had racked up 1660 hours on the system conducting over 1000 meetings that would otherwise have taken place face-to-face.

The telepresence system, which was supplied by Cisco and runs over Telstra’s Next IP platform, is currently installed across 36 sites in seven Commonwealth offices around Australia.

States have contributed around $4.5m to the system’s establishment.

In Canberra today, the Government announced the TelePresence solution had achieved productivity, sustainability and cost benefits, with the service hosting more than 1031 official meetings totalling more than 1660 hours. This has enabled staff to stay at their interstate offices instead of travelling to Canberra.

For one TelePresence meeting connected to 12 different locations, the Government estimated to have saved $100,600 in costs relating to travel.

The Government also revealed the service has delivered cost savings in excess of $12 million relating to travel expenses which in turn has directly enabled the Government to reduce carbon emissions by not having to travel to meetings.

Announced in February 2009 as a joint initiative with Telstra and Cisco, the deployment of Cisco TelePresence units operating over the Telstra Next IP® network has been operating for 18 months. The service incorporates 36 TelePresence sites connecting the seven Commonwealth Government offices, Prime Ministerial and Cabinet offices, Parliament House and the offices of Premiers and Chief Minister agencies in every state and territory to one highly secure, high definition video conferencing facility.

Philip Jones, Executive Director, Data and IP, Network Applications & Services at Telstra said the announcement indicates video conferencing has come of age.

“A modern meeting today is one that uses technology such as high definition TelePresence to bring people from across the country together for a meeting without the need for travel,” Mr Jones said.

“Telstra managed the planning, designing and deploying of the National TelePresence System in Government offices all across the country. Our combined network and project management skills means we have now delivered a proven solution to a national Government audience that is capable of supporting the Government as it strives to deliver ICT deployments that deliver genuine productivity, sustainability and cost savings,” Mr Jones said.

Ken Boal, Director of Public Sector, Cisco Australia said the National TelePresence System is world leading in its deployment and utilisation.

“The Australian Government is at the global forefront by using immersive video technology to bring key decision makers together to solve critical national issues,” Mr Boal said.

“The Government’s National TelePresence System is enabling more effective and frequent collaboration with reduced travel, expense and carbon emissions and moves us to a more sustainable lifestyle,” he said.

The Government established the National TelePresence System (NTS) to reduce the travel and consequent carbon emissions, fiscal costs and productivity losses associated with meetings of COAG officials, Ministerial Council officials and other intergovernmental-related interactions.

The Government’s NTS uses the power, reliability and in-built security of the Telstra Next IP® network and both Telstra and Cisco’s business video and unified communications expertise to enable collaboration.

Cisco TelePresence systems combine life-size, ultra-high definition video, spatial audio, specially designed meeting rooms and interactive elements to create the feeling of being “in person” with participants who may be located hundreds and thousands of kilometres away. This simple, easy to use technology makes it possible for Government officials to communicate as naturally and effectively as they would in person.

To view a video case study regarding the Australian Government using Telstra and Cisco TelePresence visit www.bit.ly/telstra-telepresence and for more information on video conferencing visit www.telstra.com/eyetoeye.

“We’re seeing very strong demand across all different aspects of business and organisations,” Hawkins told CommsDay. “There’s clearly strong demand across financial services, education, healthcare – and really we are seeing video adoption going from strength to strength, becoming a mainstream part of not just in the traditional business environment… but gaining significant traction in other aspects as well.”

“The two that stand out particularly in Australia are health and education… clearly, Australia has some significant challenges when it comes to getting critical mass, and the tyranny of distance around the population.

So what I see in Australia is… the rapid adoption and embracing of technology to help overcome those distance challenges.”

Hawkins added that mobile video was beginning to become an accepted medium within the workplace, particularly with the next generation of workers. And he said that mobility opened up a new range of vertical application capabilities – for example, in medical diagnosis, or in manufacturing where mobile video could be used to demonstrate key products to colleagues or clients.

“We have been pushing the message for a while that we need to get video beyond just the boardroom or meeting room, to make it an everyday integral part of the business workflow of enabling video collaboration within… different organisations,” said Hawkins.

Still, despite the proliferation of tablets in the workplace, Hawkins did not see mobile video ultimately replacing large-scale telepresence facilities. “I believe there’ll always be a space for both. Video will never completely replace face-to-face… and you’re a lot closer to that with immersive telepresence,” he said. “I think it’ll be very much a blend across the range, from the tablet and the laptop right through to the multiscreen and the immersive solutions.”

