AllThingsD » TelePresence

Can This Broken Robot Help Save Cisco Systems?

Arik Hesseldahl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:11 +0000

If you watched Sunday’s two conference-championship football games in the U.S. and paid any attention whatsoever to the commercials, there’s a good chance you saw the ad spot (embedded below) from Cisco Systems.

The spot depicts a batch of assembly-line robots busily building cars, as an instrumental version of the 1979 Gary Numan hit “Cars” plays happily. All is well until one of the robots experiences trouble and complains to the others, “I’m broken.” No problem, one of the others says, fixes his stricken comrade, and all is again well. Cue the voice-over, saying something about assembly lines that repair themselves. Then cue the corporate logo, aaaand … out.

The spot — which has exactly 100 percent less Ellen Page than the last series of Cisco TV ads — is part of a significant new advertising offensive that Cisco is launching today on television, in print and online. The TV spots will appear during the NCAA basketball games, the National Hockey League’s All-Star Skills Competition, and on CNBC and other business-oriented programming. However, it notably won’t appear during the Super Bowl.

Those robots will be seen again, disassembling and reassembling sections of certain Web sites as part of a series of “site takeovers,” including CNBC and The Street, among others.

The print portion is a six-page “manifesto” that explains ways that Cisco’s “Human Network” plays important and unexpected roles at banking companies and companies that sell chutney, and helps the National Basketball Association push its video around the world. The manifesto will appear in The Wall Street Journal (which, like this Web site, is owned by News Corp.), the Economist and the New York Times.

There will also be a social campaign via LinkedIn that goes after 140,000 C-level executives registered on that network. It will be the first time that embedded video will be used in a LinkedIn campaign. More TV ads will come later this year, as will localized versions of the campaign for international markets.

Last week, I talked with Blair Christie, Cisco’s chief marketing officer, who said that the manifesto in particular is about using the voice of its customers to show how Cisco’s technology can help companies do things they couldn’t do before. Of course, the point they’re supposed to get is that a Cisco intelligent network is what’s enabling them to do that.

Christie says it’s all part of Cisco’s effort to simplify how it communicates about itself. There’s no more muddling of the message. There’s no more consumer division to eat into the perception that Cisco is anything but an enterprise- and service-provider-focused networking company, so no more need for cute ads that overdo awkward jokes about teleconferencing, or showing a giggly twentysomething woman in a virtual fitting room. Cisco is now about transforming how companies do what they do, either by doing it better, or seeing new opportunities. It’s a big message, and a tricky one to get across in 30 seconds during a football game.

I asked Christie about the state of Cisco’s brand before this campaign, and whether or not there were any perceived weaknesses, given its recent troubles, that this ad effort is meant to shore up. “There was actually a lot that was right with our brand,” she told me. “The opportunity we had was clear and simple. Our customer voice is our talent, and that’s what we’re showing, and it’s consistent with our strategy. We use our customers as a test bed, so why not use them as a reflection of our brand? It wasn’t rocket science. But it was the customer voice that was missing.”

Simplifying and streamlining are themes that Cisco is certainly acquainted with of late. It has been doing a lot of those, and indeed, even shrinking itself as part of a broad-based restructuring. The results of that effort are starting to show up in Cisco’s results.

Time will tell if this new advertising campaign will help Cisco effectively reintroduce itself to its core customers; fight off strong competitive thrusts from the likes of Hewlett-Packard, whose networking division marketed itself aggressively against Cisco in 2010; and perhaps press a perceived advantage against Juniper Networks, which has been having its own problems.

What I find notable, or maybe missing from the campaign, are recognizable names of customers doing innovative things. Yes, there’s the NBA, but in the print manifesto, who’s the bank that’s using Cisco’s video TelePresence to interact with customers? Who’s the small chutney company that turned “browsers into buyers”? And who’s the car company with such smart assembly-line robots? It’s a good message that, to my mind, could be made a lot more effective with more specific examples.

And while I grant it’s often difficult to get customers to agree to be named in ads like this — you could almost hear CEO John Chambers’s frustration about not being allowed to name a certain banking customer, about which he was obviously proud, on a recent conference call — the biggest networking company in the world shouldn’t have such a problem. It should be able to brag that this or that household-name bank is an enthusiastic Cisco customer, and that Cisco networks powered the manufacturing of that popular car everyone is talking about right now. That would add some real oomph, and really serve to remind potential customers that Cisco is still, despite its recent missteps, the networking world’s alpha dog.

