Observing this incredibly diverse CES crowd in Las Vegas, there is one demographic  notably absent – the obsolete TV set.  As I pondered a few weeks ago, when our industry strives to invent the future of entertainment, we can’t selfishly focus on our own needs as viewers.  We must consider the devices in this ecosystem and remember that TVs are people too, afterall.

With Videoscape, CES is now an event filled with possibility, not only for the Gentry appliances, but for now older TV sets and other devices as well.  We now have the ability to view all devices with mutual respect, where TV’s will be judged by their character and how they work with the network and its clouds and not by their bunny ears or how they on their own can only deliver a small subset of content. Read More »

Tags: CES, Service Provider, tv, videoscape

The plethora of TV and video devices, services and applications, which seems to grow on a daily basis, is enough to confuse even the most ardent technofile.  Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Cisco made a major step toward simplifying the TV experience.

Amid weeks of industry speculation, Cisco introduced  Cisco Videoscape, a comprehensive TV platform for service providers that brings together digital TV and online content with social media and communications applications to create a new, truly immersive home and mobile video entertainment experience.

“Videoscape represents the future of television,” said Pankaj Patel, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Service Provider Business.  “We believe this platform will do for television what the mobile Internet has done for mobile phones and devices.  This is the only entertainment solution available today that delivers this experience in full scope, combining all the necessary technology components of the cloud, the network and client devices.  We’re looking forward to working with service providers to give give consumers the best TV experience they can get.”

Tags: Pankaj Patel, video, videoscape

Today is an exciting day for us at Cisco with the launch of Videoscape.

As our Chairman and CEO, John Chambers, announced in a press conference this afternoon, Cisco Videoscape is both an experience and a solution, purpose-built for delivering and reinventing the next generation of TV experience. Together we will bring , entertainment, social media and communications and mobility together to transform how users engage with video and how providers can prosper.

Right now the consumer video experience is fragmented requiring consumers to go to multiple sources for their content. They are going to their cable or IPTV subscriptions for some content. Or, looking to their DVR and on-demand content for others. At times, they stream online content or do applications from their PC. Even still they must find additional boxes to stream their PC experience to their TV and to others that help sling content from one place to another. And, the list goes on. Some homes are so complex that it seems users need to have CCIE just to hook it all up and make it work; but all of that still doesn’t address the experience where users are having to navigate all of these different silos and devices just to watch what they want to watch or do what they want to do (and, we haven’t even spoken of quality yet). Challenges also exist for service providers as they now must now handle the ever increasing load of traffic while simultaneously losing some traction with the portion of their audience that is considering trimming of the cord. Both dynamics can have a negative effect on their business.

Today’s announcement intends to change all of this for consumers and providers alike. With Videoscape, SPs can do for TV experience (and other screens) what the mobile internet did for the phone.

Let’s look at what Videoscape delivers to the consumer, service provider and media company. Read More »

Tags: clients, cloud, ip, ip video, john chambers, launch, network, Service Provider, video solution, videoscape