Since the establishment in 2007, MNS has revolutionized the way businesses can deploy and experience HD video conferencing with its patented video conferencing routing technology and global network. The appointment of Hans Fredrik Johansen as the company’s CEO is a long planned promotion and important for the next phase of the company’s growth and expansion.

Hans Fredrik Johansen joined MNS in May 2009 as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and has transformed the business from an R&D organization to a customer focused company with well defined product lines and a clear channel strategy.

The Chairman, Dr. Haakon Bryhni, said in a statement, “Hans Fredrik Johansen has been at the heart of the company’s strategy and expanded our presence in Europe, USA and Asia in the recent year, including China, where we recently were announced official suppliers to the Shanghai Expo 2010 together with TANDBERG.”

Bryhni added, “I am delighted Hans Fredrik Johansen has accepted the role of CEO. I have worked closely with Hans over the year and I am confident he has all the necessary talent, energy and experience to take the company forward. He will lead an outstanding team who represent the most innovative and knowledgeable video network experts in the video conferencing industry”.

Bryhni is stepping down as the CEO of MNS but will continue to be involved by focusing on MNS’s alliance partners and on key R&D initiatives, while continuing to be a valuable asset in the overall development of the company.

“In MNS we combine our passion for video conferencing with our unique competence in IP routing. We believe MNS with our neutral position between vendors, network providers and video service providers is the missing piece to expand the video conferencing market and open for mass deployment of HD video equipment on any desktop or meeting room,” says Hans Fredrik Johansen, CEO of MNS.

Contact:

Hans Fredrik Johansen, CEO
hans@medianetworkservices.com
Telephone +47 92601809

Haakon Bryhni, Chairman of the Board
haakon@medianetworkservices.com
Telephone +47 95223048

At Norway Expo 2010 in Shanghai we have faced challenges in regard to the capacity and reliability of the network for videoconferencing. We were delighted to get to know Media Network Services (MNS), a Norwegian company, founded on research and innovation and with support from us at Innovation Norway. MNS has gone straight into the network issues. They decrease the complexity and increase network quality so we can have video conferences with top quality from Shanghai to all our sponsors, internal and external relations says Arlid Blixrud Commissioner General Innovation Norway Shanghai.

In TANDBERG, now a part of Cisco, we are very proud to be the official supplier to Norway Expo 2010 in conjunction with Media Network Services. The way videoconferencing is a key part of the pavilion reflects TANDBERG’s vision of “the new way of working,” says Odd Johnny Winge, Vice President Infrastructure in the TelePresence Technology Group in Cisco.

The solution Media Network Services has deployed for Norway Expo 2010 is a great confirmation that our unique network model fills a need that all video conference users actually have, says Hans Fredrik Johansen, VP Sales and Marketing at Media Network Services. Norway Expo 2010 needed to reach videoconferencing systems in different parts of the world, at many different companies on different networks and in different organizations.

 Because of the long distance, the internet is not an option and to order dedicated lines to Norway and possibly to other sites is too expensive and does not provide the desired flexibility. What Norway Expo 2010 needed was a network that delivered the quality and reliability equivalent to a dedicated MPLS intranet combined with the prevalence and availability of the internet. This was the only way they would be able to reach all their internal and external relations with the quality needed to maximize the benefit of videoconferencing, Hans Fredrik Johansen concludes.

Contact information:

www.expo2010.no
Kristin Welle-Strand, Communication Manager
Kristin.Welle-Strand@innovationnorway.no
Mobile Norway: +47 93 45 83 03
Mobile China: +86 152 210 32 304

 
www.tandberg.com
Berit Lid Scharff, Marketing Manager
berit.scharff@tandberg.com
Telephone Norway: +47 971 39 487

www.medianetworkservices.com
Hans Fredrik Johansen, Vice President Sales and Marketing
Video and e-mail: hans@medianetworkservices.com
Mobile +47 926 01 809

The two sites are connected to MNS’ locations in the USA and Europe using a dedicated network optimized for video conferencing traffic.

Please contact MNS sales department if you are interested in testing what this network location can do for your video conferencing quality.

Please contact our sales department if you are interested in testing what this network location can do for your video conferencing quality. You may also try our free demonstration server in Hong Kong.