Anyhow, my critique aside, here’s the robots spot. Enjoy:

Cisco Robots from Arik Hesseldahl on Vimeo.

The Video Conferencing Business Just Got Interesting

Arik Hesseldahl — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:45:01 +0000

I have this week participated in two video conferences in as many days. Unless you count the occasional Skype video call, which for the moment I won’t, that’s two more than I did in all of 2010, all of 2009 and all of 2008 combined.

This occurrence brings into focus the apparent intensifying of competition in the enterprise video conferencing market between the networking giant Cisco Systems and several other players who hope to challenge it, among them Polycom and a start-up called Vidyo.

The second of these two video conferences occurred Tuesday in a telepresence suite at a Cisco office in Manhattan. The occasion was the announcement of Cisco’s latest ASR 9000 router, a powerful piece of gear that can move 96 terabits of data every second, sufficient bandwidth, it says in a press release, to simultaneously stream in a second video recordings of every Super Bowl game and World Cup and Cricket World Cup match ever played.

The meeting was held at multiple sites. Two telepresence rooms in New York were used, two more in California, one in New Jersey, one in Atlanta, and one in Milan, Italy. Execs from various Cisco customers from Comcast, Cox Communications, Tata and FastWeb, service providers all, testified about how great the ASR 9000 is, and how it’s making their business easier and so on.

You’ve probably attended a meeting like this, but if you haven’t it’s a curious experience. Attendees appear on large high-definition video screens arrayed on the other side of a conference table meant to create the illusion that they’re in the room with you. Holding a meeting like this is more effective than a traditional conference call, and cheaper than paying the travel costs that would normally be required to get the same people gathered in a room.

The launch event was meant to follow Cisco’s release last week of its Visual Networking Index forecast, its assessment of how big the Internet is, and how big it’s going to get a few years out. Video, hailed often by Cisco CEO John Chambers as a key strategic play that will eventually help Cisco work its way out of its current troubles, naturally figured prominently in the forecast. Consumers and businesses alike will be demanding lots of video, whether it’s for entertainment or for holding meetings.

If you’re a service provider seeing video demand, Cisco’s ASR 9000 line of routers are proving “increasingly popular” as the analyst Jess Lubert of Wells Fargo securities wrote in a research note to clients on June 6. “Several content, media, and service provider customers are deploying the platform to leverage its advanced video capabilities.” This bodes well for Cisco’s business on the back end of video. And Cisco also participates in the business of selling the front end. All the telepresence gear bore Cisco’s brand. Indeed, video conferencing–or what Cisco calls collaboration–is one of the things that is going right at Cisco these days. It’s on track to be a $4 billion business this year, and is growing at a healthy 25 percent clip.

But there are challenges. Elsewhere in Lubert’s note were some observations that Polycom is winning some business away from Cisco. Demand is strong for gear from both vendors, yet frustration among some customers and partners with Cisco and its Tandberg unit is causing them to steer more business toward Polycom for the moment, Lubert writes.

There’s no denying that Polycom is on a roll. Sales grew 26 percent in 2010 to $1.2 billion, and group telepresence products accounted for $796 million, or 65 percent of sales. Its shares have risen by 135 percent since October. And last week it spent $89 million to acquire Hewlett-Packard’s Halo video conferencing business, a rare divestiture for HP, the world’s largest technology company. HP, a latent rival to Cisco in the networking space, will resell Polycom equipment as part of the deal. Meanwhile Polycom said it will expand its relationship with Microsoft, whose Lync video conferencing software, as Lubert wrote in the Wells Fargo note, is turning out to be a big driver in sales of Polycom equipment. So when we talk about office video conferencing equipment, we know who the two main players are: Cisco and Polycom.

All this brings me to the first of those two video conferences in which I participated this week. On Monday I was introduced to Vidyo, a New Jersey-based video conferencing start-up that aims to upend both of the established players with a product that undercuts them on price and outdoes them on features and flexibility.

Till now, Vidyo was focused on the desktop video business, but it has aimed its sights at higher-end office conferencing systems. Backed by $74 million from Menlo Ventures, Rho Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, Star Ventures and the Four Rivers Group, it has now set its sights on the higher-end video conferencing market.

