Cisco Produces Comprehensive ‘‘Medianets’’ Video Proposition

| Dec 8, 2008 | Digital Media Infrastructure | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Ron Westfall

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: Very High
Market Impact: Very High

Event Summary

December 8, 2008 -- Cisco introduced new technologies and solutions that will enable Internet Protocol (IP) networks to become the platform for a new generation of video and rich media applications and services. This new class of technologies is designed to enable advanced communications, collaboration, and entertainment experiences through video- and rich media-optimized service provider, business, and home networks, known as "medianets."

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Cisco unveiling its comprehensive approach for addressing “medianets,” since the proposition demonstrates how the breadth and flexibility of the Cisco portfolio and architectural approach can fulfill the rapidly evolving video and rich media networking needs of the universe of Cisco customers including service providers, content providers, enterprises, and consumers. This includes a newly articulated fundamental four-dimensional approach to medianets that emphasizes (1) improving the transformation of the video experience; (2) enhancing media aware IP NGNs; (3) universal virtualization; and (4) advancing monetization.

• Vendor Importance: Very high to Cisco, which needed to introduce the medianets concept to demonstrate how its vast portfolio assets and solutions can provide a unified and strategic approach to meeting the mounting video-specific challenges facing virtually all IP-based networks. This includes introducing the new network-based media processing platform (Cisco Media Experience Engine 3000), showcasing new Telepresence enhancements, highlighting VQE customer progress (Sonaecom), reiterating the benefits of the ASR 9000 AVSM, and explicating how medianets represent the networking resources, both Internet and non-Internet, required to support and scale fast-burgeoning video and rich media applications and services.

• Market Impact: Very high on the CDS market segment and the overall digital media infrastructure market, since Cisco already commands strong market positions and leadership in key video networking areas such as video routing, STBs, and CDS technology, which will oblige end-to-end (E2E) video networking and CDS rivals to respond to Cisco’s new medianets video/rich media proposition as it positions Cisco to more effectively bring the full bore of its video-related portfolio assets to meet the ever-expanding needs of video customers.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Digital Media Infrastructure | More information

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Video/multimedia networking rivals in general need to put increased portfolio development and marketing emphasis on the breadth and depth of their respective portfolios and solutions to meet the evolving video networking needs of customers in areas such as transforming the video experience, improving the media awareness of IP NGNs, virtualization, and monetization to counter Cisco’s strategic approach to medianets in such areas.

• Major video networking rivals such as Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Ericsson/TANDBERG TV (TT), Juniper, NSN, Thomson, Huawei, ZTE, UTStarcom, and Motorola need to continue emphasizing that Cisco is non-unique in promoting an architectural approach to meeting the evolving video/rich media networking challenges of customers, including service providers, businesses, and consumers

• Major video networking rivals such as Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Ericsson/TT, NSN, Thomson, Huawei, ZTE, UTStarcom, and Motorola should consider promoting the OSS/BSS, IMS/SDF, and content/video security aspects of their portfolios and solutions as potential areas of differentiation to counter Cisco’s platform and architectural approach to medianets.

• Motorola and ARRIS should continue promoting their efforts to support MSO-specific technologies such as tru2way, VBR/IPTV, DOCSIS 3.0 and spectrum management, and SCTE-135 applications to counter Cisco’s medianets-related marketing directed at MSOs.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Service providers, content providers/broadcasters, enterprises/businesses, and consumers need to consider Cisco’s overall architectural approach to addressing medianets, including optimizing video/media networking methods in areas such as improving overall video experiences; bolstering media awareness of IP NGNs; the virtualization of content, infrastructure, and services; and naturally enhanced monetization of video and rich media applications.

• Service providers and enterprises need to consider Cisco’s strategic approach to medianets in areas such as improving video/rich media experience assurances and scaling video/rich media traffic more effectively via a more system-level architectural approach to media delivery and control and better management of IP networking at the core, edge, and CPE levels.

• Video/media networking customers such as service providers, content providers, and enterprises need to consider the overall Cisco medianet proposition to improve video networking architectural challenges in areas such as transcoding, bandwidth capacity and availability, admission control, and transparent formatting to improve the overall video experience of their respective video services and applications.

• Service providers should compare and contrast Cisco’s medianet proposition with rival E2E video networking solutions from players such as Ericsson/TT, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Huawei, ZTE, NSN, Thomson, and UTStarcom to improve overall bargaining leverage. They should also consider alternatives to Cisco’s system-level architectural approach to medianets.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Digital Media Infrastructure | More information

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