British American Tobacco (BAT) is doubling its Teliris telepresence rooms and upgrading all its existing systems to the provider's 6G telepresence platform.

INFOCOMM 09: Day Two - Teliris announce BAT deal

Bhavna Mistry, 18 June 2009

British American Tobacco (BAT) is doubling its Teliris telepresence rooms and upgrading all its existing systems to the provider's 6G telepresence platform. Over the last year, BAT has seen £9 million shaved off travel expenses and recovered 96,000 working hours previously lost during travel.

Additionally, it saved more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon by eliminating 5,592 short, medium and long haul flights. The company experienced a 250 per cent increase in Teliris Telepresence meeting attendees with almost 13,000 participants in just one year. These benefits will continue to accrue at an accelerated rate due to the new system deployments, said David Sampson, BAT's group mobility and virtual working manager.

Teliris also announced today what it claims is the first available dedicated telepresence appliance for the desktop. Teliris NanoPersonal Telepresence, priced at under $8,000, features a 22in display and is fully compatible with the Teliris Telepresence portfolio. It offers a choice of continuous presence or voice switching modes for multipoint meetings.