Verizon-Tata Telepresence Deal Looks Good for Channel Partners

A new agreement between Verizon Communications Inc. and Tata Communications means both companies telepresence users now have more reach. On Wednesday, the providers said theyve enabled connections between their telepresence services, which are powered by Cisco Systems Inc.

The deal brings telepresence, or immersive video, to more enterprises thats good for end-users, and for the channel partners who sell the service and customer premise equipment. All told, Tatas Global Meeting Exchange, to which Verizon now connects, spans 31 cities on five continents. Tatas telepresence customers also can use Verizons facilities to communicate with Verizon users.

Video is the new voice for business, and its becoming more and more available to meet the changing nature of work,” Farooq Muzaffar, Verizon vice president of enterprise network and communications solutions, said in a prepared statement.

To that point, Verizon said it is working to expand its telepresence interconnection with other carriers and non-Cisco platforms, an effort that promises to take some time. Even so, Verizon seems to be on the right track. In March, Infonetics Research said the enterprise video conferencing and telepresence market will more than double by 2015, when revenue will hit $5 billion. Immersive telepresence, such as what Verizon and Tata offer, is expected to have the highest growth rates of all video conferencing equipment, Infonetics found.