Cisco opens first Australian customer briefing centre

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 25 March 2009 18:41

IT Industry - Deals

Cisco has unveiled its first Australian Customer Briefing Centre (CBC), a US$3 million Internet protocol networking technology showcase in its Sydney offices.

The new centre, which Cisco says is a world-class facility, was officially opened in Sydney yesterday by the federal minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy, Senator Stephen Conroy.
 
Cisco Australia and New Zealand vice president, Les Williamson, says the CBC, which includes its TelePresence System 3000 and TelePresence System 1000 rooms, is a centrepiece facility displaying working examples of the latest innovations that Cisco is providing its partner and customer base in Australia and New Zealand to increase productivity and improve communication.
 
Williamson says the centre is one of many across the world in its offices, and includes a custom-built series of industry ‘virtual rooms’, focusing on the health, education and financial industries, as well as small to medium-sized businesses.

“Technology highlights of the Sydney CBC include the Cisco Digital Media System, a flexible and comprehensive solution for digital signage and desktop video, and the Internet Protocol Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS), the industry’s first intelligent network system that integrates disparate push-to-talk radio with voice, video and data networks.”
 
Williamson also said that the centre includes a series of ‘media walls’ displaying rich multimedia content and two Cisco TelePresence facilities, which allow customers and partners to meet virtually with Cisco experts in other parts of Australia and around the world without the need for travel.

“The network is increasingly becoming the platform for all communications across all industries. The expanding role of the network builds on the end-to-end and architecture-based differentiation that Cisco has been investing in for many years and the CBC is a further example of the innovation that Cisco brings to its customers and partners.
 
“The wide variety of advanced technologies that the CBC is equipped with also demonstrates Cisco's technology leadership and open and collaborative approach."