Cisco Certifies BT Infrastructure for TelePresence

BT today became one of only two global providers to achieve a Cisco Certified TelePresence Connection certification. This confirms that BT provides the global network capacity to support the life-like virtual meeting solution.

In achieving Cisco TelePresence Connection certification, BT offers businesses further confidence that its network connection services provide the optimal communications experience required to support TelePresence and other collaborative applications. The certification provides further assurance that BT’s network maintains its level of quality, conforms to industry and regulatory standards, and meets or exceeds enterprise requirements for operational excellence.

The certification process goes beyond static service measurement of network performance. It adds best practices based on current industry standards for network management, including staff, processes, and tools, all of which are audited annually to address BT’s commitment to an optimal TelePresence experience.

“Cisco TelePresence provides an unprecedented ’in-person’ meeting experience that enables customers to improve business efficiency and gives them the potential to transform their businesses,” said Charles Stucki, vice president and general manager of the Cisco TelePresence Systems group. “In order to maintain an extremely high-quality experience while conducting Cisco TelePresence meetings, Cisco set up a tough accreditation process. We are pleased that BT has achieved this level of quality.”

The Cisco TelePresence solution is a ground-breaking technology that creates live “face-to-face” meeting experiences using high-definition video and spatial audio over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. It is specifically designed to replicate the immersive experience of real- life meetings, and adopts new unified communications services to help users collaborate more effectively, cut costs and boost productivity.

“Customers need reliability to deliver innovative and collaborative customer solutions,” said David Stark, VP Global Converged Propositions at BT. “Our infrastructure supports advanced unified communications solutions, like Cisco’s TelePresence, that deliver quantifiable business benefits.”

This news of BT’s accreditation comes shortly after BT launched its BT Unified Communication Video solution in March 2007. The solution, built with TelePresence technology, delivered its first TelePresence user outside of the United States in the shape of the Media Saturn Group. The German-based media firm is currently rolling the technology out across Europe.