Cisco Extends TelePresence Experience To New Users, Apps, Markets

Cisco has introduced a new suite of Cisco TelePresence products and applications that brings the advantage of in-person collaboration to more users in more locations, and provides businesses with a way to do more with existing video investments. Global organisations of all sizes, regional branch offices and remote workers will now be able to experience Cisco TelePresence from any conference room environment, standards-based video conferencing session or Web-based video session, including Cisco WebEx online meetings. Supporting this market expansion, Cisco is also delivering Cisco TelePresence for lower bandwidth connections without compromising the user experience.

Cisco is delivering Cisco TelePresence technology to more users and organisations with:

- Cisco TelePresence System 1300 Series: The first Cisco TelePresence system designed for up to six people in a shared-use meeting room uses one screen and three cameras. The Cisco TelePresence system 1300-65 uses a 65-inch plasma screen and is the first in a new series of products that takes advantage of existing conference room tables, providing more flexible deployment options for branch offices and businesses of all sizes.

- Cisco TelePresence Extended Reach: Cisco TelePresence can now run over bandwidth connections as low as 1.5 megabits per second (T1) in 720p resolution with quality of service (QoS) while preserving the Cisco TelePresence experience. Extended Reach also supports Cisco TelePresence over open Internet connections, such as high-speed FIOS or DOCSIS connections. This capability adds to the existing experience of Cisco TelePresence at 1080p or 720p resolutions.

Cisco is expanding the application of Cisco TelePresence beyond meetings with:

- Cisco TelePresence Recording Studio: Cisco TelePresence customers now have a quick and easy way to create high-quality video messages or record presentations for instant playback on Cisco TelePresence units in 1080p HD quality. In conjunction with Cisco’s recently announced Media Experience Engine, users can also view Cisco TelePresence recordings at standard resolution on many other video-enabled devices, such as a PC, mobile phone or digital sign.

- Cisco TelePresence Event Controls: This new application provides event managers with new tools they can use to produce internal and external Cisco TelePresence events. With a set of controls, event managers can create and host cost-effective internal or external events in standard Cisco TelePresence rooms including presentations, keynotes, lectures and seminars.

Cisco is helping enable seamless ‘any-to-any’ video collaboration with:

- High definition interoperability: Cisco TelePresence meetings can include video from any standards-based high-definition videoconferencing system as well as standard-definition video conferencing, WebEx and other desktop video applications like Microsoft Office Communicator. This provides organisations with the ability to scale collaboration, take advantage of existing resources, and continue to provide a simple experience to Cisco TelePresence users.

- Cisco WebEx integration: With ‘any-to-any’ video interoperability, Cisco WebEx Meeting Center meetings with Cisco Unified Video Conferencing provides advanced video capabilities for WebEx that enable more of an in-person experience. Any device that can connect to a Cisco Unified Video Conferencing multipoint control unit (MCU) can now be displayed in a Meeting Center meeting, including immersive experiences such as Cisco TelePresence as well as videoconferencing and desktop collaboration applications. The solution increases the number of viewable attendees to 16, lets you display high-definition video and adds video controls.