Equant, a recognized industry leader in global data and IP services for multinational businesses, has launched a complete IP video conferencing solution with global availability.
Equant IP Video Solution, which is supported by technology leaders Cisco Systems, Genesys Conferencing and Polycom, includes:
Wide area network transport.
Network-based multi-participant conference bridging and management.
Video equipment deployment and maintenance.
Equant IP Video Solution meets the growing need of the corporate end user community, which has been looking for an end-to-end solution to lower the risk of migrating from ISDN. By providing a service that encompasses video conferencing equipment, infrastructure and network as well as end-to-end service level agreements, Equant is able to guarantee that rich media conferencing over IP works as customers want and need.
"The demand for advanced IP video conferencing services is expected to double over the next four years," said Marc Beattie, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research, which specializes in rich media conferencing and communications. "By bringing to market a converged IP network with a full portfolio of video services and with a global footprint, Equant has raised the bar. Their approach of offering a dedicated class of service for video and their ability to control the network from end to end makes the Equant offer a significant advancement for customers."
Equant's solution is unique in many ways, including:
A complete suite of video services over Equant's global convergent network.
A flexible MPLS-based solution running across Equant's fully owned and privately operated IP VPN network.
Equant is the only global service provider to integrate video, voice and data in specific classes of service across a fully convergent network.
A comprehensive conferencing platform deployed onto Equant IP VPN serves as a basis for operating and managing customers' video conferencing multi-participant sessions.
Equant has formed a partnership with Polycom, the video conferencing technology leader, to carry out the IP video equipment resale, installation and maintenance portion of the solution on a global scale. One major European multinational corporation is already deploying the full feature set announced today.
"IP video conferencing helps multinational companies cut their travel costs and respond to travel restrictions resulting from global unrest and other factors" said Arjen Maarleveld, president of Products at Equant. "However, many companies have been waiting for a reliable and user-friendly end-to-end managed solution that would provide them with a smooth migration path to IP. The package we announced today meets this demand and promises to help our customers improve their productivity and profitability."
Equant IP Video Solution delivers business-grade quality, ease of use and cost savings to unlock the full potential of video conferencing:
Because Equant IP Video Solution is available in more than 85 countries, small or remote corporate sites overseas can be connected economically.
Fixed monthly charges, rather than usage-based billing, allow customers to begin realizing savings over their ISDN solutions with as little as 8 hours per month of conferencing.
Reliable TV-quality video is also possible because of the high IP bandwidths available (up to speeds higher than 2 Mbps) and the improved image and sound processing techniques of the Polycom equipment.
A single help desk number is available to customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and a user-friendly Web portal handles conference booking, launching and reporting.
