Cisco Adds Internet Streaming to Content Delivery System

[pilotError]

Any Relevance to what Apple and Cisco were working on?

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070507/0248551.html

Monday May 7, 8:00 am ET

Enables Providers to Deploy Next-Generation Video Entertainment Services

LAS VEGAS, NV--(MARKET WIRE)--May 7, 2007 -- The Cable Show '07 -- Cisco® (NasdaqGS:CSCO - News) today announced a significant enhancement to its Content Delivery System (CDS), adding Internet streaming media capabilities that allow service providers to offer an ever-expanding scope of online content to help meet their customers' expectations of accessing any content, anywhere, anytime and on any device.

The enhanced Cisco CDS offers much more than other video-on-demand and streaming systems. The Cisco CDS Internet Streaming solution incorporates applications for delivering video to digital televisions and set-top boxes as well as delivering video, voice, music and data to a wide range of Internet Protocol (IP) devices such as personal computers, Wi-Fi-connected mobile phones and personal digital assistants.

This solution is part of the Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN), an architecture based on international standards and industry best practice. The Cisco IP NGN is a converged network designed to deliver next-generation video, voice, and data services while adding mobility to all services. The IP NGN design for video service delivery is a flexible platform for the delivery of a wide array of traditional and emerging video applications. The Cisco CDS uniquely delivers personalized services to both set-top boxes and IP devices; it empowers service providers to transform themselves into experience providers that can deliver "The Connected Life" to their customers.

"In today's competitive landscape, service providers need to provide a differentiated, highly personalized customer experience," said Paul Bosco, vice president of cable and video initiatives, Cisco. "By incorporating the Cisco Internet Streaming solution directly into our Content Delivery System, Cisco is providing flexible and powerful options to increase customer satisfaction and help enable service providers to deploy a variety of next-generation, value-added video entertainment services and much more."

Offering a number of key benefits, the Cisco CDS Internet Streaming solution is designed to:


-- Help enable access to all Internet content, whether professionally
created or user generated;
-- Support a hierarchical deployment model that enables service providers
to scale their offerings to millions of customers;
-- Support multiple streaming and file transfer protocols, enabling
service providers to converge to a single multipurpose infrastructure for
distribution and delivery;
-- Simplify operations and reduce operating expense via sophisticated
management software; and
-- Provide a flexible platform with application-layer intelligence that
can serve as the basis for both existing and future service offerings.

"A new generation of entertainment is upon us with the maturing of user-generated and web-based video," said Vince Vittore, senior analyst with The Yankee Group. "Service providers must respond by enabling customers new ways to create and consume content. These new services build on the Web 2.0 concept by bringing interactivity and community to video services. Using the Internet streaming capabilities of the Cisco Content Delivery System, service providers can tap into the content scope of their over-the-top competitors but use it in a way that benefits both the consumer experience and their business as a whole."

Using the Cisco Content Delivery System, service providers can deploy a variety of next-generation, value-added video entertainment services. These include:


-- User-Generated Content Service. The Cisco CDS Internet Streaming
application enables services where customers become video producers and
publish personal content to be viewed by a wider audience. The
hierarchical design of the Cisco CDS enables the system to scale
distribution as content popularity grows and to deliver the content to the
device type appropriate to the user.
-- Live TV Streaming Service for IP Devices. The unified Cisco CDS
design simplifies the ability to deliver live content, originally intended
for set-top box, to be delivered to any IP- and streaming-enabled device.
Cisco CDS is quality of service (QoS)-enabled through integration with
various QoS mechanisms such as PacketCable(TM) MultiMedia, for high-quality
delivery.
-- Music Streaming Service. The Cisco Internet Streaming solution can
provide either live or on-demand music streaming services. Using this
service, customers can have access to CD-quality, QoS-guaranteed music
channels on either IP devices or televisions.
-- File Distribution. The Cisco Internet Streaming solution provides
highly efficient, scalable file distribution using standard protocols.
Service providers can use this capability as a means of delivering software
updates for devices either inside the service provider network, such as
Quadrature Amplitude Modulators (QAMs) or Digital Subscriber Line Access
Multiplexer (DSLAMs), or inside the customer's home, greatly reducing
operational expenses.

Product Availability

The Cisco CDS Internet Streaming solution is scheduled to be available in the third quarter of 2007.

For more information on Cisco CDS Internet Streaming solution, visit Cisco booth 2044 on May 7-9, 2007, at The Cable Show '07, the 56th Annual Convention and International Exposition of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., or click the following URL:

www.cisco.com/go/cablevideo

 

[Tilpots]

Talk about raising the d(thr)ead...

