Smart Work Center Amsterdam Bright City Opens First Public Cisco TelePresence Suite in the Netherlands

TPEX Offers Subscription and Pay-as-You-Go Collaboration Services

AMSTERDAM, - Today the first ever public telepresence service has been launched in the Netherlands. Public Cisco TelePresenceTM service is being offered by TPEX Netherlands and is already available to the public in the Smart Work Center Amsterdam Bright City. This facility is part of the Double U Smartwork, a network of Smart Work Centers throughout the Netherlands. Smart Work Centers offer high-end working facilities and aim to address modern urban challenges by measures such as reducing travel and promoting efficient and sustainable ways of working.

Public Cisco TelePresence suites operate on a subscription or pay-as-you-go service that can be booked online by virtually anyone through TPEX Netherlands. The TPEX Telepresence Network is connected to a number of other rooms around the globe through Tata Communications’ Global Meeting Exchange. The Exchange enables business-to-business meetings between any public rooms or customer-owned private rooms on Tata Communications’ services; as well as rooms on the networks of Tata Communications’ Intercarrier-Exchange partners, BT and Telefonica, and the National Lamda Rail network, which links leading US universities. This network reach makes Public Cisco TelePresence a truly global collaboration tool.

The Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group is supporting today’s launch announcement, which represents an extension of the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities vision. Smart+Connected Communities focuses on the network as the platform to transform physical communities to connected communities that run on networked information to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The Smart Work Center formula, and the partnership between local and global workplace services providers, make this model ready for global replication in Smart+Connected Communities engagements around the world.
Key facts/highlights

* This introduction is a continuation of earlier Cisco Smart Work Center announcements, including the recent Double U Smartwork launch in the Netherlands and launch of Worksnug a special augmented reality application, or ’workplace finder’, that allows you to find Double U Smart Work Center locations via a mobile device.
* Public Cisco TelePresence offers people the chance to enjoy collaboration and face-to-face working while reducing the need for travel and so optimize efficiency, but without the need to have their own high-end video conferencing equipment.
* TPEX Netherlands is responsible for connecting the initial Public Cisco TelePresence facility with the Tata Communications’ Public Telepresence Network – currently the largest in the world and present in 21 major cities across five continents.
* The new Public Cisco TelePresence facility can be booked via TPEX.
* Regular workplaces at any of the Smart Work Centers across the Netherlands can be booked via the Double U Smartwork Reservation Tool. Through the portal, www.w-smartwork.nl, people can quickly find the nearest Smart Work Center location with the right facilities, whether they are on the road or at their workplace. The available providers are automatically displayed or, in case a facility isn’t yet present in the requested location, the nearest centers.

Supporting quotes

* Anil Menon, president, Globalisation & Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco, said:

“Cisco envisions a future where successful communities and cities will run on networked information enabling economic development, better city management and an improved quality of life for citizens. We are proud to partner with the city of Amsterdam for the launch of the first Public Cisco TelePresence facility in the Netherlands, located in the Smart Work Center Amsterdam Bright City, and we believe the city of Amsterdam has taken yet another important step to become a smart connected community and to propel economic growth, security and the quality of life of citizens for social, economic and environmental sustainability.”

* Coks Stoffer, managing director Cisco Netherlands, said:

“Bringing Public Cisco TelePresence technology to Amsterdam is a momentous occasion, as it now becomes available for everybody in the Netherlands, allowing users to conduct face-to-face meetings with others around the world, saving time and money, increasing productivity, accelerating decision making, and at the same time reducing carbon emissions.”

* Annemarie van Doorn, chairman of the Board, Double U Smart Work Foundation:

“Double U’s mission is to provide every knowledge worker in the Netherlands with a fully equipped smart work facility within bicycle distance. With more than 100 Smart Work Centers in the Netherlands, Double U is closing in on that objective. With Public Cisco TelePresence services being added to the array of Smart Work Center services supported by the Double U Smartwork platform, our impact can become even greener: We can help any business or organization in the greater Amsterdam region get to Hong Kong, New York or Rio in a matter of minutes.”

* Rob ten Kroode, managing director TPEX:

“The introduction of Public Cisco TelePresence in Amsterdam marks our first step towards rolling out an entire network of Public Cisco TelePresence locations throughout the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Being able to connect to TATA Communications’ global network of public telepresence locations is a major advantage as it enables us to create a connected community locally and at the same time extend our reach to a global scale. In this way we can connect the world, whether a business needs to communicate between Amsterdam and Singapore, or Rotterdam and Brussels.”

* Bas Boorsma, director at Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group, and member of the Board of the Double U Smartwork Foundation:

“What makes this a genuine momentous event is that the Public Cisco TelePresence inauguration in Amsterdam Bright City marks the latest of Cisco efforts in its three-year collaboration with the city of Amsterdam to help create a smart, connected and sustainable work environment where people can work time and location independent by means of the Smart Work Center Double U network and the larger experimental portfolio of smart work services we helped to create.”



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