The means of communication in the business world have changed dramatically in the last decades

Boardroom video conferencing, once the domain of Fortune 100 executives, is now available for ordinary meeting rooms and even PC desktop users worldwide. In the near future, video conferencing will take its rightful place, next to phone and email as essential business tools. So far, hardware and software components for video conferencing have been sophisticated, innovative and expensive technology. However, increased competition has forced equipment manufacturers to introduce solutions with continuously lower price points. The video conferencing market has matured, and now consists of a wide variety of solutions and pricing models to fit companies of all shapes and sizes. As an example, ‘HD video conferencing solutions have reached a price point that’s low enough (less than $10,000 per endpoint) to appeal to most businesses that are considering updating their video conferencing technology’ (Gartner).

The vision of placing high definition (HD) telepresence video conference calls in the same way as picking up the phone is close at hand. The major issues today among video conference and telepresence users, are interoperability and good network connectivity. The unreliability of the open internet and the costs and rigidness of the fixed telecom lines are fortunately obstacles of the past. Video conference networks offering guaranteed-capacity at affordable rates are emerging, enabling any business, regardless of size and budget, to maximise their video conferencing experience.

Unprecedented return on investment

Most new PCs, laptops and even mobile phones are equipped with cameras and ready-for-web conferencing, rapidly enabling internet video conferencing by service providers such as Skype, MSN, Yahoo and Google. Just see how teenagers are highly connected using such services, always interacting using a laptop or mobile phone. Why should corporate communication be any different? Why is an entire IT department needed to set up a video conference call for business meetings?

Corporate users are getting used to document sharing by applications like WebEx over the internet. Some companies have invested in professional video conferencing meeting rooms to facilitate collaboration between office locations. Why are more productive communication tools, such as video conferencing, only available for internal use in a corporation? Taking example from the internet generation, efficient tools for visual and interactive communication will in the future be the standard in all offices. Visual communication over the internet is the next wave of business productivity tools, and will soon become a standard just as phone, web and email on all levels of the organisation.

Companies worldwide have accepted the arguments of travel cost savings (reduced travel and accommodation expenses and lost working hours), reduced CO2 emissions, and corporate social responsibility. Gartner predicts that ‘high-definition based video meeting solutions will replace 2.1 million airline seats annually, costing the travel and hospitality industry $3.5 billion per year’ by 2012.

Businesses integrating visual communication into the core of their business strategy are experiencing unprecedented return on investment (ROI), not only from travel costs and time savings, but also from greater productivity, e.g. faster product development cycles and shortened time-to-market.

Video conferencing only as good as the network

As the market for video conferencing is maturing, businesses’ requirements are evolving from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) in order to enjoy a true telepresence experience. In the high-end of the corporate video conferencing market, businesses utilise several conference rooms with multiple HD monitors and HD cameras into one telepresence meeting session.

These advanced video conference and telepresence solutions demand extreme network capacity and reliability. Many corporations extend their infrastructure to support video in their intranet using dedicated links. Besides being very costly and demanding to operate and maintain, the low flexibility and interoperability doesn’t match the expected experience for high quality internet-based visual communication.

A corporate telepresence session should be as easy as picking up the phone, to any customer, partner or employee.

The new internet dedicated to video conferencing

With the fast growing demand for high-quality and HD video conferencing, Media Network Services (MNS) recently launched a new global network service dedicated to video conferencing, providing businesses with full interoperability, guaranteed connectivity, network capacity, even greater ROI, and ultimately a maximised video conferencing experience.

In a world with various video conferencing vendors and standards, interoperability and sufficient network capacity is key when wanting to video conference with any customer, partner or employee. MNS’s network service supports any video conference equipment and thus represents the missing link in full video conferencing interoperability. There are today more than one million video conference end-points worldwide. Imagine if you could dial up any of them with the push of a button.

The open internet was not designed for video conferencing traffic. As a result businesses often experience HD video conference or telepresence sessions to freeze, jitter or break, disturbing your meeting and diminishing the value of visual communication. MNS’s network service comes with guaranteed connectivity enabling you to gain the value of visual communication you expect.

In the past, high-quality to HD video conferencing has been reserved for businesses investing in expensive dedicated telecom lines – primarily for internal use. With MNS’s network service, these businesses can lower their network cost and gain an even greater ROI. MNS enables any business, regardless of size and budget, to experience the true ROI of video conferencing.

