Cisco Nets NBC Olympics Deal

Will deliver video for multiple platforms

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2010 2:39:18 PM

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.