Does it really matter where you are? Increasingly it might; even for the rich media applications that customers are starting to deploy on their networks. Location services are already emerging as a powerful transformative force in consumer electronics. Smartphone applications can already use your location to do anything from finding you the nearest Thai restaurant to locating the nearest available parking space. Increasingly essential tools for modern life in the big city. But location is also emerging as a subtle and yet important service when applied to rich media applications.
Modern network infrastructure is increasingly able to pass location information to connected endpoints enabling a new range of location based endpoint services. At the mundane level, these location services are useful in logistical management of rich media applications. For surveillance, the ability to locate and track the movements of IP surveillance cameras enables improvements to dynamic asset tracking and loss prevention. This doesn’t just apply to the increasing number of wireless IP surveillance cameras but also to wired cameras. Relying on a connectivity test may enable an administrator to check whether a camera is still active but that’s no guarantee that the camera is still located in the correct location and is monitoring the right “scene.” For digital signage applications prevalent in retail and entertainment venues, the most common method of determining which content should be streamed to a particular media endpoint is usually based on location. The media endpoint located in the lobby of a sports stadium is highly likely to be playing media content which differs from that sent to a player in an executive suite. By applying location services, dynamically learnt from the network, it’s possible to automate the provisioning of these media endpoints and even ensures that the correct content is played, even if the endpoint is moved from one location to another.
Pink cut-out hearts, red roses and a box of chocolates can only mean one thing. It’s almost Valentine’s Day! What are you doing for this romantic holiday?Not everyone is lucky enough to be in the same location as their special someone, and the time and money involved in flying cross-country often keeps us from spending time with those we love the most. With Cisco ūmi*, you can see your loved ones without even leaving your living room.
Here are some ideas if you’re celebrating via Cisco ūmi this February 14:
Pick a delicious recipe and have each person make the same meal. You can even cook “together” by pointing your ūmi camera at the kitchen. Once it’s all ready, sit down and share your culinary creations together. Even better if you light a candle and decide on a bottle of wine to “share!” Read More »
What is Cisco ūmi? Think of it as a TV-based video conferencing tool designed for consumers to help stay connected with our loved ones (for now in the US). You and the person you want to connect with each get a Cisco ūmi, hook it up to your TV, pay a monthly fee and you’re ready to chat away with grandma and grandpa on the East Coast or with your son or daughter in college. Wondering how to set it up? Check out Cisco ūmi social media manager, Zoya Fallah’s blog and first video message using this product. Then, read Alisa’s story on how she used ūmi to connect with grandpa.
Now that you have a better understanding of what Cisco ūmi is and what it does, let’s shift gears. The purpose of this blog post is to share with you how we introduced this product. This launch wasn’t just about a new product, but about a new experience…Our goal was to show through Read More »
What do people think of when you say The Network or Networking Technology? What do YOU think? The latter is at the heart of the question we were looking to answer when we created a video from the floor of the 2011 International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. With the help of few industry leaders, musicians and, of course, your everyday talking, walking robot, we gathered some insightful and diverse answers. Then we put the question to our Cisco Facebook community as well as the Networking Academy Facebook crowd. The answers lead us to crown Cisco’s Facebook SuperFan of the month, William Westman Malmi from Umeå, Sweden.
“In one word: Synergy. The power of many is always greater than the power of one, exponentially.”
William Westman Malmi, on The Power of the Network”
What we learned from the wealth of responses…and what we are still learning as we hope to hear from YOU in this blog post…is that the definition and the relevance of the network varies considerably from person to person, depending on perspective. But, regardless of how it is defined, whether it be a social definition or more technical in focus, one thing is certain, everyone has an answer to this question. And, that alone reflects the true Power of the Network.
Two major global trends are driving these significant increases: a continued surge in mobile-ready devices such as tablets and smart phones, and widespread mobile video content consumption.
The Cisco study estimates that by 2015, there will be a mobile connected device for nearly every member of the world’s population.
So what does this mean? Well, for one thing, it’s a harbinger that it’s time to get our WAN architectures ready for the flood of video traffic. What happens when you don’t? Aside from the obvious—you deliver a frustrating and dissatisfying media experience—you also put other network applications at risk of going down.
If that’s not enough to spur you to take another look at your WAN, consider my top five predictions for what this tsunami of video traffic might lead to from a cultural trending perspective:
