High-tech Communications For The 2010 World Cup: Deutsche Telekom and Cisco Supply State-of-the-art Deutschland TelePresence Solutions to German Football Association (DFB)

DFB trainers and managers benefit from a whole new dimension in live conferencing

Direct and efficient exchange of information supports preparations for the 2010 World Cup

Deutsche Telekom today announced that the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB), the German football association, will use its Deutschland TelePresence service to help with preparations for the 2010 World Cup. In collaboration with Cisco, Deutsche Telekom will be equipping the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt and the national team coach, Joachim Löw, and his staff with a live conferencing solution. The complete package comprises Cisco TelePresence systems, broadband network connections, telepresence services, security and technical customer support. The service, which uses high-definition video and wideband audio to create an immersive meeting experience, will enable the president, secretary, coaches and managers to have important face-to-face discussions about team strategy and reach agreements faster, irrespective of their location.

“Our new Deutschland TelePresence service is a complete service package for high-end live conferencing,” says Dirk Backofen, head of Business Customer Marketing at Deutsche Telekom. “On-screen meetings in HD quality ensure an extremely concentrated and efficient exchange of information, as befits the German team’s World Cup preparations”.

The German team manager, Oliver Bierhoff, is similarly impressed by the Deutschland TelePresence service: “Telepresence optimizes our communications with each other, enabling us to respond to situations even more effectively. Deutsche Telekom and Cisco’s support means that we can prepare for the World Cup in South Africa at a high technical standard.”

Michael Ganser, senior vice president DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and head of the management board, Cisco Germany, said: “A significant amount of human communication is non-verbal, and for global organisations like DFB, video plays a critical role in helping them to communicate effectively. Cisco TelePresence creates an immersive meeting experience, where attendees feel like they are sitting in the same room regardless of their location, helping DFB to not only field the best soccer team, but also lead the way as a next-generation sports team that has a global reach.”

The innovative service will also be available to other customers following CeBIT. The complete package comprises all services from planning through installation of the system to operation – all at a fixed leasing price.

This will make the Deutschland TelePresence service attractive for various SME customers. The individual components are an IP line, Cisco TelePresence system, switching service, booking systems, security equipment, installation, operation and maintenance. All components complement each other perfectly, enabling customers to use the service simply and easily at the push of a button.

Deutsche Telekom has been a partner to the DFB and a Premium Partner to the national men’s, women’s and youth teams since 2005. The Group is also a national sponsor of the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany. Alongside these sports commitments, Deutsche Telekom also uses football as a platform for promising business models. The partnership opens up a string of opportunities for demonstrating the full innovative strength of Europe’s leading telecommunications provider with new products and services.
About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies worldwide with more than 151 million mobile customers, more than 38 million fixed-network lines and more than 15 million broadband lines (as at: December 31, 2009). Its product brands are called T-Home (fixed-network telephony, broadband Internet), T-Mobile (mobile communica-tion) and T-Systems (ICT solutions). As an international group of companies in around 50 countries throughout the world with almost 260,000 employees (as at: December 31, 2009), Deutsche Telekom generated more than half of its revenues of EUR 64.6 billion outside Germany in 2009.

Further information is available on the Internet at: www.telekom.com
About Cisco

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), based in San Jose (CA), is the world’s leading supplier of networking solutions for the Internet, with revenues of 36.1 billion US dollars (as of July 25, 2009). The German subsidiary Cisco Systems GmbH is based in Hallbergmoos near Munich, with offices in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Berlin. Cisco Products are supplied in Europe by Cisco International Ltd., a 100%-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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