Iformata Takes VNOC® managed services to the next level with VNOC Producer℠

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:23:25 +0000

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – June 10, 2010 – Iformata Communications, the leading innovator of VNOC tools and automation, announces its VNOC Producer service for automated conference management. Built to complement the VNOC Symphony® platform, the two systems provide full management of enterprise video resources.
“VNOC Symphony provides users with numerous interfaces such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices, and other interfaces” says Scott Allen, Chief Executive Officer of Iformata Communications. “VNOC Producer executes those requests from VNOC Symphony, governing the transaction according to a flexible process environment, managing both infrastructure and endpoints, providing automated meeting connections for accurate, repeatable, and immediate conference choreography.”
VNOC Producer provides numerous capabilities to a company’s fleet of video systems, including call setup, call maintenance, call teardown, pre- and post-meeting messaging, in-meeting messaging, video framing, custom triggered messaging, in-progress meeting modification and reframing, automated ticket creation, performance tracking, automated site sweeping, and many other functions. The system supports sole or mixed endpoints by Tandberg, Polycom and LifeSize, and it supports infrastructure by Tandberg and Polycom, managing port availability across multiple MCUs making resource allocation transparent to user requests.
“Within seconds from pressing the submit button, VNOC Producer launches and frames the video or telepresence endpoints,” says Thomas Berry Jr., CEO of Verrex. “With a traditional VNOC service, a large meeting might have taken at least 15 to 30 minutes for setup and call launching. But with VNOC Producer, meeting requests are almost immediately executed.”
The logic in VNOC Producer is a well implemented process instructed by VNOC Conductor℠, the communication hub and process implementation logic that VNOC Symphony encapsulates. Based on these network engines, VNOC Producer understands how to filter and manage both routine and highly unique situations. For example, consider the use case where a user launches an impromptu, unscheduled meeting. Where allowed by an organization’s stakeholder through the VNOC Conductor process environment, VNOC Producer can override the meeting when necessary by politely placing on-screen messages at each impromptu endpoint, naming the conference requestor that requests the override. The current conference is given a few minutes to finish while VNOC Producer notifies users, preparing for teardown and immediate reconnection of each endpoint into its scheduled override conference.
VNOC Producer, as part of the VNOC Symphony platform, provides the first ubiquitous toolset in the industry to offer fully automated VNOC services to organizations, regardless of their size. The VNOC Symphony platform and its associated tools are available through Iformata channels and partners.

About Iformata Communications
Iformata Communications is the leading innovator of ubiquitous VNOC tools and end-to-end automation through its VNOC Symphony platform. Iformata is the provider of choice for global enterprise firms, equipment manufacturers, and top-tier carriers and networks. With offices in Ohio, Virginia, Mumbai, Stavanger, and Bangalore, Iformata is the longest-serving provider of managed services and video network operations in the business. Through international peering relationships with major providers and other VNOC suppliers, Iformata’s Telepresence Exchange® is a leading video communications network connecting global Fortune 500 firms within a highly managed architecture.
For more information, please visit www.iformata.com or call +1.937.832.6957.

BCS Global and Iformata Sign Agreement to Collaborate on the PSVN Initiative...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:08:54 +0000

BCS Global and Iformata sign agreement to collaborate on the PSVN initiative to deliver B2B Video Communications

Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) April 21, 2010 -- BCS Global Networks Limited (www.bcsglobal.com), a leading worldwide provider of managed videoconferencing, telepresence and visual collaboration services and Iformata Communications LLC (www.iformata.com), the leading innovator in telepresence management systems, today announced a strategic partnership to collaborate on the PSVN initiative to deliver B2B Video Communications to their customers.

This announcement by BCS Global and Iformata is a significant step forward, following the recent launch of the PSVN (Public Switched Video Network) initiative, a framework aimed at facilitating videoconferencing service providers and carriers to seamlessly inter-connect their B2B Video Exchanges to a Public Global B2B Video Network.

The new partnership will enable both the managed service providers to leverage their combined infrastructure and capabilities to develop a standard set of best practices, value added applications, and processes – all aimed at providing customers with the capability to meet face-to-face over video with enterprise quality, performance and reliability.

With a growing demand from their customers for inter-company B2B Video Communications, BCS Global and Iformata are now well-poised to deliver seamless inter-connectivity and deliver a broader set of B2B service capabilities on a global basis, by providing inter-operability through BCS Global’s “Global Video Exchange” and Iformata’s “Telepresence Exchange”.

Following this partnership, BCS Global and Iformata are confident that more like-minded service providers in the marketplace who share the vision of establishing a Public Global B2B Video Network will join the PSVN initiative, which would enable the service providers to deliver inter-company B2B Video Communication capabilities and other value-added services to their customers, that would eventually increase their video adoption and maximize ROI.

Executive quotes:

“This partnership provides an opportunity for BCS Global and Iformata to build a ‘true, global’ B2B Video Network that is capable of providing scalable and flexible inter-company video communications capability to its customers. This also highlights the need for service providers to partner around forming a Public Global B2B Video Network – an ecosystem that would facilitate users to achieve easy, reliable and secure B2B Video Communications.”

Dan Tanel,
CTO, BCS Global

“This strategic partnership enables both BCS Global and Iformata to deliver global B2B telepresence and video conferencing capabilities for its customers. I am confident that with the combined competencies of both the companies, we can deliver an outstanding user experience to our customers that would benefit them immensely in terms of increasing usage adoption and broader B2B service capabilities.”

Marshall Eubanks,
CTO, Iformata

“We are very excited to partner with Iformata. I am confident that this partnership will result in building an infrastructure that is capable of delivering a high-quality and easy-to-use B2B Video Communications to our mutual enterprise customers. With the addition of this capability, we're extending the power of video communications and collaboration to our customers beyond their enterprise, and this demonstrates our commitment as a managed service provider to deliver services that enhance customer value and complement existing video service offerings.”

Clive Sawkins,
CEO, BCS Global

“Today’s announcement lays the groundwork for a strategic partnership that enables BCS Global and Iformata to provide a comprehensive B2B Video Communications solution to our customers. We are delighted to partner with BCS Global in building a Public Global B2B Video Network that enables our customers to take advantage of the inter-company video communication capabilities and help them maximize their ROI.”

Scott Allen,
CEO, Iformata

About BCS Global Networks Limited

BCS Global Networks Limited is a leading worldwide provider of managed video conferencing, telepresence and visual collaboration services. The company owns a fully deployed Global Video Exchange, which enables users across the world to meet instantaneously regardless of their video system, network provider or type of connection. It offers a complete set of managed video services and a 24x7 global live video and audio help-desk support to its customers worldwide.

Headquartered in the UK, with offices in New York, Shanghai, Toronto and Hong Kong, BCS Global provides comprehensive managed video services to its customers across the globe in different industry verticals, as well as supports major carriers and their customers globally.

BCS Global's innovative video conferencing and telepresence solutions enable real-time, interactive video collaboration allowing participants to connect seamlessly from their desktops, home offices, boardrooms or telepresence suites. BCS Global delivers reliable, secure and exceptional quality visual collaboration services resulting in enhanced productivity, improved collaboration, reduced costs and quick ROI.

Visit www.bcsglobal.com for more information or call +1-647-722-8500.

Follow BCS Global on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BCSGlobal

Media Contact:
BCS Global Networks Limited
Alim Khan, Director - Marketing
Tel: +1-647-722-8515

About Iformata Communications

Iformata Communications LLC is the leading innovator for telepresence management systems and VNOC tools and services for global enterprise firms, equipment manufacturers, and top-tier carriers and networks. With offices in Ohio, Virginia, Mumbai, Stavanger, and Bangalore, Iformata is the longest-serving provider of managed services and video network operations in the business. Through international peering relationships with major providers, and by integrating points-of-presence (POPs) in countries throughout North America, the UK, Europe, and Asia, Iformata’s Telepresence Exchange is a leading video communications network connecting global Fortune 500 firms within a highly managed architecture.

Visit www.iformata.com for more information or call +1-937-832-6900.

Media Contact:
Iformata Communications
Jennifer Smith
Tel: +1-937-832-6957

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VNOC Symphony platform wins "best of show" at

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:43:33 +0000

VNOC Symphony platform automates, simplifies, and improves scheduling, framing, monitoring, trouble ticketing, ad hoc calling, and a host of other issues around managing video network infrastructure and enabling enterprise video. The system allows easy scheduling of conferencing resources from Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, a web interface, an animated Microsoft Silverlight interface, Microsoft OCS, Blackberry, and even the Apple iPhone among others. Most importantly the system intuitively "frames" meetings between different telepresence platforms which means that it understands the geometry of camera capture, number of screens, number of sites, etc. and implements the appropriate screen layout which preserves the human factors in each meeting. Layouts can be changed during a conference by participants using an intuitive graphical user interface.

Iformata Communications and Teliris Telepresence Partner to Fulfill Long-Time Interoperability Visio

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:48:48 +0000

DAYTON, Ohio –Teliris, the leading global provider of agile telepresence and collaboration, and Iformata Communications, the telepresence managed services and video network operations provider of choice for global enterprise firms, equipment manufacturers, and top-tier carriers and networks, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver comprehensive visual collaboration interoperability representing the culmination of a 10-year vision shared by both companies.

Through this new partnership, Iformata will leverage Teliris’ unparalleled interoperability capabilities as well as their entire telepresence product and service portfolio to broaden the solutions provided to Iformata clients. Correspondingly, Teliris will enhance their solutions with the addition of Iformata’s Telepresence ExchangeSM to provide access to the entire portfolio of Iformata’s managed services. The two companies will also inter-link networks to provide business-to-business interoperability between each company’s growing customer bases.

“We are truly excited to be working with Teliris. Their vision and experience in the telepresence market and commitment to interoperability continues to gain industry recognition, and this relationship adds the next layer,” stated Brian Kinne Executive Vice President of Iformata.

”This partnership will enable both companies to increase the value we individually provide to our clients today, and progresses the goal of making telepresence a ubiquitous collaboration vehicle for the entire enterprise market,” said Jim Kaufold, Teliris SVP Global Sales Strategy & Operations.

This strategic relationship joins together the two original telepresence industry pioneers. Both companies, with 10+ years of telepresence experience, recognize that true interoperability cannot be accomplished solely by establishing secure access between separate network infrastructures. In addition to network transport, three critical areas must be addressed. Interoperability requires transcoding to allow seamless integration of multiple video/audio coding standards. Secondly, improved meeting governance to address the challenges of booking and managing resources across organizational and geographic boundaries is critical. Importantly, the telepresence meeting experience must be extended across vendors. Both Iformata and Teliris have developed proven solutions that solve each of the aforementioned challenges and, through this partnership, will reinforce their value to the market.

Looking to the future, Iformata will continue to expand the definition and evolution of Telepresence ExchangeSM. This partnership comes at a time when providing interoperability between multiple telepresence brands will immensely change the landscape of the telepresence industry. Kinne adds, “This partnership is a culmination of our respective visions which continues defining true telepresence, including our Telepresence ExchangeSM.”

Several customers of both companies have deployed these capabilities and are experiencing the benefits of both Telepresence ExchangeSM and the Teliris Telepresence Gateway™ to achieve interoperability amongst multiple telepresence and video platforms. “By combining the quality of Teliris with the reliability of Iformata our customers continue being the industry’s most satisfied users,” concluded Kinne.

As the longtime telepresence leader in both innovation and deployments, Teliris is the only option allowing the telepresence experience to be delivered over general purpose networks. Teliris has the broadest suite of telepresence products ranging from sub-$8,000 desktop solutions to boardroom systems. All Teliris solutions offer comprehensive interoperability options that allow for connection to any system, anywhere and an end-to-end managed service with a 99+ percent reliability guarantee.

About Iformata Communications

Iformata Communications, a privately held company, is the telepresence managed services and video network operations provider of choice for global enterprise firms, equipment manufacturers, and top-tier carriers and networks. Through international peering relationships with major providers, and by integrating points-of-presence (POPs) in 37 countries throughout North America, the UK, Europe, and Asia, Iformata’s Telepresence Exchange is the leading video communications network connecting global Fortune 500 firms within a highly managed architecture. Its technicians provide seamless and interoperable performance across disparate equipment, carriers, networks, and geographic locations. The longest-serving provider of managed services and video network operations in the business, the founders of Iformata created the first immersive telepresence environments.

For more information, please visit www.iformata.com or call +1.937.832.6900.

About Teliris Telepresence:
Teliris develops and implements the world’s most widely deployed fully managed telepresence collaboration solutions, realistically replicating the human dynamics of an in-person meeting experience. Through its 6G platform and unique intellectual property, Teliris has radically simplified the acquisition, deployment and operating costs of telepresence, breaking new ground in adoption and reach of the technology. Teliris has deployments in over 50 countries with the largest installed base of Global 2000 companies, including Unilever, British American Tobacco, Lazard, Pearson plc, GlaxoSmithKline, and Royal Bank of Scotland, Xchanging and Merck, among others. Headquartered in New York and London, the company is the leading innovator in agile telepresence with end-to-end integration, market-leading 99%+ availability guarantee and interoperability with Cisco TelePresence, Tandberg Total Telepresence and Polycom RealPresence. For further information, visit www.teliris.com or email info@teliris.com.

Iformata Redefines VNOC Services With VNOC SYMPHONY Platform

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0000

DAYTON, OHIO – Iformata Communications, the leading innovator in worldwide VNOC services, announces its new VNOC Symphony platform for enterprise video communication management. Built on a web-oriented architecture, VNOC Symphony’s framework easily interacts with current and emerging interface technologies for ubiquitous and mobile real-time access of any meeting resource.

VNOC Symphony provides users the option of scheduling meetings using multiple interfaces, such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, an intuitive web interface, an animated Microsoft Silverlight interface, among others. Within several weeks, interface offerings for Apple’s iPhone, Microsoft OCS, and the Blackberry will also be available.

“VNOC Symphony redefines VNOC services from the ground up, creating a framework of interacting web-services within a service-oriented architecture,” said Scott Allen, CEO of Iformata Communications. “This enables users many ways to view the same information, launch impromptu meetings, or schedule large conferences.”

