Verizon and BT Make Video Conferences More Accessible to Businesses Across the Globe

NEW YORK and QUINCY, Mass., Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- To meet the growing demand of businesses for video communications, BT and Verizon Enterprise Solutions are extending the range of their telepresence immersive-video offerings to enable virtual face-to-face collaboration in more locations around the world. 

Under a new agreement, customers of Verizon and BT are now able to communicate with each other via Cisco TelePresence™. This new capability expands the community, helps clients collaborate globally and improves productivity.

Telepresence replicates face-to-face interactions so realistically that it feels as though everyone is in the same room -- even though they may be thousands of miles apart.  By deploying telepresence to replace in-person meetings, professionals can meet "face-to-face" with co-workers, partners, suppliers and customers around the globe while reducing the travel time, costs and carbon emissions associated with business travel. Telepresence supports a wide range of business-to-business applications and vertical industries – ranging from joint product development to supply chain management to customer meetings.

Sandra O'Boyle, service director, business network and IT services, Current Analysis, said, "This initiative between BT and Verizon opens up new opportunities for enterprises to collaborate across their premium video platforms and will help multinational customers make the most of their Cisco TelePresence System investments."

Verizon and BT telepresence customers will experience the same interface and service quality they currently do, with similar scheduling, support, security and encryption. In addition, customers will have access to a directory to determine which organizations are registered and are available for intercarrier telepresence meetings, and where the sites are located.  Customers will continue to rely on their respective service providers as a single point of contact for telepresence support, assistance and billing.

Mike Palmer, vice president of product strategy for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said: "This agreement makes video communications more widely available to meet the needs of the evolving nature of work. We believe that enabling customers to communicate across networks will speed the adoption of video communications and that one day it will become as ubiquitous as voice communications. As businesses adopt collaboration and mobility technologies to expand beyond the four walls of a traditional office, we're seeing more of our customers turning to advanced collaboration tools like telepresence to help boost their overall productivity and performance." 

Rich Lowe, CEO of BT Conferencing, said: "This agreement, the latest expansion of the video industry's connectivity capabilities, is an important step forward. Being able to connect across telepresence networks greatly expands the reach and value of the service. The more locations customers can reach, the greater the business benefit and the more quickly they can realize return on their video investment." 

About BT
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries.  Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services.  BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.In the year ended 31 March 2011, BT Group's revenue was 20,076m pounds Sterling with profit before taxation of 1,717m pounds.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.  BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.  For more information, visit www.btplc.com/.

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 109 million total connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 194,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news.  To receive news releases by email, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

SOURCE Verizon