Global Crossing Launches Telepresence Solution

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), a leading global IP solutions provider, today announced it is launching an immersive telepresence solution and cutting edge collaboration tools for high-quality virtual meetings with Teliris (www.teliris.com), an innovative leader in immersive telepresence meetings.

Global Crossing Telepresence with Teliris allows customers around the world to experience one of the most life-like virtual meeting environments available today.  Telepresence is an expansion of Global Crossing's fully managed high-quality video collaboration service that brings geographically dispersed people and their ideas together more efficiently.  Through these innovative collaboration tools, customers will experience enhanced decision-making, reduced travel costs, lower carbon footprints and increased productivity.

"Our telepresence offer represents a milestone in our collaboration portfolio," said Dave Carey, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer.  "Customers around the world continue to demand a wide range of collaboration tools to conduct meetings without boundaries.  This new capability transforms the video conference into a true-to-life interactive experience, leading to better global communications."

Telepresence solutions are comprised of a set of highly integrated technologies and engineered environments that resemble a life-like experience never before realized through standard videoconferencing equipment.  Broadcast quality picture and sound, and imperceptible latency, ensure the interaction is focused on the participants and not the technology, regardless of the number of sites.

According to Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, the global market for telepresence systems endpoints is projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 25.7 percent between 2008 and 2013.*

"We are thrilled to extend our market-leading immersive telepresence and collaboration experience to Global Crossing and its customers," said Marc Trachtenberg, Teliris CEO and co-founder. "This partnership is the latest example of how Teliris is providing companies around the world with maximum flexibility through a broad continuum of affordable telepresence solutions that wrap around any business requirement."

Global Crossing's telepresence solution provides customers with maximum flexibility tailored to reflect a variety of business cultures and requirements.  From single screen personal solutions to fully custom engineered meeting environments, it is easy to use, schedule and initiate, and is fully interoperable with other telepresence systems and traditional videoconferencing services.

"Global Crossing is introducing to the market a feature-rich managed telepresence solution based on Teliris' innovative platform," stated Brian Washburn, Research Director at Current Analysis. "This new service builds on Global Crossing's global network and well-established portfolio of managed videoconferencing services, offering enterprise customers a single provider solution for their collaboration and wide-area network requirements."

As an added benefit, customers using Global Crossing's telepresence solution will be able to video stream telepresence meetings through ON24's industry-leading Webcast Center platform that delivers high-quality video for more engaging and effective meetings.  ON24 is a global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions.

The solution  is provided on Global Crossing's fully meshed Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)–based global Virtual Private Network (VPN) and tier-one global public Internet network, ensuring a reliable and secure connection for this premiere video communication technology.

In a recent survey conducted by KS&R, an independent market research company, 85 percent of Global Crossing's customers reported being "very satisfied" with the value they received from Global Crossing's collaboration services. In addition, 79 percent were "very" likely to recommend those same services to others.

The volume of Global Crossing's collaboration services grew by 13 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to the first half of 2009. Increased usage was driven in large part by the rising cost of energy, business travel restrictions and other global economic factors, the company said.

To help introduce its telepresence solution to customers and offer ways to better utilize collaboration tools, Global Crossing plans to host Collaborate Now, a virtual trade show, on September 1, 2010.   To register for the event, click here. 

* Source - Dataquest Insight: Videoconferencing Products and Services Market: Forecast Worldwide 2007-2013. Gartner, 28 September, 2009.

ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING

Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) is a leading global IP and Ethernet solutions provider with the world's first integrated global IP-based network.  The company offers a full range of data, voice and collaboration services with an industry leading customer experience and delivers service to approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well as to 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs.  It delivers converged IP services to more than 700 cities in more than 70 countries around the world.

Please visit www.globalcrossing.com for more information about Global Crossing.

ABOUT TELIRIS:

Teliris develops and implements the world's most widely deployed fully managed telepresence collaboration solutions, realistically replicating the human dynamics of an in-person meeting experience. Through its 6G platform and unique intellectual property, Teliris has radically simplified the acquisition, deployment and operating costs of telepresence, breaking new ground in adoption and reach of the technology. Teliris has deployments in over 50 countries with the largest installed base of Global 2000 companies, including Unilever, British American Tobacco, Lazard, Pearson plc, GlaxoSmithKline, Royal Bank of Scotland and Merck, among others. Headquartered in New York and London, the company is the leading innovator in agile telepresence with end-to-end integration, market-leading 99%+ availability guarantee and interoperability with Cisco TelePresence, Tandberg Total Telepresence and Polycom RealPresence.

Statements in this press release about expected future events and financial results are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, including risks referenced from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Global Crossing undertakes no duty to update information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time.

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SOURCE Global Crossing