Manila: A collaboration between Cisco, the Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications Co (PLDT) and Tata Communications will result in the first public TelePresence service in the Philippines, enabling more organisations in the country to take advantage of this next generation video-based communications technology.

 

To be operated by PLDT, the public TelePresence studio will connect to Tata Communications’ growing global network of public TelePresence rooms, which currently includes Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon in India; Boston in the US; and London in the UK. PLDT’s public studio TelePresence will also be able to connect to Cisco’s public TelePresence suite in Santa Clara, California in the US. PLDT will also offer private managed TelePresence services for organisations that want to have their own private TelePresence rooms.

 

“PLDT has often led the way in innovative, next-generation services and being the first-ever Philippine service provider to offer Telepresence is a testament to that,” said Eric R Alberto, senior vice president and customer sales and marketing group head, PLDT.

 

The Cisco-PLDT relationship will allow more local companies to use TelePresence through PLDT’s private managed TelePresence services.

 

“We are very excited with this collaboration with PLDT and Tata as it makes Cisco TelePresence more accessible to Filipinos. This technology is changing the way individuals and organisations collaborate with each other across long distances and we are certain this opens up a window of opportunities for our country,” said Stephen Misa, country manager of Cisco Philippines.

 

“Tata Communications is delighted to expand our network of public rooms into Asia Pacific with Cisco and PLDT. We were the first global service provider to bring public Cisco TelePresence rooms to the market and we continue to open up more rooms in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and also the emerging markets in 2009,” said Sunil Joshi, president of Asia Pacific region, Tata Communications.

 

Cisco TelePresence provides life-like, high-definition, conferencing facilities with superior audio, video and environmental qualities allowing participants to meet their colleagues, customers and business partners across a virtual table. Cisco TelePresence use also contributes towards a company's environmental responsibility, enabling it to lower overall CO2 emissions by reducing the need for travel.
 
The announcement with PLDT and Tata Communications builds on Cisco Philippines’ own deployment of TelePresence in its office in Manila, connecting it to Cisco’s network of 200 other TelePresence suites in over 40 countries. As part of its corporate social responsibility programme, Cisco Philippines also made its TelePresence facility available to overseas Filipino workers.

 

“As Cisco celebrates its 10th year of operations in the Philippines, we are confident that our collaboration technologies such as Cisco TelePresence and relationships with industry leaders such as PLDT and Tata Communications will benefit more individuals and organisations in the country,” said Cisco’s Misa.