Orchestra Conducts International Auditions via Cisco TelePresence

LONDON, Nov 18, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Southbank Sinfonia, Britain's best-known orchestra of young
professional musicians and the country's leading orchestral academy,
has for the second consecutive year hosted international auditions
for its ensemble using Cisco TelePresence(TM), a technology allowing
for life-size, high-definition video collaboration. The auditions
were held last week in the Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) London office.

Over 300 musicians from across the world applied to take part in the
auditions, from countries as diverse as Taiwan, Sweden and Canada.
Traditionally, musicians would have had to fly to London for the
chance to undertake the 15-minute audition at significant cost and
time. However, this year, two young musicians in Australia have for
the first time auditioned using Cisco TelePresence suites in their
own country.

The two Australian musicians performed live, while being assessed in
real time by the select panel of judges back in London. This was made
possible by the quality of the wideband spatial audio and the clarity
of very high-definition video delivered by the Cisco TelePresence
technology. As well as reducing the travel costs incurred and time
commitment required by the candidates, Cisco TelePresence technology
lowered the process's environmental impact.

Facts/Highlights:

--  The judging panel consisted of Simon Over (co-founder and music
director of Southbank Sinfonia), Michael Berman (chairman of Southbank
Sinfonia) and Jennifer Nickson (Royal Opera House).
--  This year's Cisco TelePresence auditions took place in Sydney,
Australia. Last year Cisco TelePresence auditions were held in Scotland,
Spain, New Zealand and the United States.
--  Cisco is committed to a high level of environmental responsibility in
its business operations, culture, products and customer solutions. Cisco's
vision is for the power of technology to transform how the world manages
its environmental and energy challenges.
--  Cisco now has more than 300 TelePresence customers, with some global
customer deployments extending beyond 100 units.
--  Internally, Cisco has deployed over 650 TelePresence units in more than
200 cities across 45 countries, which has allowed it to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions from business travel by an estimated 186,786 metric
tons.

Supporting Quotes:
Simon Over, music director of Southbank
Sinfonia
"Southbank Sinfonia is committed to ensuring that the
world's most talented and promising players, destined to be the
future caretakers of orchestra, are not lost from the profession in
the difficult period immediately following their time at music
college. Last year Cisco enabled us to bring together performers who
might not have been able to audition previously, and its technology
has opened up an exciting range of new possibilities. We're delighted
to be working with Cisco again this year to help us establish
Southbank Sinfonia as an important contributor to musical life in
Britain and beyond."

Phil Smith, Cisco vice president and chief executive for UK andIreland

"Cisco believes that technology has the power to transform
how the world collaborates and manages its environmental challenges.
Businesses across the world are adopting TelePresence technology to
do just that, but there are benefits for organisations of all types.
Last year Cisco TelePresence opened the opportunity of auditions to
young musicians, and this year we are building on that success. Cisco
is thrilled to continue its work with Southbank Sinfonia and allow
them to overcome the barriers of time, distance and cost whilst
minimising its impact on the environment."

Supporting Resources:
Cisco TelePresence: http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/UK/products/telepresence/index.html

Southbank Sinfonia website: http://www.southbanksinfonia.co.uk/

Tags: Cisco, TelePresence, Video Conferencing, Southbank Sinfonia,
Orchestra, collaboration

Videos:
Video of this year's audition:
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/UK/casestudies/index.html

Video of last year's auditions:
http://www.cisco.com/web/ES/videos/popup/08-11-12-cisco-telepresencia-concierto.html.

Video of Cisco Expo Germany with opera over Cisco TelePresence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN5jNH5E-38.

Orchestra Conducts International Auditions via Cisco TelePresence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyGtgPAXfi8

RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html

About Southbank Sinfonia
Southbank Sinfonia (SbS) is an orchestra
of young professionals and Britain's leading orchestral academy.
Unique in Europe, it provides annually an intensive eight-month
programme of performance and professional development for 32
exceptional music college graduates. The players (who are supported
by bursaries) work with many leading conductors and artists such as
Patrons Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir Thomas Allen on repertoire ranging
from baroque to contemporary and from chamber music to concerto,
opera and ballet.

A distinctive strand of the orchestra's activity is its work playing
alongside and being coached by members of leading UK orchestras in
particular the Royal Opera House, Academy of St Martin in the Fields,
BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and the London Handel
Festival. SbS raises over GBP 500,000 each year from individual
donors, trusts and corporates, and receives no public funding.

About Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is the worldwide
leader in networking for the Internet. Information about Cisco can be
found at http://www.cisco.com. For more news, visit
http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Europe is supplied by
Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco
Systems, Inc.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and Cisco TelePresence are
registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All
other trademarks mentioned in this document or Website are the
property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does
not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other
company.

Youtube Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1117806

Youtube Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1117805

Press Contacts:
James Warnette
Joanna Timmermann
Octopus Communications for Cisco
Tel: 01753 827 288
Email: james@octopuscomms.net

Fiona Buckley
Cisco UK and Ireland PR Manager
Tel: 0208 824 1823
Email: Fibuckle@cisco.com

SOURCE: Cisco

mailto:james@octopuscomms.net
mailto:Fibuckle@cisco.com

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