Thought this may be relevant. Cisco seems to be the only ones really trying to win the "Living Room." Posted it in this thread instead of a separate one because it seemed to be teasing the next step of their plan to deliver content to the home and then move that content around the home.

We'll see what happens at CES...

Found this on CNET

Cisco Systems, which builds the gear that powers the Internet, is making a big push this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with new products that will help consumers move digital media around their homes.

Ned Hooper, senior vice president of corporate development for Cisco's Consumer Business Group
(Credit: Cisco Systems)
The company plans to hold a press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday to reveal the new products and its refined strategy for providing consumers with "communication and entertainment experiences that are more visual, more social and more personal," the company said in a press release.
To get a sneak peek at Cisco's strategy, I talked by phone with Ned Hooper, senior vice president of corporate development for Cisco's Consumer Business Group. While details of the soon-to-be-announced products are still under wraps, Hooper shed some light on why Cisco thinks there is a big opportunity in helping consumers get their homes connected and where the company plans to go with its strategy from next.
Q: Cisco isn't the first company to build products for the digital home. Dell, Gateway, and Hewlett-Packard have all tried to develop products to help consumers play their music and video throughout the home. So far, none of these companies have been very successful. Even Apple's Apple TV is a considered a niche product. Why do you think Cisco will have more success?
Hooper: I think it's important to look at how media and entertainment is being delivered to the home. The presence of the Internet and digital media is transforming all these industries and how people access entertainment and how they communicate with each other.
Over 100 million households have set top boxes with their cable or digital satellite service. So the digital set top box market is doing well. Services such as video on demand and DVRs are in high demand. But building expensive devices for a single function hasn't proven to be a viable market.
Cisco has been positioned very well in terms of being able to offer infrastructure for these network services. And we're already in the consumer electronics business with Linksys and Scientific Atlanta. It might surprise you to know that Cisco has shipped over 160 million consumer devices. This includes set-top boxes and home routers.
But what can Cisco do that's different from these other companies that have tried to address this market?
Hooper: What you can do today in terms of sharing media and moving it around the house if you have a high-degree of technical aptitude or a lot of money is really impressive. But we see opportunity in making it more feasible to do in the mass market. It's all about usability.
We're still in the very early days of this market. There are only about 39 million households in the U.S. that are networked or "connected" out of a total of about 120 million households nationwide. So, total penetration is still low. But the market is in transition. The first phase of the connected home was all about connecting two PCs to the same broadband connection. Or maybe you connected them to a printer over a wireless network. Now it's about the media-enabled home and connecting all the devices in the home so you can move and share your media around the house. In this phase, the ability to connect devices in the home to each other is just as important as connecting them to the Internet.
But the big question is how do we make it easier. That is the first thing that needs to be addressed. And at Cisco we see the network as becoming a platform that can help make connecting these devices easier. We don't see the solution as simply being a box. You shouldn't have to boot up your PC to share a picture or a song in the home network.
One of the biggest complaints I've heard from people setting up home entertainment systems is that there are too many wires connecting everything together. Do you think it's possible to shuttle all this bandwidth intensive media around the home wirelessly?
Hooper: We launched a high-end home router in July that we refer to as the Linksys WRT610N router. It's the first dual-band home router that operates in both the 2.4 Gigahertz and 5 GHz spectrum bands. It enables consumers to separate media content from basic Internet traffic in the home. I actually have been testing out the new products we are announcing at CES at home, and I used this router to put all the multimedia traffic in my home on the 5GHz band while I put my basic Internet traffic on the 2.4 GHz band. And it works great. It ensures that there isn't any congestion on the network. We also have some quality of service mechanisms that help ensure high quality audio and video.
You've talked about Cisco's role in connecting devices in the home. But with the economy worsening, I've found more people turning to the Internet for video. Do you think video that is freely available on the Internet through sites like Joost.com or Hulu.com or even some of the TV networks will eventually replace cable or other paid TV services?
Hooper: I don't think that people want to shut off their cable or satellite service. I think what they want is more services. Even in a troubled economy, we typically see people increase their spending on home entertainment ,because it's cheaper than leaving home. Also, subscription based services have historically shown to be successful. So I think whether it's Netflix or Time Warner Cable or Verizon Fios, there is going to be growth.
But there are clearly different ways to make money. And maybe we will see more ad supported models. The interesting thing for Cisco is because of our relationships with service providers, media companies and consumers, we can help deliver content across all routes to the market.
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