AT&T Cites Strong Demand and New Enhancements for Telepresence
Global Telepresence Market Charting 50% Growth per Year; Customers Hail Collaboration and Cost Efficiencies
DALLAS -- AT&T today announced enhancements that will add more flexibility to AT&T Telepresence Solution(SM) and several new business customer agreements in a sign that it is seeing continued market momentum for its high-definition video and audio teleconferencing managed service offering.
AT&T is now offering customers options which add flexibility to the solution, including more access choices and a new usage-based pricing option, two features well-suited for small office locations. With the new pricing option, customers pay according to the actual minutes used on the AT&T Business Exchange, accommodating changing needs and usage patterns. The new access options allow customers to use lower speed, more cost-effective alternatives to connect to telepresence meetings. These are just the latest in a series of enhancements to the service including interoperability with standard definition and high definition video conferencing endpoints.
Both large and small businesses in different industries, from high tech to education to government, among others, are recognizing the value of a flexible, virtual face-to-face collaboration solution. More than 100 companies and organizations today are connecting with one another, customers, partners and internally, via more than 1400 telepresence sites worldwide, using the AT&T Business Exchange, AT&T's unique, network-based, inter- and intra-company collaboration feature.
"The global telepresence market will continue to see significant growth well into the near future, perhaps by more than 50% each year, for the next two years, reaching $2.5 billion in revenues by 2012(1)," according to Lucinda Borovick, IDC Vice President, Enterprise Communications Infrastructure and Datacenter Networks. "With telepresence rapidly on the rise, it comes as no surprise that AT&T is experiencing such a high level of interest in the marketplace for its 'in-person,' high definition videoconference offering."
AT&T recently completed the deployment of telepresence rooms for Convergys, a provider of relationship management solutions, at its U.S. corporate headquarters, in India and with implementations in progress for the Philippines. Convergys is tapping the power of AT&T Telepresence Solution to provide an "in-person" meeting experience to facilitate collaboration with its clients, leadership teams and partners worldwide, without having to travel cross-continent.
Meanwhile, OpenPeak, provider of multimedia touch-screen devices and cloud-based device management platforms, will use AT&T Telepresence Solution to enhance global collaboration, overall productivity and product development. The company's internet connected multimedia touch-screen devices leverage the capabilities of advanced hardware, service providers, and app developers to bring a rich media experience to the home, office and mobile world.
"AT&T Telepresence Solution enables us to communicate and collaborate more effectively throughout various stages of our value chain--from working with designers, through manufacturing with virtual face-to-face interaction with customers," said Dan Gittleman, CEO of OpenPeak.
In the education sector, Apollo Group, Inc. has deployed several telepresence installations globally. With AT&T Telepresence Solution, Apollo Group employees can conduct face-to-face meetings instantly, even with colleagues in different cities thousands of miles away.
Since introducing its AT&T Telepresence Solution in 2008, AT&T's own use of the technology has been skyrocketing. AT&T is more than doubling its internal deployment in 2010 from 50 rooms to more than 120 rooms. The company has realized almost $3.0 million in travel dollars and more than 1,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided in the last 12 months. AT&T has hosted innovative customer forums, accelerated marketing campaigns, expedited HR processes and reduced executive travel all through the use of telepresence.
According to a recent study, The Telepresence Revolution(2), commissioned by the Carbon Disclosure Project, U.S. and U.K. businesses that substitute some business travel with telepresence can cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in total - the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing more than one million passenger vehicles from the road for one year - and achieve total economy-wide financial benefits of almost $19 billion, by 2020.
"In today's dynamic and rapidly-changing world, with new challenges and opportunities emerging constantly, businesses need the ability to collaborate globally and efficiently in order to stay out in front," said Dan Walsh, senior vice president, marketing services, AT&T Business Solutions. "AT&T Telepresence Solution offers an effective collaboration option for business customers, and its new enhancements provide even more flexibility. The technology's rapid growth and popularity show that it is transforming the way enterprises collaborate, helping them increase business velocity while reducing carbon emissions."
AT&T Telepresence Solution is a flexible, scalable service offering with a full range of management options. It supports telepresence sites in 75 countries and territories, with plans to add other countries in the future.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
(1) IDC, Market Analysis "Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing and Telepresence 2010-2014 Forecast", Doc #221356, March 2010
(2) For more information on "The Telepresence Revolution", commissioned by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and sponsored by AT&T, visit www.att.com/telepresencerevolution.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates - AT&T operating companies - are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. In 2010, AT&T again ranked among the 50 Most Admired Companies by FORTUNE®magazine.
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