NATO uses telepresence

Legal watchdog employs Polycom systems to reduce travel

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) recently deployed immersive telepresence solutions from Polycom to improve operational efficiency.

“Information flow is vital to fulfilling our goals and mandates, as well as maximising the productivity and efficiency of personnel and ensuring the success of operations,” said Malcolm Green, chief of the NATO C3 Agency’s Capabilities Area Team 9 (CAT 9), Networked Information Infrastructure Communication Services. “Polycom telepresence addresses these challenges by enabling our teams to collaborate more effectively over distances.”

Deployed in six international locations, the Polycom immersive telepresence solutions join an existing large deployment of Polycom video conferencing systems in use today at NATO headquarters and in outposts around the world. The standards-based systems also interoperate securely and seamlessly with video conferencing systems in use by NATO allied partners.

The technology is used daily for central command communications, emergency management, critical needs assessment, crisis communications, intra/interagency collaboration, workgroup collaboration and project management. “Video conferencing has certainly shortened the fuse on NATO’s ability to act in this dynamic environment,” says Brigadier General Gyorgy Lehel, director of operations at the NATO Communications and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA) in Mons, Belgium.