LAS VEGAS, June 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Cisco
Live, Cisco's annual IT and communications conference, BT announced
the launch of BT One Collaborate Spark, a new business
collaboration service that allows teams to work together more
intuitively and productively regardless of location and device
used.
The new service brings together the collaboration tools offered
by Cisco Spark with the voice services of the BT One Cloud Cisco
platform.
Cisco Spark is a hosted collaboration application, providing
team messaging, online meetings, voice and video calling and
interactive drawing. The service uses end-to-end encryption for
added security and is provided on a subscription basis with
customers paying per-user-per-month. This allows services to be
added on demand.
It is accessed via an app on desktop and mobile devices. On iOS,
the service is available as a native application, meaning that
calls are automatically routed via Spark rather than the public
network. It can also be used on specialist desktop and room-based
collaboration devices.
The combination of Cisco Spark with the BT One Cloud Cisco
platform's voice services helps customers reduce costs by
automatically routing calls via the One Cloud network, avoiding or
reducing international call charges — to the delight of their
finance teams. It also gives users a more seamless unified
communications experience.
BT also offers the option of using Cisco Spark Board, a powerful
new business collaboration device fully integrated into the One
Cloud Collaborate Spark service. Spark Board is available at launch
as a 55 inch presentation screen that also acts as a digital
whiteboard and video conferencing tool.
Spark Board performs a number of functions that enrich users'
collaboration experience. It automatically detects Spark-enabled
devices, enabling users to seamlessly switch between mobile and
room-based collaboration. A 70 inch version of the device will be
available later in the year.
Andrew Small, vice president,
unified communications and collaboration, customer relationship
management and mobility at Global Services, BT, said: "Our
research shows that improving collaboration across the business is
one of the key factors in determining the success of digital
transformation. BT One Collaborate Spark helps our customers create
productive digital environments for their employees while reducing
the cost of international calls. It gives their employees the
ability to collaborate more simply and intuitively regardless of
where they are or what devices they're using."
One Cloud Collaborate Spark adds an ad-hoc, project or
team-based communication and business messaging tool to the
extensive portfolio of BT One collaboration services. As well as
allowing calls to be made externally to users not on the Spark
cloud, One Cloud Collaborate Spark enables customers' employees to
initiate, answer or transfer calls to anyone in the company
directory. Its messaging functions allow employees to easily
message contacts directly or in a group chat, share content, or set
up virtual meetings with audio, web, and video conferencing
capabilities.
"Cisco and BT have enjoyed a successful relationship for over 25
years bringing together our expertise to offer innovation to
cloud-based collaboration tools," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and
general manager, IoT and applications, Cisco. "We're delighted that
BT customers will now be able to message, meet, and call anyone,
anywhere, anytime, through this intuitive, complete collaboration
Spark service."
The new service is being launched initially in the UK and US
with a global roll-out to follow.
About BT
BT's purpose is to use the power of
communications to make a better world. It is one of the world's
leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving
customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the
provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and
international telecommunications services to its customers for use
at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet
products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and
services. BT consists of six customer-facing lines of business:
Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services,
Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 2017,
BT Group's reported revenue was £24,062m with reported profit
before taxation of £2,354m.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets
of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in
London and New York.
For more information, visit www.btplc.com
Contact: Vicky Harres,
469-345-9296, victoria.harres@bt.com
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SOURCE BT