Orange Business boosts its Telepresence portfolio

Agreement with Cisco, trials underway between Orange customers and customers of other operators, and new "as-a-service" offer available soon

Orange Business is encouraging immediate adoption of Telepresence by offering Telepresence Community, a solution that now provides direct access to Cisco’s 800 Telepresence rooms, on a free trial basis; promoting interoperability with other global providers; and launching an offer “as-a-service” in the near future.

Having already established itself as a leading global provider of fully managed Telepresence solutions, Orange Business strongly believes customers will increasingly adopt video as a B2B service with customers, partners and suppliers using the immersive virtual meeting experience.

“Through Telepresence Community, our B2B Telepresence solution, opening our network and customer base to work with enterprises connected to other operators’ networks will create a global video community,” said Marc Blanchet, senior vice president, Global Communication Services, Orange Business.

direct access to the Cisco community: 27 multinationals, 800 rooms around the world
Orange Business has signed an agreement with Cisco to access its service platform. Customers in the Orange Telepresence community will have access to an additional 800 private and public Cisco Telepresence rooms around the world, as well as to companies already connected via Cisco.
To encourage the B2B use of Telepresence, Orange Business is inviting its customers to use the Telepresence Community solution free of charge until April 1, 2011, without any commitment.

agreements to be signed with other global operators
With Orange Business, customers benefit from the largest Telepresence network, accessible in 140 countries, and the only one certified by Cisco in 46 countries. In order to give its customers the opportunity to maximize their return on investment in Telepresence, Orange Business is pursuing an active partnership policy with several global operators.

This interoperability is already in place with one partner, recently enabling a customer of Orange Business, a leader in the pharmaceuticals industry, to use Telepresence to successfully connect to one of its partners that uses a different operator.
“We aim to have at least three major interconnections in place before the end of the year and will continue adding to the community as required by the demands of our growing customer base,” commented Marc Blanchet.

pooling infrastructure to reduce costs: Telepresence in the cloud
In parallel, and consistent with the aim of promoting accessibility and the development of services, Orange Business is currently working on pooling Telepresence infrastructure in hosted and managed mode in order to offer Telepresence as a service. This means companies will benefit from a turnkey solution managed end-to-end, for less cost since it is charged based on use.
The expertise of Orange Business in managed services has been recognized once again with the award of “Cisco Managed Services Master Certification Worldwide.”

Telepresence at the heart of companies’ economic and environmental challenges
As French Minister of State for the Digital Economy Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet emphasized on her blog following the first Telepresence debate held on June 9 by Orange Business:  "This conference was in itself an illustration of what Telepresence can achieve. It avoids many long and costly journeys which managers in globalized companies often need to make. This not only represents a major saving but also an obvious gain in terms of sustainable development. I can also imagine the possible effects of such a tool on remote working." (source:  http://nkm-blog.org/troublante-telepresence/)
The debate entitled "The rise in digital communications: a lever for emerging from the crisis” was organized in partnership with Cisco and involved 50 Orange Business customers spread over six sites in France and abroad.

Companies are increasingly turning to videoconferencing solutions, whether to reduce travel costs, ensure business continuity in the event of a natural disaster (such as the volcanic ash cloud), or reduce their environmental carbon footprint. This trend has been clearly observed by Orange Business:  the number of Telepresence calls to tender doubled between the second quarters of 2009 and 2010.

About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With almost 131 million customers, the Orange brand now covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of 2009, France Telecom had consolidated sales of 45.9 billion euros (10.9 billion euros for the first quarter 2010) and at March 31, 2010, the Group had a customer base of 183.3 million customers in 32 countries. These include 123.7 million mobile customers and 13.5 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers worldwide. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number two provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

The Group's strategy, which is characterized by a strong focus on innovation, convergence and effective cost management, aims to establish Orange as an integrated operator and benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. Today the Group remains focused on its core activities as a network operator, while working to develop its position in new growth activities. To meet customer expectations, the Group strives to provide products and services that are simple and user-friendly, while maintaining a sustainable and responsible business model that can be adapted to the requirements of a fast-paced and changing eco-system.

France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the Internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.

About Cisco Systems
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