Cisco, which provided the IP switching infrastructure for
NBC's broadband coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China,
announced at CES a broader agreement to provide an end-to-end IP video network
infrastructure for the network's coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter
Games (Feb. 12-28).
The solution, which will be based on Cisco's "medianet" IP
video technology and include gear from multiple vendors, will handle HD content
from video production to content management and distribution. It includes a
private network, Cisco IP video infrastructure and medianet technology that
will enable real-time editing of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games content by
NBC personnel in multiple international and domestic locations. It will also
allow gigabyte-sized files to be transmitted between locations and then
delivered to TVs, PCs and mobile devices.
Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Ned Hooper said the system will
allow NBC to transmit the data equivalent of 100,000 feature films during the
17 days of the Games.
Under the deal, NBC analysts and bloggers will also use
Cisco Flip Video cameras to shoot "on-the-fly video" of the winter scene around
the Vancouver
Olympic venues.
At Cisco's CES press event, Chairman and CEO John Chambers
also demonstrated a home telepresence system, using a high-definition display
equipped with a special camera, microphone and remote control to conduct a
brief chat with his wife Elaine in California.
Chambers said such IP-enabled solutions are just another example of why "video
is the killer app" for broadband networks.