Media Network Services (MNS) today announced the launch of the embedded MNS Mode in all TANDBERG MXP endpoints with F8.0 software.
The MNS Mode enables TANDBERG MXP users to take advantage of MNS’ dedicated Global IP network with the touch of a button and experience enhanced call quality and reliability. With MNS you get full control over the video communication data traffic and quality up to full HD Telepresence to multiple destinations. 

MNS combines the flexibility of the open Internet with the reliability, control and quality of dedicated MPLS networks.  MNS is a secure, reliable and easy way for videoconferencing users to call partners, customers, suppliers and other internal or external parties. The frustration of packet loss and degraded quality are solved with the MNS Mode, and concerns of firewalls are a thing of the past.  

While companies traditionally have invested in expensive dedicated networks to experience High-Quality to Telepresence and HD video conferencing, MNS now offers affordable guaranteed-capacity network to meet any demand for a maximized video conferencing experience. 

“The flexibility the MNS Mode offers TANDBERG MXP users is truly unique, providing a fast track to get dedicated Global IP network services simply and easily.  The MNS Mode enables TANDBERG MXP users to call anyone anywhere anytime without involvement of expert personnel” says Haakon Bryhni CEO, at MNS.

“Having the Media Network Services MNS Mode embedded in MXP series software complements the TANDBERG approach of making video easy to use and supports our commitment to quality and interoperability between videoconferencing endpoints,” said Håkon Dahle, Chief Technology Officer TANDBERG.  “With a simple firmware update, MXP users can take instant advantage of the quality MNS’ dedicated Global IP network provides.” 

MNS offers, based on company size and existing equipment, the following two services:

• Large Enterprises: Telepresence and HD Video Conferencing Network
• Small & Medium Enterprises: High-Quality Video Conferencing

MNS’ standard network offerings range from 768kbps to 6Mbps guaranteed-capacity video conference bandwidth while the premium offering can meet the demand for any network capacity.
 

For further information, please contact:
Hans Fredrik Johansen, VP Sales & Marketing, MNS 
johansen@medianetworkservices.com 

About Media Network Services 
Founded in 2007 in Oslo, Media Network Services (MNS) offers a global guaranteed-capacity network optimized for High-Quality to Telepresence and High-Definition (HD)Video Conferencing. Visit www.medianetworkservices.com for more information.

Extract:
“The company says that the main reason it has developed these products is because of the demand caused by the current trend of more and more companies turning to video conferencing solutions to reduce travel time and expenditure, and contribute towards reducing the global carbon footprint.”
“An incidental, opportunistic use could be for people to work remotely from places deemed ‘safe’ since Swine flu, now officially called Influenza A (H1N1) by the World Health Organization and also internationally deemed a pandemic forcing the nation to look at possible alternative methods to continue workflow.”
“The U.S. federal government’s National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan highlights the significant advantages of using telecommunications and broadband connectivity related solutions to continue working remotely and avoid physical proximity, and therefore slow down the disease spread.”
 

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The increase of businesses choosing to use video conferencing to communicate and interact with employees, customers and partners has lead to a high demand for enhanced video conferencing quality.

While companies traditionally have invested in expensive dedicated networks to experience High-Quality to Telepresence and HD video conferencing, MNS now offers affordable guaranteed-capacity network to meet any demand for maximized video conferencing experience. And there is no need for businesses to invest in new video conferencing equipment when taking advantage of MNS’ global network.

“We are very excited about the launch of our new global video conferencing network. Media Network Services can now enable any business to experience a maximized video conferencing experience while leveraging their existing video conferencing equipment”, says Haakon Bryhni CEO, at MNS.

MNS offers, based on company size and existing equipment, the following two services:

• Large Enterprises: Telepresence and HD Video Conferencing Network
• Small & Medium Enterprises: High-Quality Video Conferencing

MNS’ standard network offerings range from 768kbps to 6Mbps guaranteed-capacity video conference bandwidth while the premium offering can meet the demand for any network capacity.

For further information, please contact:

Hans Fredrik Johansen, VP Sales & Marketing, MNS 
johansen@medianetworkservices.com 

About Media Network Services 
Founded in 2007 in Oslo, Media Network Services (MNS) offers a global guaranteed-capacity network optimized for High-Quality to Telepresence and High-Definition (HD)Video Conferencing. Visit www.medianetworkservices.com for more information.