AT&T Transforms Telepresence Into Anytime, Anywhere Video Collaboration

DALLAS, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As more video applications and hardware become embedded in personal devices such as laptops and tablets, AT&T is taking the next step toward making video conferencing as easy and as seamless as making a phone call. AT&T announced today the expansion of video features and on-demand meeting capabilities that can help facilitate broader video collaboration through AT&T Telepresence Solution®.

By eliminating the need to reserve video resources in advance, AT&T Telepresence Solution customers can easily conduct meetings and instantly connect face-to-face through video with partners and colleagues regardless of whether or not they are registered on the AT&T Business Exchange. These new features include:

• Guest Access Enhancements – Users with single screen endpoints can now join scheduled meetings from a corporate VPN or the Internet by dialing into the AT&T Business Exchange.  
• Virtual Meeting Rooms – Users can hold meetings without advanced reservations over a variety of networks through an expanded universe of endpoints including tablets, desktops, conference and immersive rooms. Participants can simply dial a number and enter an access code to start a meeting.

Using these features, customers can join meetings over the internet from desktop/laptop and select mobile devices using video applications like the Cisco Jabber™ Video for TelePresence; Polycom® RealPresence® Mobile; LifeSize® ClearSea™ from Logitech, and other standards based video clients using Wi-Fi hot spots, 3G, 4G and 4G/LTE wireless connections (where available).  These new features add even more flexibility for customers to meet over video, from more devices and over more connections, virtually anywhere and at anytime.

"These new AT&T Telepresence Solution enhancements help make video conferencing more useful," said Brian Washburn, Research Director, Network Services, Current Analysis. "These features cut across different video devices, vendors, and calls types to bring ease and simplicity to the end user experience."

With the telepresence systems market expected to grow at 25.7% per year through 2013¹, AT&T continues to pursue strategic initiatives to expand global reach, reliability, and flexibility by giving customers a wider range of vendors to choose from.  Additional enhancements include: