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. (more…)
Cisco Australia Recognised by Frost & Sullivan with Two “Vendor of the Year” Enterprise Communications Category Awards
Telepresence saves Canberra $12m
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.
Australian Government releases results of HD TelePresence deployment
Telstra and Cisco have enabled members of the Australian Government to meet face to face without the need for costly travel, following the successful deployment of one of the largest national TelePresence networks in the country, the Australian Government’s National TelePresence System.
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. (more…)
Enterprise video taking off in Australia, says Polycom: with mobile the next step
Video collaboration is starting to gain strong traction in the Australian business market, according to Polycom director of technology Nick Hawkins. And, having identified video via mobile devices as a key growth area, the firm is looking to capitalise via the launch of its new RealPresence Mobile offering.
“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. (more…)
Communications industry leaders officially incorporate consortium to commercialize and accelerate video call market
OVCC unites service providers to develop and implement a technical blueprint and business approaches to accelerate business-‐to-‐business video communications adoption.
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 (more…)