The Public Administration of the Local Government of Canarias Gets Connected With Cisco TelePresence

Madrid, 9 November 2013. – The Government of Canarias has commissioned an innovative telepresence service based on the Cisco TelePresence®  platform. This is a pioneering project in Spain that enables representatives of the public administration of Canarias to hold virtual “face to face” meetings without having to travel between the islands, helping to save travel costs and speed up their decision-making.

The initiative is part of the Canarias Government’s policy for saving costs and promoting innovation, taking special consideration for the geographical peculiarities of the community.

Since early June, the general secretaries at the Ministries of the Government of Canarias have been holding their weekly meetings via two telepresence rooms situated in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. These rooms can also be used by other Canaries authorities, such as the Canarias Federation of Cabildos (inter-island councils) and the Federation of Municipalities.

Key points of this announcement

• The Cisco TelePresence, platform, which uses the infrastructure of the WAN network deployed between the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, unites its participants so immersively, it really seems they are present at the same location. This confers important benefits:

o   Organizing meetings is as easy as making a phone call, while the room controls are transparent and intuitive.

o   Sessions can be recorded in high-quality video, and multimedia presentations or the contents of any PC can be shared via the platform. Advanced ‘plug and play’ collaborative tools like Cisco WebEx®  can be integrated.

o   The communications are encrypted with a robust security system designed to prevent access by unauthorized third parties to audio, data or video.

• Cisco Gold Partner Telefónica deployed, manages and supports the solution, which includes:

o    Cisco® TelePresence TX-9000 and associated network equipment in each room. Each room seats six and has three 65-inch plasma screens with integrated cameras—provides high-definition video (1080p resolution) and high-quality audio. Speakers are automatically shown life-size.

Thanks to advanced standard connectors and the Cisco® TelePresence Exchange System, it is possible to meet up with other administrations or organizations anywhere in the world that have similar technology, using public telepresence rooms or other videoconferencing systems. Up to 48 different locations can be connected in a single meeting. It doesn’t matter who supplies the telecommunications service! The system also allows mobile devices to access meetings.

These virtual meetings have allowed the public representatives located in Gran Canaria and Tenerife to build a  better rapport by being able to meet more frequently.

Statements in support:

•  Francisco Hernández Spínola, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Equality of the Government of Canarias: “Canarias is the first Spanish autonomous community to introduce this state-of-the-art telecommunications technology, which enormously expands the possibilities of traditional videoconferencing, improves the efficiency of meetings, and facilitates making decisions more rapidly. We are delighted with the results from the first months of using it, because of its enormous technical quality, ease of use, and the anticipated savings”.
• Roberto Moreno-Díaz, Director-General of Telecommunications and New Technologies of the Government of Canarias: “This is undoubtedly one of our Community’s star technological projects; Cisco TelePresence increases the efficiency of the Government of Canarias’ daily work as, while obtaining improved performance from the Administration’s own communications network, including the undersea cable that joins the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife”.
• Jesús Galindo, Public Sector Director at Cisco Spain: “Communications by video via IP networks plays a fundamental role in improving collaboration between Administrations, increasing their efficiency and optimizing services to the citizens. In spite of its special geographical situation, the Community of Canarias can rely on the latest technologies to reduce distances and make it a reference for innovation”.

Additional resources

·       More information about Cisco TelePresence and TelePresencia applications.

·       More information about the Cisco TelePresence TX-9000 system.

·       Discover other implementations of Cisco TelePresence for public administrations in Canada, Denmark, Colombia and Australia.

·       Discover the Telemedicina system established in Canarias, based on the Cisco HealthPresence platform.

·       More information about collaborating with Cisco.

·       Social networks:  Cisco® Collaboration Community, Cisco Collaboration and Video Blogs, @CiscoCollab and @TelePresence on Twitter, Cisco Collaboration and Cisco TelePresence on Facebook.

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