Cisco: It’s All About Video and the Cloud

Cisco Systems is the big dog on the networking block for a reason: They always seem to know which way the winds are blowing.

With the pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google, Cisco CEO John Chambers sees a huge (and getting huger) opportunity for the company’s video business. Multichannel News reported that Chambers said, “There are only two real players that can bring entertainment video in a major way” to pay-TV operators… “All of a sudden, you have major service providers saying, ‘Cisco, we see you now even more important in terms of the partnership and the direction on it.’”

This might look like some standard chest-thumping in the boring-to-some (but not to me) set-top box market, but let’s look closer. Chambers also said, “It’s really the architecture that we’re committed to, as this moves into the cloud with our Videoscape capability. Our service provider customers asked us to partner with them as they move from traditional set-top boxes, to IP set-top boxes, to the cloud, which again, is enabled by our Videoscape solutions.”

Cisco is putting a lot of resources behind Videoscape, and it’s just what cable operators need right now (and what cable subscribers want). Follow that link and check out what Cisco is talking about. It’s spot on.

This week at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, FierceCable reported that Cisco’s booth was focused on “products that shuttle content to tablets and mobile phones, and deliver interactive video and applications to the TV.” Cisco told FC that it’s seeing a “huge amount” of interest in “set-tops and gateway devices that allow operators to deliver a hybrid of live TV and Web applications to subscribers.” Again, spot on.

This comes on the heels of last month’s announcement that Cisco intends to acquire BNI Video, which supplies service providers with video back-office and content delivery network analytic capabilities. Analysts viewed the announcement as another big boost for the Videoscape platform. Spot. On.

So Cisco, you big dog, keep barking, because cable operators will be biting. You’re barking up the right tree.