The first thing I noticed during the Vidyo meeting was what I called The Brady Bunch Effect. Nine screens were arrayed in a conference room, for nine different people against light blue backgrounds (as in the picture above) in a way that reminded me of the old TV sitcom. The company calls the product VidyoPanorama, and it can support as many as 20 screens at a resolution of 1080p with 60 frames per second. Vidyo CEO Ofer Shapiro told me that just such a system with nine screens could be set up for $60,000 compared prices in the $300,000 range for similar systems from the bigger players with fewer screens. Vidyo’s starting price for a four-screen system is $40,000. It also supports tablets and smart phones, including Apple’s iPad 2 and phones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system.

All a company needs to get started is a good Internet connection and a Vidyo router added to a rack in its data center. There’s also an application that must be installed on whatever Mac/PC/tablet/phone you want to use for conferencing.

Video conferencing and telepresence are the sort of technologies you keep hearing about, but they never seem to reach any critical mass. I’ve heard people say “This is the year for video conferencing” since about 2003, and yet in 2011, it’s still unusual, at least in my anecdotal experience, to participate in one. Yet the numbers don’t lie. Companies want it, and just as Cisco and Polycom are making a serious go of selling it to them, here comes a start-up ready to turn that business upside down. If I were Cisco or Polycom, I’d be worried.

Cisco Drops Price of Home Video-Calling System

Cari Tuna — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:00:21 +0000

Cisco Systems has cut the price of its umi video-calling system for consumers, a flashy offering released in October to great fanfare–and widespread criticism about how much it cost.

The network-equipment giant on Monday said it is reducing the price of the existing umi system to $499 from $599, and introduced a $399 version with reduced high-definition resolution that requires a slower Internet connection. The San Jose, Calif., also slashed the price of the monthly service fee for umi to $9.95 a month from $24.99.

Cisco’s system is a home version of its high-end conferencing gear for businesses, which it calls “telepresence” in order to indicate the lifelike quality of the connection. The consumer system includes a camera, set-top device and remote control and connects high-definition TVs to a user’s broadband Internet connection.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Cisco Makes a Push in Office Video, While Its Switching Business Is Under Attack

Arik Hesseldahl — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:26:56 +0000

Investor confidence in Cisco Systems hasn’t yet come back after the company’s earnings report earlier this month, where it gave an outlook that disappointed analysts. However, one of the things that CEO John Chambers said will get the company firing on all cylinders again is video.

Today Cisco announced some moves on that front. It unveiled a new version of its TelePresence Content Server 5.0 that allows videos to be recorded and shared easily within a company. They’re also searchable, thanks to a network appliance called the Cisco MXE 3500 that can quickly tag the speakers and words in a video clip, so you can quickly forward to the important stuff–when the boss is talking–or search out key words that apply to your department and ignore the other stuff.

Cisco also announced some new video hardware, including a 47-inch TelePresence endpoint, aimed at offices or small conference rooms, as well as a line of IP phones that have cameras built in. Finally it brought out a “digital signage” product that serves as sort of a telepresence kiosk. Say you’re at a bank and see an ad on a display screen for a product or service that you want to know more about. Touching the screen triggers a video chat with a sales rep who will try to close the deal via live video chat.

The shares seem not to be responding in early trading. That may have something to do with word that Cisco is having trouble in its core networking business competing with Hewlett-Packard. HP is offering discounts to Cisco switching customers who–sorry–switch to HP, and Cisco is losing share. Meanwhile, Juniper Networks is out with a new line of networking gear today as well. As HP Networking head VP Marius Haas put it in a chat I had with him late last year, maybe people truly are “tired of paying for Cisco.” Will they be willing to pay for video?

Get Your Good Clothes On, Kids; It's Time to Call Grandma

Voices — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:59:55 +0000

Just in time to facilitate heartwarming virtual holiday reunions across the miles, Cisco has started selling its consumer telepresence rig, the Umi (as in “you-me”–get it?). The systems are available from Cisco itself and through Best Buy and its Magnolia Home Theater department. Video togetherness is yours for $599 plus $24.99 a month for unlimited calls, video messaging and 100 minutes of video storage. Demos available at select malls around the country.

Video: BoomTown Gets a Taste of Umi and Chomps into Cisco Execs Too!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:16:20 +0000

Yesterday, BoomTown dragged my weary bag of bones to downtown San Francisco for the unboxing of a new consumer telepresence product from Cisco called Umi.

The networking giant is making yet another big foray into the competitive space for, well, space in the living room with the device, which will cost $599 with a $24.99 monthly fee.

The Cisco (CSCO) brand name Umi is a variation on “you-me.”

