News Release

Cisco Opens World-Class Customer Briefing Centre in Sydney

'Virtual Rooms' Showcase Innovations in Technology for Health, Education, Business
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Mar 25, 2009

SYDNEY, Australia, March 25, 2009 – Cisco today unveiled its first Australian Customer Briefing Centre (CBC), a US$3 million Internet Protocol networking technology showcase, in its Sydney offices. The federal minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy, Sen Stephen Conroy, officially opened the CBC.
The CBC, which includes Cisco TelePresenceTM 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. The centre, one of many across the world in Cisco offices, 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 Cisco 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. The centre also 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.

Les Williamson, Cisco Australia and New Zealand vice president, said: "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."

The demonstration pods in the CBC can be used individually or collectively to showcase technologies across different locations or environments. On display are advanced Cisco unified communications, security, wireless technologies, with examples of how they can help customers increase business growth, agility, efficiency and productivity.