We do a lot of shows about video of course. It’s always a challenge I think when it comes to defining what the unique value of a given story needs to be. In this case, we were not featuring newly announced technology, which greatly simplifies the direction for us – but we were considering what we thought were some unmet needs.
Our goal for this episode: To make Cisco video for collaboration more approachable for every customer.
https://youtu.be/Wdvfu7qhrDw
Cisco does a lot of things in the broad category of ‘video.’ With more than 8,000 engineers working on video innovation, Cisco is a video powerhouse. Our teams have filed 1,700 video-related patents in the last five years. Innovations include TelePresence, Videoscape, Show and Share, Media Experience Engine, and Pulse Analytics. Internal innovation has been augmented with acquisitions including NDS, TANDBERG, BNI Video, Inlet, and ExtendMedia.
As we talked to customers and experts within Cisco, we kept coming back to a structure best defined as ‘where are you now’. In other words, video itself is not new as a concept…but as we narrow down to say this is about interactive video…it became helpful to consider where most Cisco customers might be starting from:
- Cisco Voice – you are familiar with call manager but have not explored the video capabilities inherent to the platform.
- Telepresence – you have some high quality video deployed but its special…only for high end events or people.
- Tandberg – you are good with video but its a distinct system from your other communications – Cisco or otherwise
- Third Party and Cave Dwellers – Anything from non-Cisco mixed environments to the luddites among us.
Why Every Company Needs To Create A Video Strategy
The assumption is that video is valuable and that the more pervasive and simple it can become in your organization, the more competitive and nimble you can be. So, with value established, the question becomes about execution.
Our executive guest has a very diverse business and video background who joined us from Tandberg. Jacob Nordan is Senior Director of Product Management for the Collaboration Business Unit. Powers had the honor of hosting his interview. Jacob set the tone for us by highlighting not just our success with various customers, but specifics around how these leaders were using video to pioneer change in their business.
More Reading: Jacob’s Blog Entry on Adopting a Video Strategy
Nathan Shaw joined us for our segment on ‘Understanding Video Endpoints.’ Nathan has been a guest on our show dating back to the very first Telepresence show we did where we helped him load up a Toyota 4-Runner with a CTS 500 so we could get it in the studio. Nathan is an awesome guy with a great background – AND…he is a gushing, proud new father. Could not be happier for him…and very impressed with his photography skills.
From endpoints, we pursued ‘Understanding Video Infrastructure’ with Cynthia Lee. She was a bundle of energy grabbing the pen from Jimmy Ray to help us understand where things like MCU’s and Border Controllers become important to achieve certain video communication objectives.
More Reading: Video Infrastructure Components
Jimmy Ray did a Master Class on the intersection of video and security. Its was pure fun with Network Address Translation (NAT), Application Level Gateways (ALG)…avoiding risk and things that will go bump in the night.
More Reading: Security for Video
We stole a segment from our upcoming new BizTech show that covered some advancements in using ‘Remote Expert’.
We wrapped up with Phil Marachel. We wanted Phil on to talk strategy as he is with our Cisco Services team. His street creed for video is fantastic however as he was doing video way before it was mainstream. As an engineer Phil worked on the biggest systems from PictureTel, the first MultiPoint bridges from Accord…all giants in the earlier years of video.
Hope you enjoyed the show. This is officially episode number 126 of TechWiseTV and we are loving the support you all continue to show us.
See you in the field!
Robb (& Jimmy Ray)
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