DiData pushes into video with Tandberg

Integrator Dimension Data Australia has formally partnered with Norwegian video applications provider Tandberg to offer converged voice, video and data networking and services.

Gerard Florian, CTO at DiData, said voice, video and data networks were being built "rapidly" in Australia, particularly in the government, health and education verticals.

"Tandberg has some powerful products and technologies for these applications," he said.

DiData had used Tandberg products in deployments for Victoria's Departments of Primary Industries and Sustainability and Environment, Florian said.

DiData had integrated Tandberg personal and conference room video systems with Cisco video telephony products, he said.

"With Video over IP, instant high quality video is a reality for the enterprise," Florian said.

Videoconferencing was still a small market in Australia, he conceded.

"[But] we expect to see huge growth in this area," Florian added.

The Victorian government deployments had used Tandberg gear as part of converged infrastructure provided by DiData and videoconferencing specialist Technology Ideas, DiData said.

"During bushfires in Victoria's alpine region in summer 2003, a fire management centre was built in the town of Mt Beauty to accommodate 50 people," DiData said.

"The fire management centre provided a full WAN, videoconferencing facilities, a VPN, servers, a full suite of PCs, telephony and access to the Department's corporate systems and data, allowing a better tactical response to the fires."

Phil Siefert, country manager for Tandberg Australia & New Zealand, said Tandberg and DiData both had a "very strong connection" with Cisco.

The companies would jointly develop IP-based videoconferencing for Australian deployments, Siefert said.

Tandberg belonged to Cisco's Architecture for Voice and Video Integrated Data (AVVID) and Internet Quotient (iQ) partner programs.