Al Gore, Cisco CEO John Chambers and Cisco chief marketing officer Sue Bostrom, hosted a virtual panel discussion on technology innovation and its impact on climate change. Utilizing a Cisco TelePresence implementation, the panel discussion was moderated from London by ITN correspondent Lawrence McGinty, with Sue Bostrom onstage at the VoiceCon trade show in Orlando, John Chambers joining virtually from Cisco headquarters in San Jose, and Al Gore from Nashville. The discussion was also displayed live to international audiences in London, Paris, Dubai, and Warsaw.
By using Cisco TelePresence and avoiding unnecessary travel, Mr Gore, Mr Chambers and their staff will avoid approximately 4.2 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions based on current calculations performed by DOMANI, a sustainability management consulting firm, and the University of California, San Diego.
“No one company or innovation will have enough impact to reverse global climate change,” Gore said. “However, the technology industry has a strategic opportunity to lead the charge in helping businesses lower their carbon footprint by embracing IT innovations.”
Cisco noted that it has so far deployed more than 185 Cisco TelePresence rooms in more than 25 countries and over 85 cities worldwide. With usage averaging around 5 hours per day per room, compared to traditional video conferencing which is typically used less that 30 minutes per day per endpoint, Cisco estimates it has saved $100 million dollars in travel costs since deploying the technology in October 2006.
An archive of the webcast is online.http://www.cisco.com
