Cisco Develops Collaboration Program for Research Universities

Cisco says research universities can now use their Cisco Telepresence (News - Alert) systems to promote collaboration among schools through a new program called “Cisco TelePresence University Connection program.” The program allows universities to communicate face-to-face virtually with colleagues in other universities.

 

Cisco (News - Alert) deals in networking for people to connect communicate and collaborate. Cisco Telepresence is a virtual meeting program that gives users the feeling of being in the same room though they are miles apart.

 

"University researchers are a critical component of Cisco's innovation strategy and provide us with a direct pulse on the next wave of technology," said Doug Comer, vice president of Cisco Research. "The ability to push a button and immediately connect in-person with three or four researchers at different universities creates a unique flow of information not previously possible using traditional methods of collaboration. We believe this is an important step in fostering an open, more collaborative research environment for innovation in the 21st century and beyond."

 

Cisco has assembled several U.S. universities with TelePresence systems in the first wave of this initiative. Universities like Cornell, North Carolina State, Purdue, UCLA, and UCSD will be provided with TelePresence endpoints and services for their researchers to communicate with each other.

 

Purdue University (News - Alert) has commented that Cisco would be an opt choice for its personnel and faculty to interact with representatives from other universities.

 

"Purdue is a global university with students from over 100 countries and with study abroad programs in over 100 universities outside of the US. The Cisco TelePresence University Connection program offers us a unique opportunity to greatly improve the quality of our interactions with our global partners," said Aditya Mathur, Department Head and Professor of Computer Science at Purdue.

 

The telepresence system is easy to install and to use. Cisco says that, once it is installed, it works just like a phone and it is so easy to use that an IT person is not required to setup calls.

 

It also provides universities a choice to be eco-friendly. Since Universities need not have to organize actual conferences they can reduce a lot of travel and energy costs and also save time and working hours. It also allows them to build relationships with others, which accelerates efficiency through innovation and a broader access to talent.

 
Nathesh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nathesh's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tim Gray