Verizon Business offers managed telepresence

Verizon Business has teamed up with Nortel Networks to offer a managed telepresence service that will be part of the carrier's unified communications strategy. The service, "provides complete setup and management of telepresence conferences, including pre-connected and configured video circuits, and the ability for users to make conference reservations online," according to a Verizon press release.

The telco is making use of Nortel global infrastructure of Multimedia Network Operations Centers (MNOCs), and it uses the vendor's video-bridging and gateway services to create interoperability. The deal is especially significant for Nortel, as it looks for bright spots following a weak third quarter that included announcement of further jobs cuts. The company has been active in the telepresence sector from early on, and this carrier announcement is the latest in a handful of high-profile deals.

It has been a big week for telepresence, as several publications also reported that Cisco Systems is now eyeing a potential consumer market for the technology a year or so from now.

For more:
- here's the Verizon press release
- here's the Nortel press release

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BT announced inter-company telepresence last month