The Umi unit works with your existing high-definition television and high-speed broadband. It’s in three parts: A camera, a remote control and a set-top box. It will work with Google (GOOG) Voice Chat–but not Skype and Apple (AAPL) iChat yet.

Here’s a video I did–using Cisco’s Flip video camera, natch!–to capture the proceedings at the launch event and demo, as well as to interview Umi head honcho Gina Clark about the effort, competition and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

Like BoomTown Said: Cisco Announces "Umi" Consumer Telepresence

Kara Swisher — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:37:34 +0000

In a post last week, BoomTown wrote that Cisco would introduce a consumer telepresence product.

It did today in San Francisco at a press event. It is called, inexplicably, “Umi” telepresence.

I’ll be honest, it sounds like the kind of sushi I typically refuse to eat, because I am not as adventurous as I like to pretend I am.

Actually, it seems to be a variation on you-me.

Get it? You and me and telepresence. As in “Star Trek” for non-geeks.

According to Wikipedia, here are some other definitions for the word:

“Umi may refer to: Umi, ‘sea’ in Japanese language; UMI, Universal Mobile Interface; Umi, Fukuoka, a town in Japan; Umi-a-Liloa, the king of the island of Hawaii; Umi Ryuzaki, a character in the fictional manga series ‘Magic Knight Rayearth’ by CLAMP.”

“Connect with a touch of the button,” is the motto for the giant Silicon Valley networking company for Umi.

And, frankly, I wish I could have telepresenced from my bed at home with it.

You can, using Umi with your existing high-definition television and high-speed broadband. It’s in three parts: A camera, a remote control and, ugh, yet another set-top box to pile on the rest on the shelf in your home living room, as you can see below.

Cisco said the device is scheduled to be available to consumers on November 14 in Best Buy (BBY) Magnolia Home Theater stores, as well as at bestbuy.com and umi.cisco.com “for the suggested retail price of $599 with a monthly fee of $24.99 for unlimited ?mi calls, video messaging and video storage.”

At the short and sweet event, Cisco execs touted their entry into the crowded consumer video-conferencing arena.

“It’s all about tasting the chocolate,” said Cisco exec Gina Clark about her box of Umi, which will work with Google Voice Chat–but not Skype and Apple (AAPL) iChat yet.

It also has the seal of approval from Oprah Winfrey, who will doubtlessly use it in some Oprah manner on her talk show.

Clark mentions tasting the chocolate several more times to knock the point home that if you try it, you’ll like it.

I can’t believe I ate the whole Umi!

Now, Cisco–which really is obsessed with the chocolate metaphor today–is making me have a chomp in a demo.

And, while I am no reviewer, it is pretty sweet, and looks great, well beyond what is available via Internet video chat.

Until the inevitable shaky video appears, here is the full press release from Cisco (CSCO):

Cisco umi Press Release

Wednesday Is Prince Spaghetti Day in Silicon Valley

Kara Swisher — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:15:47 +0000

This morning just after 9 am PT in San Francisco, there is an event that Cisco (CSCO) is throwing, to show off its new consumer telepresence product that BoomTown reported on last week.

Then, at 10 am, down at its Palo Alto, Calif., HQ, Facebook is having yet another product launch event for the media–one of many regular gatherings like it in recent months–to show off new updates to its social networking service.

And, to round it out, Google (GOOG) and Logitech will be throwing a confab in the area to show off the first iteration of its Google TV device, with which consumers can use televisions to interact with all kinds of video and other content.

In other words, it’s a special day in Silicon Valle,y and All Things Digital will be right there covering all the action.

Until all this mess of innovation gets rolled out, please enjoy the video of the classic television commercial with Hey Anthony in Boston’s North End:

Cisco to Unveil an Affordable Home TelePresence Product for Consumers Next Week

Kara Swisher — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:01:18 +0000

Cisco, the networking giant, is making yet another big step into the consumer space, with the introduction next week of an inexpensive home telepresence product for personal use.

Consumer or Home TelePresence, sources said, might be launched with Comcast (CMCSK) and Verizon (VZ). It is not clear if AT&T is involved.

The cost for a small unit could be as low as $200, but that price would be heavily subsidized. Another source said a $500 price point was also possible with fewer hooks.

The big selling point: The high-definition quality is supposed to be very good. Cisco (CSCO) will use this selling point to contrast it to what will be its big competitor: Internet telephony and video-calling giant Skype.

With it, presumably, people can interact in front of a television set with distant relatives and friends.

Cisco already has a big telepresence business aimed at the corporate meeting market.

