January 6, 2010

Overview:

• Cisco announced today it is collaborating with NBC to provide a medianet – a media-aware Internet Protocol (IP) video network infrastructure – during the network's all-HD coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, February 12-28.
• Cisco and NBC have expanded their relationship for the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, leveraging the best combination of multiple video, storage, editing and telecommunications broadcasting technology vendors to deliver NBC's coverage of the Games via an end-to-end IP video solution from video production to content management and distribution.
• The combined Cisco and multiple broadcast vendor solution, which includes a private network, Cisco IP video infrastructure and medianet technology, will enable real-time editing of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games content by NBC personnel in multiple international and domestic locations, and will allow gigabyte-sized files to be transmitted between locations and then delivered to TVs, PCs and mobile devices.
• Cisco Flip Video cameras will also play an important role this year for NBCOlympics.com, helping NBC's analysts and bloggers shoot on-the-fly video of the winter scene around the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
• NBC will also be testing the Cisco Media Data Center and Cisco's Unified Computing System to support vital production and video-archiving functions.

Highlights:

• NBC will present a significant number of hours of broadcast coverage during the 17-day event. Using a file-based workflow for shot selection, the network can select shots and distribute them to post production editing facilities even before an event is finished.
• Viewers of NBC's coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games will be able to use their PCs and laptops to access video that they can play back on demand and request highlights, rewinds, encores and scoring results. Individuals will also be able to watch video and view results on their mobile devices.
• Additional Cisco components of the medianet deployed for NBC include:

• A single, converged IP infrastructure for a wide spectrum of services ranging from the video delivery to data-intensive logistics applications
• A high-bandwidth, high-performance connection between Vancouver and NBC studios in New York to give shot selectors and editors the ability to edit video as it is being captured at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games
• Quality of service (QoS) that assigns priority to real-time Olympic Games video footage over the network 

Supporting Quotes:

• "The workflow of high-definition media production is very complex and requires the integration of many different media services," said Craig Lau, vice president, Information Technology, NBC Olympics. "Cisco is a true partner to us in this tremendous project, and they have proven once again that we can depend on them for critical IP-based network infrastructure and technologies to handle the heavy media transport demands and support our digital production goals from start to finish."
• "The NBC network powered by Cisco technology is a medianet in action, making a great example of what a network optimized for extreme video traffic and rich media applications can handle," said Pankaj Patel, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Service Provider Group. "NBC's multiplatform video coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games gives viewers the chance to be up close and personal with all the action. Whether you want to watch on TV, PC or mobile phone, you can be in control of your own experience to tune in when you want from wherever you want."

RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html