Cisco Videoscape Is the Glue Binding Its Medianet Architecture to Multi-screen Strategies

Event Summary

January 5, 2011 -- Cisco announced the release of its Videoscape platform at CES 2011. The platform enables service providers to offer consumers access to content from multiple sources across multiple devices. The new elements of Videoscape include five product families for deployment in the cloud (Media Suite), network (Cisco Conductor), and home (media gateway, IP set-top box, and software clients). Cisco announced Telstra as the first service provider implementing Videoscape.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Cisco’s Videoscape announcement at CES 2011, because the platform ties together the multiple elements of Cisco’s medianet architecture to provide an end-to-end solution for multi-screen content delivery that Cisco is uniquely positioned to deliver. Cisco’s Videoscape architecture also addresses several implementation roadblocks that service providers face in delivering IP video and Web content into their existing environments, including their existing STB and back-office infrastructure. Therefore, for existing Cisco customers, and especially MSOs, Videoscape offers a compelling proposition to enable consistent delivery of content from multiple sources to multiple screens.

• Vendor Importance: High to Cisco, because Videoscape is the ‘glue’ that can bind together Cisco’s vast portfolio of client, network, and cloud products for multi-screen video solutions. The strongest element of the Videoscape solution is Cisco’s IP NGN infrastructure, which has a deployment footprint the company can leverage to drive adoption, primarily through the incorporation of Cisco’s content delivery system (CDS) technology on ASR 9000 blades. However, the relatively weaker part of the proposition is the Videoscape software architecture, and especially the Cisco Conductor service and device management technology, which manages the experience across both managed and un-managed networks and devices, but will only be available in 2012.

• Market Impact: High on the access, routing, and video networking segments of the service provider infrastructure market, because Cisco’s market approach incorporates an evolutionary plan to help operators implement Videoscape in stages, challenging vendors across the board with a comprehensive and end-to-end offering. Yet, beyond the technical impact, the success of Videoscape will also be contingent on Cisco and service providers being able to convince content owners to embrace new models for the storage, delivery, and monetization of their content assets. Ultimately, this will require mobilizing the entire content ecosystem.

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