High definition, video conference services launch in Le Méridien Hotels Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich
WHITE PLAINS, NY – October 20, 2010 – State-of-the-art “virtual meeting” technology will debut at four hotels in Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) European portfolio, the company announces in conjunction with Tata Communications today.
Le Méridien Etoile, Le Méridien Brussels, Le Méridien Parkhotel Frankfurt and Le Méridien Munich will become the first of Starwood’s European properties to introduce new meeting facilities showcasing Cisco Telepresence technology. All properties currently feature the new suites except Le Méridien Parkhotel Frankfurt, which will debut its new facilities in late November.
The new facilities are part of a year-old partnership between Starwood Hotels and Tata Communications to build Cisco Telepresence rooms at properties worldwide. Starwood unveiled its first in-hotel Telepresence meeting suites earlier this year at Sheraton Toronto, W Chicago City Center, Sheraton on the Park Sydney and more recently, at Sheraton Kuwait City. In late 2010, Sheraton New York and The Westin Los Angeles Airport also introduced their own meeting suites. Other Starwood locations planning to launch soon include key domestic and international business markets such as Dallas, San Francisco and Hong Kong.
The public rooms located within each Starwood hotel will be linked to a wider Tata Communications Telepresence network via its Global Meeting Exchange. The Exchange enables meetings to take place between any private or public room on its network; as well as rooms on the networks of Tata Communications’ Intercarrier-Exchange partners, BT and Telefonica, and the National Lamda Rail network, which links leading US universities. This network reach makes Telepresence a truly global collaboration tool.
“The opening of these four European public Telepresence rooms with Starwood marks another milestone for us in the Telepresence space. Since we launched the first public Telepresence facility in 2008, we have strived to develop a portfolio of Telepresence managed services that enable business executives to easily collaborate with colleagues, partners and customers anywhere in the world. Underpinning this portfolio is the ability for users to connect with an extensive business ecosystem of public and private rooms through our network and partner networks, spanning 35 countries.” said Peter Quinlan, Vice President, Telepresence Managed Services, Tata Communications.
As an industry first, reservations for these telepresence rooms can be made instantly using the Tata Communications online portal, www.tatacommunications.com, with a convenient payment capability that accepts all major credit cards.
As the world and the hotel industry grow increasingly more global, Starwood is continuing its constant pursuit of innovation, anticipating how tomorrow’s travelers want to meet. The company is also responding to increased demand to incorporate technology, virtual meetings and social media into new meeting offerings for the next generation of business travelers.
“When clients are doing business globally, it makes sense to offer a meeting solution that’s ‘global’ as well,” said Mary Casey, Vice President of Global Sales for Starwood. “Meetings no longer just mean sitting around a table, and the Telepresence technology we’re unveiling in Europe helps clients shape meetings to their own needs.”
Telepresence provides life-like, high definition, conferencing facilities with superior audio, video and environmental qualities allowing participants to meet their colleagues, customers and business partners across a virtual table. Participants in Telepresence meetings will feel that they are in the same room together regardless of where they are individually located in the world. This creates the potential to improve all sorts of business interaction through better and more frequent meetings, resulting in stronger customer relationships and accelerated sales cycles, better project management and tighter integration of remote offices.
The public room facility offers users who do not have Telepresence rooms within their company, access to this cutting-edge technology at an affordable hourly rate. Tata Communications currently has the largest global network of public Telepresence rooms and is present in 21 major cities across five continents covering the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Kuwait, South Africa, India, The Philippines, Singapore and Australia
For more information about Starwood Hotels Telepresence Suites visit http://www.tatacommunications.com/telepresence/.
About Starwood Hotels
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1000 properties in nearly 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.
The Tata Global Network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and collocation space worldwide.
Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments in operators in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited) and Nepal (United Telecom Limited).
Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE: TCL)
About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.
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Forward-looking and cautionary statements
Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications’ expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications’ operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications’ network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company’s communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications’ industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications’ control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications’ various filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, updates or alters its forward-looking statements
| Media Contacts: Natalie Chak Tata Communications +44 7833 043 779 natalie.chak@tatacommunications.com |
Danny Lim Hill & Knowlton Singapore for Tata Communications +65 6390 3360 danny.lim@hillandknowlton.com.sg |
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