ALGIERS, Algeria, 14 December 2010 - Cisco announced today that its Algiers office has become the first business premises in Algeria to offer the Cisco TelePresence^TM solution.

The Cisco TelePresence solution offers a live, face-to-face experience that enables people from different offices and cities around the world to meet virtually using the power of the network. Cisco TelePresence meeting participants can share content, create high-quality video recordings of events, consult with experts, and deliver powerful personalized services, all using the network for an immersive in-person experience.

Setting up a Cisco TelePresence meeting is as simple as making a phone call, and when participants sit down at the conference table in a Cisco TelePresence room, other participants appear to be sitting across the table, in life size, no matter where they are in the world.

Highlights / Key Facts:

• The Cisco office in Algiers has been installed with a Cisco TelePresence System 3000, which is ideally suited for large group meetings, creating an environment for up to six people to meet in one location, and to be "virtually" joined by six additional people, for a total of 12 meeting participants. The Cisco TelePresence System 3000 is suitable for customer engagements, presentations to groups, supply-chain dealings, press briefings, operational or engineering reviews, negotiations, regular team meetings, and other gatherings.
• The Cisco TelePresence System 3000 integrates three 65-inch plasma screens and a specially designed table that seats six participants on one side of the virtual table. The system, which features cameras, a lighting array, microphones, and speakers, all tuned to optimize the experience, supports life-size images with ultra-high-definition video and spatial audio. A multipoint meeting using Cisco TelePresence System 3000 can support up to 48 locations on a single call.
• For businesses in North Africa, Cisco TelePresence technology will bridge geographical divides, by enabling highly secure virtual meetings with multiple locations inside or outside the corporate firewall. Ultimately, the solution will help to save costs and boost productivity by reducing travel and will facilitate a greener company environment by reducing its carbon footprint.
• The "real-life" meeting experience provided by Cisco TelePresence technology is delivered through ultra-high-definition video that reveals subtle facial expressions conveying nonverbal reactions. Spatial audio allows the transmission of every nuance of the conversation and enables participants to interact as they would in person.
• In Algeria, Cisco TelePresence technology offers more than a virtual meeting experience for businesses. Health care professionals, for example, will be able to collaborate more easily, regardless of location, thereby improving both the timeliness and the quality of care delivered. Patients will have access to physicians and specialists from remote locations. The Cisco HealthPresence^TM solution is also ideal for applications of telemedicine such as specialist or radiologist consultations. Likewise, for educational establishments, Cisco TelePresence Classroom will help transform the learning environment, providing a means to bring education to remote locations and also connect with colleges, institutions and tutors from around the world.
• As other businesses in Algeria adopt Cisco TelePresence solutions, an expert on investment products based in a Algiers bank, for example, will be able to have face-to-face private meetings with customers in Constantine and Tamanrasset without having to travel a long distance. Similarly, a geological data analyst for an exploration company will be able meet face-to-face with several teams in London, New York and Bangalore in one day and still attend to personal commitments.