Telstra opens $13M Experience Centre in Melbourne

Yesterday Telstra opened the doors for the first time to the Telstra Experience Centre (TEC) in Melbourne. This comes after the first TEC was launched in Sydney in November 2007, which has seen triple growth in customer traffic numbers in its 3 years of operation with over 1000 customers visiting the centre last year.

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The Melbourne centre was constructed over a 190 day period in which over $13 million was outlaid. The complex is Telstra'a largest customer facility yet covering a total of 3,055 square meters and features 16 demonstration areas used to showcase various active technologies as well as two user-testing laboratories and two product design areas.

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The Experience and Collaboration zones alone cover 2,185 square meters, while the eight video conferencing demonstration rooms cover an additional 870 square meters. Over 40km of cabling was used during construction with 897 data points, and 8km worth of fibre optic cabling ran in the wall of the New Horizon room.

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Australia's first Micro Tile Media Wall is housed in the complex; a 20 metre wide digital display which makes it largest in the southern hemisphere.

Below is a more detailed description of what's inside the centre :-

• The Experience Labs are three dedicated rooms that can be transformed into any environment to support tailored and interactive demonstrations of Telstra products and solutions using state-of-the-art audio and video technology.

• The Connected Home is a room showcasing the seamless integration of broadband access, devices, applications and services in the home environment.

• Digital Business is a real-life small business scenario that demonstrates how Telstra services can connect a shop floor, back office and its mobile workers using the latest digital business technology.

• Polycom Real Presence provides life-size high definition video conferencing in a board room setting.

• Cisco TelePresence is immersive high definition video conferencing that can connect to multiple locations for life-like meetings.

• Two Usability Labs which allow customers to interact with technology, providing Telstra the opportunity to capture expectations and shape Telstra's future technology.

• Two Product Design rooms provide a collaborative space to provide project teams the opportunity immerse the project team in product design.

• Eight dedicated high tech video conferencing facilities, providing a customer demonstration area that shows Telstra's entire capability in this space, from desktop 'web' based video conferencing through to fully integrated and customised boardroom and telepresence rooms.

The video below gives a 3 minute walkthrough of the centre, located at the telco's headquarters in Exhibition Street.