London's ExCeL center selects Cisco for 'ultimate venue experience'

Cisco announced today that ICC London ExCeL, the international convention center, has selected Cisco to help it deliver the "Ultimate Venue Experience" for exhibitors and delegates. A network based on Cisco technology will allow the center to offer innovative collaboration services to help exhibitors extend audience reach, improve the quality of interactions with attendees, and increase the return on their investment in events.

ICC London ExCeL is working with Cisco to offer a new experience for exhibitors and delegates, according to a company release. Using the network as the platform, ICC London ExCeL will be able to offer new "on-site" and "virtual" services to planners, such as video collaboration, Web conferencing and digital signage. These services will help improve the quality of interactions with delegates and increase revenue streams by expanding the audience beyond those who can only attend in person.

ICC London ExCeL has deployed a venue-wide network with Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, which support data, wireless local area network, voice over Internet Protocol and IPTV services. The network also supports high-definition video and mobility.

Advanced network-based technologies help improve the experience for delegates as well as increase or determine the value of events for exhibitors. For example, collaboration solutions like Cisco TelePresence give conference organizers the ability to invite speakers from anywhere in the world without their needing to attend physically.

Cisco has chosen ICC London ExCeL as the venue for Cisco Live! in Europe, its annual industry event for European IT, networking and communications professionals, running from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, 2011.