But its deployment is complex and requires expensive installation of large pieces of equipment.

Notes Cisco’s Web site:

With Cisco TelePresence:

Scheduling is easy–no IT support required
Launching a meeting is as simple as making a phone call.
In-room controls are intuitive–collaboration applications are plug and play
Participants can meet in many rooms at once-up to 48 locations in one meeting
Users can easily bring in collaboration applications like Cisco WebEx Meeting Center
Existing SD or HD videoconferencing systems can be easily integrated.

Yesterday, BoomTown reported that Cisco will be holding a press event next Wednesday morning in San Francisco.

The invite reads: “Come see a new Cisco consumer experience at an exclusive media event, hosted by Chairman and CEO John Chambers.”

As I wrote, reflecting speculation: “What could the new consumer product be?

Perhaps Cisco has built its own version of Apple (AAPL) TV. Or perhaps a consumer-aimed home version of telepresence?”

It turns out Door #2 was right!

This is all part of Cisco’s ongoing attempt to push into the consumer space, offering a variety of products.

Cisco’s PR spokesperson declined to comment.

Cisco Does Doobies–So What's Next in the Consumer Space?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:15:35 +0000

Yesterday, BoomTown made a brief stop at what felt like an underground bunker in a hotel in San Francisco to see the Doobie Brothers.

Yes, the legendary band of indelible hit songs such as “Black Water” and “China Grove” and misspent youth way, way back in the day.

Except the group, which was founded in San Jose, Calif., in 1970, was performing at a Cisco (CSCO) television studio down south in Silicon Valley to launch its first album in a decade, called “World Gone Crazy.”

Cisco–founded in San Jose too, but in 1984–put on a 90-minute concert by the Doobie Brothers that was broadcast to 11 U.S. cities, helped by AT&T (T) and Marriott (MAR).

It was an odd event, because we were watching a concert on a big screen in what felt like a place more suited for a corporate retreat.

Still, in its ongoing attempt to push its telepresence technology into the consumer space, such a thing has become more typical for Cisco.

That’s why it will be interesting to see what the tech giant will announce at an event it is having on October 6.

The invite reads: “Come see a new Cisco consumer experience at an exclusive media event, hosted by Chairman and CEO John Chambers.”

What could the new consumer product be?

Perhaps Cisco has built its own version of Apple (AAPL) TV. Or perhaps a consumer-aimed home version of telepresence?

Until we all find out, here is a short video I did at the event yesterday:

[ See post to watch video ]

Cisco's Making a Tablet? That's Like Apple Making a Connected Grid Router.

John Paczkowski — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:05:03 +0000

Cisco today added its entry to the array of Android-based tablets competing with Apple’s (AAPL) iPad, and the device is all business. With front- and rear-facing cameras, HD output, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity and an optional dock with a speakerphone, the Cius aims to add portability to Cisco’s enterprise telepresence products.

Weighing in at just over a pound, the Cius “offers HD video streaming and real-time video, multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, browsing, and the ability to produce, edit and share content stored locally or centrally in the cloud,” according to a Cisco (CSCO) news release (in full below). The pitch to IT departments is that the tablet offers a lower-cost alternative to laptops and desktops for mobile workers. No details yet on price or carrier arrangements.

By the way, Cius is pronounced “see-us” (and for heaven’s sake, don’t transpose the vowels when you’re typing; a cuis is a guinea pig-like rodent).

Cisco Simplifies Mobile Collaboration with First-of-its-kind HD Video-Capable Business Tablet

New Android-based Computing Device Uses Cisco Collaboration Architecture and Virtual Desktop Integration to Deliver Mobile Computing, Collaboration and Communication Services

LAS VEGAS – June 29, 2010 – Cisco today unveiled Cisco Cius , a first-of-its-kind mobile collaboration business tablet that delivers virtual desktop integration with anywhere, anytime access to the full range of Cisco collaboration and communication applications, including HD video.

Cisco Cius is an ultra-portable device weighing just 1.15lbs (0.52kg) that extends the productivity benefits of Cisco collaboration applications to a highly secure mobile platform. In addition to full telepresence interoperability, Cisco Cius offers HD video streaming and real-time video, multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, browsing, and the ability to produce, edit and share content stored locally or centrally in the cloud.

Based on the Android operating system, Cisco Cius is an open platform for communication and collaboration whose form factor and applications are designed to more securely connect employees on-the-go with the right people in real-time, and to provide those workers with the ability to access and share the content they need from any place on the network.