At the heart of the platform is a runbook engine called VNOC Conductor which polices meeting setup, maintenance, and teardown in an enterprise environment according to an organization’s process rules. Numerous parameters are configurable to ensure departmental or global directives are followed, including setup times, startup messaging, teardown messaging, in-progress meeting modification messaging, custom messaging, remedial functions, escalation processes, email and SMS notifications, charge-backs, conflict management, and many others processes that regulate a complex enterprise deployment.

Business process and implementation logic compiles into runbook processes during Iformata’s customer on-boarding phase. Iformata works with stakeholders within the organization to integrate current business practices with Iformata’s VNOC processes that are specific to the organization. VNOC Symphony stores these processes to follow conference reservation, conference management, fault management and impromptu meeting practices that match the needs of the organization.

Numerous tools are available to users and administrators in the form of widgets, which are interacting web-services that communicate with VNOC Symphony’s framework. Each widget provides a unique toolset, such as the reservation widget, the helpdesk widget, the reporting widget, and many others. A Digital Airlines widget plots live conferences on a geo-spatial interactive map, showing all point-to-point and multipoint meetings graphically. Users may pan and zoom the map from world view to street level, even showing multiple video systems interconnected on a campus network in close proximity.

“In the near future, we will be releasing the information necessary for corporations to write their own widgets and share this technology with other companies, rapidly growing the base of tools available for video management,” said Isaac Hogue, director of product development. “This is a first in this industry that we hope will help both small and large businesses meet their unique and precise needs.”

“VNOC Symphony has been deployed to our users over the last few months,” said Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM and president of University of the Nations. “With video systems in thirty different countries, we finally have a powerful, full featured and integrated platform that meets the needs of different cultures in different time zones.”

Several reservation widgets already exist to provide numerous options to users. A full featured reservation widget allows users to see photographs of each meeting room, add participants to each site, choose MCU framing, view time zones of each location, and modify in-progress meetings, among other features. An express scheduler widget lets users quickly create a reservation with as few keystrokes as possible, listing the last ten meetings and ten sites as possible quick start selections. A meet-now widget enables users to request immediate video services for sites selected, whether by web interface of mobile application.

“We found VNOC Symphony to be the most unique, powerful, and full featured tool in the industry for enterprise video management,” said Wayne McAllister, Tandberg’s senior vice president of global services. “Because it treats Tandberg’s TMS as an interface plug-in, customers can have the best of both worlds for infrastructure management and user facing tools.”

The helpdesk widget allows users to view real-time information of remedial action in-progress, or to report issues for assistance or corrective actions. An automated ticket opening system based upon device threshold monitoring and interrogation will be available third quarter 2009.

VNOC Symphony is currently available in a hosted environment per user subscription and device registration basis. View Iformata.com/symphony for product information, beta testing qualifications and program offers.

About Iformata Communications

Iformata Communications, a privately held company, is the telepresence managed services and video network operations provider of choice for global enterprise firms, equipment manufacturers, and top-tier carriers and networks. Through international peering relationships with major providers, and by integrating points-of-presence (POPs) in 65 countries throughout North America, the UK, Europe, and Asia, Iformata’s Telepresence Exchange is the leading video communications network connecting global Fortune 500 firms within a highly managed architecture. Its technicians provide seamless and interoperable performance across disparate equipment, carriers, networks, and geographic locations. The longest-serving provider of managed services and video network operations in the business, the founders of Iformata created the first immersive telepresence environments.

For more information, please visit www.iformata.com or call +1.937.832.6910.

Brian Kinne, Industry Veteran Appointed Iformata EVP

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 07:33:25 +0000

Iformata Communications has selected Brian Kinne for the position of Executive Vice President. Mr. Kinne, who brings fifteen years of industry experience to the organization, will oversee marketing, sales, public relations, and strategic partnerships for Iformata. Kinne previously held senior management positions for a number of leading telepresence and video communications companies, including Senior Vice President of Sales at TeleSuite Corporation, the world’s first telepresence company, which Kinne helped launch. While at TeleSuite, Kinne drove business with global companies including AOL Time Warner, Deloitte, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Click Here to download the full Press Release.

Iformata & PangeAir Launch Public Telepresence Gateway

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:29:36 +0000

PangeAir, the Digital Airline Service, has selected Iformata Communications to provide managed services and network for its public-access telepresence franchises, beginning with the launch of the PangeAir TelePresence Gateway at the Dayton, Ohio Convention Center. Dayton’s PangeAir TelePresence Gateway is designed for hosting or attending public telepresence meetings, such as civic events, educational classes, and training seminars. Groups up to twenty-five can join a meeting and communicate with multiple sites as though they were meeting face-to-face.

Click Here to download the full Press Release.