Maybe Gil Scott-Heron was wrong. Maybe the revolution
will
be televised.
And if Cisco has its druthers, that revolution will be
flickering on screens in every major enterprise in just a few short
years. Cisco recently released its Digital Media System, taking the
popularity of consumer-based video-on-demand like that on
YouTube.com and iPods and giving it an enterprise spin.
The latest release gives companies high-quality video and audio
to connect employees, partners, students or customers pretty much
anywhere, anytime.
According to Thomas Wyatt, general manager in the digital media
management business unit, real-time, on-demand broadcasting will
let enterprises put a human face on their business.
"The video train has really left the station," he said. "The
first stop was the consumers, the next stop is business."
The Digital Media System, which is part of a phased approach by
Cisco to introduce video to the enterprise, lets users create,
manage and deliver live and on-demand digital media in various
formats to multiple wired or wireless devices. The system uses an
IP network as its platform, similar to VoIP.
"While the digital media explosion has taken off in the consumer
world, businesses are just beginning to realise the potential of
video," said Marthin De Beer, vice president of Cisco's emerging
markets technology group. He later added that using Cisco's Digital
Media System over an IP network "allows organisations to move to a
business environment where compelling interaction and experiences
are created and shared."
The Web-based system works on Cisco's Service-Oriented Network
Architecture (SONA), an architectural framework that enterprises
use to evolve existing infrastructure into an Intelligent
Information Network (IIN) that supports new IP strategies,
including service-oriented architecture (SOA), Web services and
virtualisation.
The Cisco Digital Media System consists of three parts: Digital
Media Encoders, Digital Media Manager, and Video Portal. The
encoders, which come as studio-level and portable, link to a camera
to encode and digitise video. The Media Manager manages and
publishes digital media and gives users tools to add and archive
media, assign metadata and keywords, preview content, schedule
deployments, and manage work flow. And the Video Portal is a
Web-based portal that allows users to browse, search and view
content. It is customisable and searchable.
The portal, Wyatt said, can support roughly 500 simultaneous
users, and the Digital Media Manager can support most video viewing
applications, such as Windows Media, RealPlayer and Flash. Later
this year, support for QuickTime and MPEG4 will roll out. The Media
Manager also works with existing application networking services
such as the networking giant's Application and Content Networking
System.
Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst of enterprise voice and
data at Campbell, Calif.-based Infonetics Research, likened the new
offering to "corporate YouTube." He said companies have been eyeing
IP video for years, but so far there hasn't been much traction
within the enterprise.
"It's one of those applications that has been talked about for a
long time," he said. "Video is generally one of those applications
that is less deployed but has a big interest."
Machowinski said video deployments have been held up mostly by
cultural issues, but it is proving itself as an important piece of
the IP puzzle.
"A lot of communication relies on visual cues," he said. "From
that perspective, it's a very important piece."
In the past year, Machowinski said, video has seen a sharp rise
on the open Internet, and it's certainly seeing some traction in
the enterprise.
"It definitely sounds like neat technology," he said. "I think
it sounds very promising."
The system, Wyatt said, will be only a minor burden to IT, which
will be responsible for integrating it. The software ships on
appliances, he said, and can be up and running within an hour.
Wyatt said the Digital Media System can be used in financial
services, retail, government, education, healthcare, and safety and
security. Say, for example, a financial services firm wants to
broadcast an interview with a financial analyst. The encoder is
plugged into the video camera and the interview is captured and
digitised. It can be streamed live or broadcast later. From there,
someone logs into the Digital Media Manager to set up the video
deployment, schedule publication and push it out to the Web portal.
From there, viewers can log into the Web portal and watch. Other
uses can include broadcasting executive speeches and keynotes, and
training remote workers.
In retail, Wyatt said, potential customers could be directed to
the Web video portal to interface and clear up any questions. "This
really puts a human face on communication."