NextiraOne, Europe’s leading expert in communications services, has reached an agreement with Ricoh Europe, a specialist in office solutions, managed document services and production printing, to deliver Unified Communications in up to 18 countries. The new solution will create a collaborative working environment that will help Ricoh to increase employee productivity, provide enhanced customer services and underpin the company’s environmental vision which is to reduce its carbon impacts by 88% by 2050.

NextiraOne also announced today that the two companies have signed a major new contract for Ricoh Europe’s new European Headquarters in London. The deal covers Unified Communications and a comprehensive range of applications and services, encompassing TelePresence, Videoconferencing, Audio-Visual, Digital Media Signage, Physical Security, Cabling and Cisco LAN and Wireless Infrastructure.

The project covers the delivery of the first three phases of Ricoh Europe’s new European Headquarters in London and is another NextiraOne TelePresence deployment, providing the company with an effective international collaborative environment that significantly reduces the need for business travel, reducing related costs and environmental impact.

Unified Communications provides a highly effective platform for enhanced collaborative working practices within the company. The creation of a unified workspace for Ricoh’s employees will enable the company to streamline its communications systems with cost-effective IP telephony throughout, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing, including the ability to share documents, calendars and applications. This will help Ricoh to share information and knowledge effectively in real-time, allowing the company to transform its customer relationships with new types of interaction.

NextiraOne will design and implement Ricoh’s Unified Communications solution across its locations in Europe and South Africa. NextiraOne will implement the end-to-end Cisco Enterprise solution, providing a centralised IP platform across the organisation including Ricoh’s Contact Centres.

NextiraOne has designed the network architecture as a centralised solution across Ricoh Europe’s data centre infrastructure, in order to provide the required resilience and business continuity. The design also allows a substantial reduction in the number of servers needed, through consolidation and virtualisation. This will help to reduce energy consumption as well as cooling, ventilation and air conditioning requirements, all of which will reduce operating expenditure and carbon emissions.

Ricoh is a specialist in office solutions, managed document services and production printing and operates in 18 countries across EMEA. NextiraOne was able to demonstrate that it could match Ricoh’s European needs through its own European operations (with a direct sales and service presence in 16 countries and local collaboration in many more) and also could design and build the system Ricoh wanted.

Ian Winham, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Ricoh Europe, said: “Our new headquarters in Triton Street in London gave us the opportunity to create a truly leading edge communications infrastructure that would reflect our business values and operating imperatives. NextiraOne has worked closely with us to achieve our major goals – creating a Unified Communications environment that is highly secure and complies with our information security policies.

“NextiraOne immediately understood our business and communications objectives and they have the right international profile and expertise to deliver for us across our EMEA operations.”

NextiraOne designs, installs, maintains and supports sustainable solutions to meet its customers’ communications needs - from voice, data and video, to mobility, security, virtualised data centres and applications. Working with the world’s leading technology companies, NextiraOne provides end-to-end sustainable communications solutions to deliver measurable business benefits to its customers. The company’s strengths lie in its unequalled technology experience, the expertise of its people and its broad international reach.

David Winn, CEO of NextiraOne said: “Ricoh Europe is investing in state-of-the-art communications technology to create an infrastructure that fully supports its culture and the working environment the company wants for its people.”

Steven Skakel, Managing Director UK & Ireland at NextiraOne, added: “This will give Ricoh a significant competitive advantage by creating a truly collaborative working environment across all its European and South African operations. We are delighted to be able to use our expertise in Unified Communications solutions, Data Centres and Advanced Communications Infrastructures to support Ricoh’s business goals.”

A video interview of Steven Skakel is available at:  http://www.nextiraone.eu/eu/news/nextiraone_unifies_communications_for_ricoh_users_across_europe