Tata Communications to Launch Cisco TelePresence Exchange

Tata Communications, a provider of the new world of communications, reportedly is poised to introduce telepresence exchange services for Cisco TelePresence.

 

The Global Meeting Exchange will support meetings between any connected private and public Cisco TelePresence rooms.

 

According to Tata Communications (News - Alert), the company is talking with a number of regional carriers to collaborate on extending the Global Meeting Exchange into geographically diverse markets.

 

Officials said that Tata Communication’s telepresence services include managed private Cisco (News - Alert) TelePresence rooms, public TelePresence rooms that can be rented by the hour, and the ability for these private and public rooms to connect with each other.

 

To support global business to business connectivity reliably and cost-effectively, Tata’s Global Meeting Exchange will have major telepresence service points of presence in Mumbai, New York, and London and minor points of presence co-resident in Tata’s global MPLS PoPs in major cities around the world.

 

Customer connections will be supported at any of many easily reached PoPs and this globally dispersed PoP distribution will ensure optimum performance with short connection paths.

 

“The Global Meeting Exchange will conveniently support B2B sessions amongst any connected private and public Cisco TelePresence rooms,” said Peter Quinlan, director of managed telepresence services, Tata Communications.

 

Quinlan said that this pioneering global service framework pushes telepresence from being a private intra-company experience to support the strong demand for inter-company sessions.

 

“The Global Meeting Exchange builds upon our current Managed telepresence private network and Public Room services; our extensive owned data bandwidth across the world; Tata’s major national network assets in India, South Africa, and later this year China; and our inter-carrier relationships developed as the number one carrier of international voice calls and one of the largest inter-carrier provider of Internet peering. Our B2B cooperation with Cisco and partner carriers will bring a new level of value demanded by Cisco TelePresence users,” said John Landau, senior vice-president Global Managed Services, Tata Communications.

 

Naresh Wadhwa, president and country manager of Cisco India said that in today’s environment, business leaders are recognizing that improving speed to decision making and improving employee productivity in a cost-effective manner are business imperatives.

 

Wadhwa said that Cisco TelePresence enables companies to improve productivity and reduce expenses while at the same time collaborating more effectively and improving business innovation.

 

Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group, is a provider of telepresence services with a comprehensive offering for enterprises’ ecosystem of users globally.

 

The service includes Cisco-certified TelePresence network, a hosted and managed service, the world’s first public rooms and soon, the world’s first open global telepresence exchange. Tata Communications currently has operational public rooms in India - Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon; London and Boston, and has recently announced an agreement to manage a public room in Manila for PLDT (News - Alert) in the Philippines.

 

Tata Communications plans to significantly expand their global network of rooms by the end of 2009.