Tuesday, 12 August 2008

TANDBERG Offers free Video Conferencing for Olympic Athletes

TANDBERG said this week that it will be providing face-to-face video calls for Olympic athletes in Beijing to see friends and family back home in The Netherlands for no cost.

The global provider of telepresence, high-definition video conferencing and mobile video has installed video conferencing systems at two locations in The Netherlands and two in China.

In The Netherlands, friends and family can participate in video calls from the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) headquarters in Papendal.

In China, athletes can see friends and family from video systems installed at the equestrian venue in Hong Kong and the Holland Heineken House, where the athletes are staying in Beijing.

“The Olympics are held at different locations in China and, as a result, the Dutch Olympic team is divided. Video conferencing is a great medium to increase team spirit by providing the possibility to share news and achievements with each other ‘live’ in real-time, in spite of the physical distances,” said Marco Antonietti, Senior Marketing Manager at NOC*NSF.

“Additionally, NOC*NSF will use video conferencing as a tool to quicken its decision-making process. Athletes will have the opportunity to meet their friends and family back home face-to-face from Beijing, so they can celebrate their achievements with their loved ones.”

Daniel Johansson, President, North Asia, TANDBERG, says: “We are proud to be the selected video conferencing vendor to bridge the 11,000-kilometer gap so Olympics athletes in Beijing can ‘meet’ their family and friends in the Netherlands to enhance the quality of the athletes’ stay in China. This is another testament that video conferencing is being applied in a virtually unlimited range of applications that extend far beyond the traditional meeting room.”