Cisco Cius offers IT professionals new options when it comes to equipping mobile workers with computing devices. Through virtual desktop integration, Cisco Cius offers flexible computing options with cloud-based services, providing dramatically lower capital costs and cost-per-user for desktop maintenance.

Businesses can also tap into the growing Android developer community that is building business-class productivity applications with appropriate IT controls. The combination of applications and flexible computing options provides a compelling alternative to today’s PC-on-every-desktop paradigm.

ANNOUNCEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Product Features

* The Cisco Cius is a lightweight portable business computing tablet offered with an optional HD audio station equipped with a telephone handset speakerphone, HD DisplayPort and USB ports.
* The Cisco Cius tablet features a front-mounted 720p HD camera which refreshes at up to 30 frames per second; a seven inch, high-resolution widescreen super VGA touch-target display for real-time and streamed video, and single-button TelePresence interoperability that can be utilized either when the tablet is docked, or being used remotely via Wi-Fi.
* The tablet has a 5-megapixel rear facing camera that can transmit streaming VGA quality video and capture still images, and dual noise-cancelling microphones for audio conferencing.
* Cisco Cius features an eloquent contacts-driven user experience, designed to enables users to quickly reach their important contacts.
* An on-board accelerometer readily orients applications for viewing in portrait or landscape modes as the user rotates the device to their preferred viewing orientation
* Cisco Cius supports 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi for enterprise campus mobility and 3G cellular services when off-campus. 4G services will be available at a later date. Bluetooth and Micro-USB means users can work untethered and share data with a PC.
* A detachable and serviceable battery offers eight hours life under normal usage.

Cisco Closes Tandberg Acquisition

John Paczkowski — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:05:29 +0000

At long last, Cisco has closed its acquisition of Tandberg, ending a battle for the videoconferencing equipment manufacturer that began last October.

As of close of business Monday, Cisco (CSCO) owned all outstanding Tandberg shares. Price: $3.3 billion, a bit more than the $3.0 billion it first offered for the company.

A pricey, but savvy acquisition. Tandberg’s lower-end TelePresence systems and specialized software for managing teleconferences will do much to help Cisco dominate the $34 billion collaboration market, which is growing–and quickly too.

It’s worth noting that last year year, Gartner (IT) forecast that video telepresence could replace 2.1 million business travel flights a year by 2012, diverting $3.5 billion annually from the airline industry.

Cisco Unveils "Next-Generation" Routing System to Speed Up Video on the Web

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:04:53 +0000

Cisco today announced a new version of its key routing system, which the networking giant said has a dozen times the traffic capacity of competitors and three times as much as the company’s previous version.

Cisco’s CEO John Chambers said the CRS-3 Carrier Routing System is aimed at the huge growth in video on the Internet, a trend that has also caused slowdowns.

Pankaj Patel, SVP and GM for the service provider business, claimed the system could in just a few minutes deliver all the movies ever made or allow everyone in China to make a video phone call at once.

It had better. The consumption of video online is growing like crazy and a constant bottleneck is likely without some relief.

“Video brings the Internet to life,” said Chambers. “You are moving from a messaging platform to a video platform.”

Along with Chambers and Patel, AT&T (T) Labs CEO and President Keith Cambron was on the call discussing deployment trials the telecom giant has been doing with the CRS-3.

CRS-3 (pictured here) will be available within the calendar year, said the Cisco execs on a press and analyst call this morning.

Cisco had said weeks ago that it was making “a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.”

Significant? We’ll see, of course. For sure, it was a highly hyped announcement by Chambers.

But due to the speculation about what Cisco was unveiling, its stock hit a 52-week high yesterday. It dropped slightly this morning after the call.

Many others are getting into the high-speed act on the Web.

Google (GOOG) said recently that it is planning on building a superfast broadband service. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil its own ambitious plan to improve high-speed Internet access across the United States.

Cisco has gotten deep into the video business of late, both in pushing its networking gear and in acquiring a video device maker like Pure Digital, the company behind my beloved Flip digital camera.

It is also working on innovative holographic and television-based home telepresence technologies.

Here is a pair of Cisco videos about the CRS-3 and the official press release below them, with all the deets:

Cisco Introduces Foundation for Next-Generation Internet: The Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System

Advanced Platform Designed to Deliver New Wave of Video, Mobile and Data Center/Cloud Services

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 9, 2010–Cisco today announced a major advancement in Internet networking–the Cisco® CRS-3 Carrier Routing System (CRS)–designed to serve as the foundation of the next-generation Internet and set the pace for the astonishing growth of video transmission, mobile devices and new online services through this decade and beyond.

