We collectively watch over 3 billion hours of video a month on YouTube alone.  And it’s not just crazy kitty antics or babbling babies:  among my video-related tasks this week, I learned how to change a faucet, caught up on some interesting TED talks, and reviewed the latest product meeting for an upcoming release.

Each of these required searching for videos, which for most of us means hunting and pecking. At best, we sort video by tags that someone has manually selected, and then drag the video scroll bar back and forth until we find the information we need.  Can you say, “time consuming”?

Another thing that some regard as time consuming, yet a civic duty, is listening to political debates.  Over the past nine months, the GOP candidates met head to head in over 20 debates to discuss a wide range of topics. But for viewers who weren’t able to tune in for each 90-minute debate …  imagine being able to instantly find every clip of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney talking about “immigration,” or to automatically parse each debate and identify who spoke about the “Supreme Court,” the “constitution,” or the “auto industry.”

With Cisco Pulse, Cisco’s video analytics solution, we used voice recognition to analyze each of the last four Republican debates. From January 19^th through February 22^nd, these debates featured the Republican candidates at the time: Romney, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Representative Ron Paul. (For a fascinating drill-down of what was said vs. what was reported, check out this blog from ActionNugget, a marketing insights firm.)

This is more than just speech-to-text technology. Using a Cisco voice recognition engine, Pulse is able to sort each video by top keywords and speakers. That means you can jump instantly to the specific segment of video you need, or browse entire libraries of video by content or speaker, instead of just manually entered tags. You can instantly see the top keywords for each video … who said what in context. The infographic below provides a snapshot of the findings from Cisco Pulse – a summary of topics from each debate and who said what.

(click for larger interactive image)

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Tags: 2012 election, analytics, business video, Cisco, cisco pulse, debates, enterprise video, Republican, video, video analytics, video search

Physical security has March Madness. And you might get it too, if you manage Cisco UCS and run video surveillance applications. Or if you attended ISC West this week in Vegas, where virtualization was all the buzz.

Our hot news is the virtualization of video surveillance on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). This has potentially profound implications on two big operational costs: data center management and safety and security operations.

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Tags: #iscwest, clmel, data center, enterprise video, ip video surveillance, medianet, physical security, safety and security, UCS, virtualiation

The Enterprise Video team is on the move again, this time to Cisco Live Melbourne!

Cisco Live Melbourne runs March 20-23 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

You can catch Enterprise Video demos in multiple areas of the World of Solutions.

For starters, check out the main Cisco area will feature the latest in Cisco Digital Signage, including signs with touch interactivity, as well as kiosk-based signs with endless aisle applications.

Next, head over to the Collaboration area, which features the latest in integration across our video content solution with new ways to capture, transform and share video. Be sure to stop by this demo following Rob Lloyd’s keynote, as we will be “pulsing” it just like we did for Cisco Live London!

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Tags: cisco live, cisco live melbourne, clmel, digital signage, ECDS, enterprise content delivery system, enterprise video, physical security, video, video surveillance

Digital Signage Expo (DSE) was full of energy this year and the continued expansion of the digital signage market was clearly evident. I’ve watched the digital signage industry evolve over the past five years from static content on traditional screens to customized, rich media content on a multitude of connected devices. At this year’s DSE the continued innovation and excitement was undeniable. The exhibit hall floor was packed with attendees who were eager to learn about the advancements in the technology and the industry as well as how to get the most out of their digital signage deployments. Throughout the EXPO floor, speaking sessions, and events the buzz was around interactive and engaging signage.

Cisco announced new digital signage innovations, delivered through the Cisco® Interactive Services solution set, that provide enhanced interactive capabilities through video, Web applications and touchscreen digital signs. Cisco also announced new customers that showcase the continued expansion of the digital signage market, including the Canadian city of Edmonton and parx casino® in Pennsylvania. In addition, Cisco received four Apex Awards, handed out by the Digital Signage Federation recognizing innovation and excellence in the digital signage industry. For more insight from the show floor, check out this video of Erica Schroeder, Director of Marketing for Enterprise Video at Cisco.

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Tags: Apex awards, business video, Cisco, cisco digital media suite, digital sign, digital signage, digital signage expo, enterprise video, interactive media, on-demand video, signage, streaming, video, video content

Today, Cisco is announcing a new addition to its Cisco Digital Signage Portfolio with Cisco Interactive Services web clients and a cloud-based management platform. These new products enable customers to create highly interactive media experiences to any high-definition and touchscreen digital endpoint. For example, imagine being able to walk up to a digital sign, tap on the glass and browse a map of your location or nearby restaurants; you can bring up a menu on the restaurant’s webpage, reserve a table, and even receive some customized advertising for other food options in the area, with a coupon and a QR code you can access with your mobile phone. The digital signage market is evolving and moving towards a new era of engagement; with Cisco Interactive Services, consumers are encouraged to interact with digital signs to find the information they are looking for, targeted for their needs.

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Tags: #DSE2012, Cisco Interactive Services, digital signage, digital signage expo, dse 2012, enterprise video, interactive media, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, parx casino