The Norway-based Easy Meeting video conferencing company, which has North American headquarters in Mystic, announced today a new strategic partnership with telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to develop and release new products.

ZTE, based in Shenzhen, China, is a global provider of telecommunications equipment and networking technology. Easymeeting.net and ZTE expect to release several major video conferencing initiatives in the next 12 to 18 months, the companies said.

"The video conferencing industry is experiencing a huge shift from complicated high-cost solutions towards highly scalable, cloud-based software coupled with affordable hardware," the companies said in a release. "The partnership between ZTE and Easymeeting.net will expedite the transition by making video conferencing more affordable and simple to use."

The companies said ZTE's technological and marketing expertise will be a "perfect match" for Easymeeting.net, which specializes in developing innovative products for the mass market.

"The market is ready to experience the next generation of easy-to-use video conferencing services, which do not require a large upfront investment or technical support when setting up a video meeting," said Evan J. Andriopoulos, chief executive of Easymeeting.net and a native of East Lyme, in a statement. "This partnership is a huge step forward for video conferencing as it will make it available to a larger market independently of device preferences - tablet, phone, PC/MAC or a video conferencing system."

The company said its partnership with ZTE would give its video conferencing systems a "global footprint."

"We see Easymeeting.net as one of the most important players in the next generation of video conferencing," said Forrester Huang, chief executive of ZTE Nordics, in a statement. "We are very impressed with the emphasis Easymeeting.net puts on user experience and believe their services offer great value for current and potential video conferencing users."