With more than 12 times the traffic capacity of the nearest competing system, the Cisco CRS-3 is designed to transform the broadband communication and entertainment industry by accelerating the delivery of compelling new experiences for consumers, new revenue opportunities for service providers, and new ways to collaborate in the workplace.

Overview:

The Cisco CRS-3 triples the capacity of its predecessor, the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System, with up to 322 Terabits per second, which enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.

The Cisco CRS-3 enables unified service delivery of Internet and cloud services with service intelligence spanning service provider Internet Protocol Next-Generation Networks (IP NGNs) and data center. The Cisco CRS-3 also provides unprecedented savings with investment protection for the nearly 5,000 Cisco CRS-1 deployed worldwide. Cisco’s cumulative investment in the Cisco CRS family is $1.6 billion, further underscoring the company’s commitment.

AT&T, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, recently tested the Cisco CRS-3 in a successful completion of the world’s first field trial of 100-Gigabit backbone network technology, which took place in AT&T’s live network between New Orleans and Miami. The trial advances AT&T’s development of the next generation of backbone network technology that will support the network requirements for the growing number of advanced services offered by AT&T to consumer and business customers, both fixed and mobile.

The Cisco CRS-3 is currently in field trials, and its pricing starts at $90,000 U.S.

Highlights and Capabilities for the Next-Generation Internet:

Unmatched Scale: With a proven multi-chassis architecture, the Cisco CRS-3 can deliver up to 322 tbps of capacity, more than tripling the 92 tbps capacity of the Cisco CRS-1 and representing more than 12 times the capacity of any other core router in the industry.

Unique Core and Data Center/Cloud Services Intelligence: In addition to capacity requirements, the growths of mobile and video applications are creating new multidirectional traffic patterns with the increasing emergence of the data center cloud. The new Cisco Data Center Services System provides tight linkages between the Cisco CRS-3, Cisco Nexus family and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) to enable unified service delivery of cloud services. This intelligence also includes carrier-grade IPv6 (CGv6) and core IP/MPLS technologies that permit new IP NGN architectural efficiencies required to keep pace with the rapidly growing cloud services market. Unique capabilities include:

Network Positioning System (NPS)–provides Layers 3 to 7 application information for best path to content, improving consumer and business experiences while reducing costs.

Cloud virtual private network (VPN) for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)-enables ‘pay-as-you-go’ for compute, storage and network resources by automating Cisco CRS-3 and Cisco Nexus Inter-Data center connections for Cisco UCS.

Unprecedented Savings: The Cisco CRS-3 offers dramatic operational expense savings and up to 60 percent savings on power consumption compared to competitive platforms. The Cisco CRS-3 also delivers significant capital expenditures savings and investment protection for existing Cisco CRS-1 customers. The new capabilities in the platform can be achieved by reusing the existing chassis, route processors, fans and power systems with the addition of new line cards and fabric. These upgrades can be performed in-service and be provided by Cisco Services to ensure a smooth transition.

Silicon Innovation: The Cisco CRS-3 is powered by the new Cisco QuantumFlow Array Processor, which unifies the combined power of six chips to work as one, enabling unprecedented levels of service capabilities and processing power. Making this implementation even more unique is its ability to deliver capabilities with a fraction of the power required by lesser performing chipsets. The Cisco QuantumFlow Array chipset was designed to provide the new system the ability to scale with the ever increasing demands being placed on the IP NGN by the many different applications and billions of devices being used by both businesses and consumers in the Zettabyte era.

Supporting Quotes:

Keith Cambron, president and CEO, AT&T Labs

“We are entering the next stage of global communication and entertainment services and applications, which requires a new set of advanced Internet networking technologies. AT&T’s network handled 40 percent more traffic in 2009 than it did in the previous year, and we continue to see this growth in 2010. Having leading edge experience in managing the largest global data network, we are pleased to continue our close working relationship with Cisco and its groundbreaking Cisco CRS-3 platform.”

Pankaj Patel, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco

“The next generation Internet is upon us and we are confident that the Cisco CRS-3 will play a crucial role as service providers like AT&T deliver an exciting, new array of video, mobile, data center and cloud services. The Cisco CRS-3 is well positioned to carry on the tradition of the Cisco CRS-1, become the flagship router of the future and serves as the foundation for the world’s most intelligent and advanced broadband networks.”

