São Paulo, January 18, 2011 - The Rio City Hall has become the first in Brazil to install Cisco TelePresence® rooms. The solution is part of the technology project of the new Rio Operations Center, which was inaugurated Dec. 31, 2010, to monitor and manage crises around the city of Rio.

Three Cisco TelePresence rooms have been installed: one in the crisis room of the center, another in the official residence of Mayor Eduardo Paes, and the third one in the Civil Defense Building. The solution enables virtual meetings with advanced audio and video in an immersive environment for up to 40 rooms in a multipoint meeting. All participants can converse as if they were in the same room, enabling more agility in decision-making. The mayor will be able to communicate instantly with the Operations Center and Civil Defense teams without leaving his office.

The Rio Operations Center will also feature more than 170 Cisco IP Phones, with the capability for video collaboration along with a wireless infrastructure that enables access from any device. The telecommunications infrastructure also includes several switches that provide speeds of more than 800 gigabits per second, helping to ensure high availability of the services used by the Rio Operations Center.

"Rio is the next big thing, with the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2016 Olympics and other major events. But our concern is to improve the city and make it more prepared, especially for those who live and work here. This project is the result of that vision, which has consolidated over the past two years. For this we have invested in technology that gives more flexibility to decision-making in emergency situations," Paes said.

"This project shows the recognition by the Rio City Hall of the role that the network and video will play in improving the standard of living of citizens and in increasing city competitiveness," said Rodrigo Abreu, president, Cisco Brazil.