To capitalise on the potential of mobile video, Polycom recently launched its RealPresence Mobile offering, a video collaboration service aimed at the business tablet market. It’s part of the company’s recently announced software strategy to bring secure HD video collaboration to the broadest possible range of business, video, mobile and social networking applications – also bolstered by the firm’s acquisition last week of ViVu, a private firm specialising in video collaboration software that can be embedded into web applications.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – CTIA Booth 334 – Oct. 10, 2011 – Open Visual Communications Consortium™, a group of global video exchange providers, network providers and equipment manufacturers that have united to expand video communications, formally launches today, opening membership to visual communications industry stakeholders interested in accelerating the adoption of business-­‐to-­‐business video communications. It also announced its board and officers. OVCC™ members are committed to closing connectivity and service gaps that have prevented video communications between companies by specifying use of standards, best practices and connectivity agreements. As early as mid-­‐2012, service providers will be able to deliver a consistent business-­‐to-­‐business video experience that enables enterprise users to place and receive video calls beyond corporate firewalls and across proprietary video platforms.

OVCC founders and members include some of the world’s largest network service providers:

• AT&T
• BCS Global
• Bharti Airtel
• BT Conferencing
• Dialogic, Inc.
• Masergy
• Orange Business Services
• Polycom, Inc.
• Teliris
• Telstra
• Verizon

Members will collaborate in this groundbreaking federation that encompasses standards-­‐based and proprietary video systems. These service providers and managed solution providers are committed to providing ubiquitous video around the world, connecting millions of users through agreements with interconnected service providers across six continents.

Service providers will develop and implement an OVCC Technical Specification Document based on industry standards, best practices and business approaches to answer the need for interconnection, addressing, signaling, interoperability, and service coordination. Interoperable, high-­‐quality connectivity across networks and devices should allow network providers to profitably and predictably monetize their inter-­‐enterprise video exchanges. By making interoperability requirements invisible to the enterprise, the OVCC specification enables enterprise users to leverage video conferencing investments and enable more efficient value chains -­‐-­‐ spanning customers, distributors and suppliers – to improve the speed and efficiency of doing business.

“The formal launch of OVCC will help drive greater value for customers and spur broader video adoption,” said Rich Costello, senior research analyst, Unified Communications, IDC. “True B-­‐to-­‐B interoperability requires exactly this type of service provider inter-­‐connectivity as the need for inter-­‐company UC federation, of which video and telepresence are critical components, continues to grow. ”

“OVCC is the only organization of its kind addressing the requirements of enabling ubiquitous video calls by truly bridging the islands of communications users have today between enterprise, mobile and consumer applications,” said Andrew McFadzen, OVCC president. “Communications technology leaders will collaborate to enable high-­‐quality video connectivity across any network, vendor platform and device. We invite all interested parties to join our efforts to simplify the delivery of video calls between companies with multi-­‐network, multi-­‐ vendor video interoperability.”

In September, OVCC members elected McFadzen, Orange Business Services, president, John Poole, Polycom, vice president, and Clive Sawkins, BCS Global, secretary and acting treasurer. Board directors represent member companies AT&T, BCS Global, Bharti Airtel, BT Conferencing, Masergy Communications, Orange Business Services, Polycom, Telstra, Teliris and Verizon.

The OVCC offers three levels of membership: Participant, Sponsor and Board. Membership privileges and fees vary by participation level.

OVCC

Open Visual Communications Consortium is a group of global video exchange providers, network providers and equipment manufacturers that have united to expand video communications and simplify video calls. OVCC members will create multi-­‐vendor, multi-­‐ network specifications offering a technical blueprint and business model to support the full spectrum of video systems, from immersive telepresence and room-­‐based systems, to high definition and standard definition, and from desktop clients to mobile devices. Join the OVCC by visiting us at ovcc.net.

The OVCC was formed to operate as a business league not organized exclusively for profit within the purposes permitted by Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, including facilitating the establishment of a global standards-­‐based, multi-­‐network, multi-­‐vendor B2B video framework.

OVCC is a trademark or registered trademark of the Open Visual Communications Consortium in the United States, other countries, or both. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:
Alisa Hicks
Open Visual Communications Consortium
+1-­‐775-­‐720-­‐5071
ahicks@inventures.com