What Is Cisco Announcing This Morning to "Forever Change the Internet"? A Foursquare-Enabled Jet Pack?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:15:53 +0000

Bright and early this morning at 8 am PT, BoomTown will be jacked into the matrix for an invitation-only media and analyst briefing to hear exactly what the heck Cisco (CSCO) has been yammering on about of late.

Last month, the networking giant said in a mysterioso email that it would be making “a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.”

Significant? Forever? It had better be good.

Like a jet pack from which you can communicate your Foursquare location (“I’m Mayor of the Clouds!”).

Or perhaps a chip you can implant in your head that will give you live updates of every single Apple (AAPL) iPad rumor.

Or a cogent explanation of how to extricate yourself from Google Buzz.

Or, at long last, maybe Cisco has figured out a way to fix the dropped calls crisis on the AT&T (T) mobile network–a tech solution I would nominate for a Nobel Prize if it ever came to pass.

In all seriousness, due to the speculation around what Cisco will unveil, its stock hit a 52-week high yesterday–up 92 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $26.13–and analysts were speculating on what the company will say.

The consensus: A new router to improve–please, oh Lord, please–wireless transmission of Web video and heavy data that often slow mobile and ISP networks.

It’s part of a new focus on the ever-growing but ever-slowing wireless data networks.

Google (GOOG) said recently that it was planning to build a superspeedy broadband service. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil its own ambitious plan to improve high-speed Internet access across the United States.

Well, it’ll be good, since the consumption of video online is growing like crazy and a constant bottleneck is likely without some relief.

Cisco has gotten deep into video of late, both in pushing networking gear and in acquiring video device maker like Pure Digital, the company behind my beloved Flip digital camera.

It is also working on innovative holographic and television-based home telepresence technologies.

So, is it too much to ask Cisco for a simple jet pack that works? I think not!

Cisco Snags Tandberg for $3 Billion

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:35:56 +0000

Dell (DELL) buys Perot Systems (PER) for $3.9 billion. Then Xerox (XRX) purchases Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for $6.4 billion. Now Cisco is acquiring Tandberg.

Cisco (CSCO) will pay nearly $3 billion in cash for the Norwegian videoconference company, which it hopes will bolster its position in videoconferencing. The offer values Tandberg at 11 percent more than its closing price in Oslo trading yesterday and at about 23 times 2010 earnings.

“This fits very well with Cisco,” Robeco NV’s Michiel Plakman told Bloomberg. “They will immediately become the most important player in the market and aren’t paying a ridiculous premium, so this is positive.”

Cisco’s tender offer has the recommendation of the Tandberg board and is expected to close in the first half of next year.

NBA Turns to Video Conferencing

Ben Worthen — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:46:03 +0000

Amid a recession that has many families cutting back on their spending, sports teams are trying to find new ways to lure fans to their stadiums and off their couches. One part of the strategy will be on display this weekend at the NBA All-Star game in Phoenix.

Fans in the city will get a behind-the-scenes look at the festivities and be able to interact with some of the league’s stars–thanks to a high-definition video-conferencing system. The system, called TelePresence and made by Cisco Systems (CSCO), uses giant screens to create an experience as close to a face-to-face meeting as possible. (Cisco is one of the NBA’s “official partners,” so it gets to use league events to promote its products.)

“When people come to a major event like All Star they want to feel like they have something special and not just sit in a seat,” says Steve Hellmuth, executive vice president of operations and technology for NBA Entertainment. “This technology lets fans have a special in-person experience with a player.”

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CES 2009: Three Booths and a Clapping Toy Monkey?

John Paczkowski — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:26:02 +0000

If a global manufacturer of computer hardware like Belkin’s not exhibiting at CES, who is? I posed that question jokingly earlier this morning, but turns out there’s a very real and ugly answer to it:

Not Seagate (STX).

Not Logitech (LOGI).

Not Cisco (CSCO).

Not Philips.

Not Yahoo. Obviously.

And not Sanyo, either.

All six companies have abandoned plans to exhibit on the Consumer Electronics Show floor. Like Belkin, they are all opting for the more intimate and inexpensive floorspace of a Vegas hotel room. Said Seagate spokesperson Woody Monroy, “We haven’t pulled out of CES…we’re just taking a different approach.” Cisco offered this statement on the matter:

On our Q1 FY ’09 earnings call on November 5 we announced that we will be reducing expenses for FY09 by over $1B from our annualized expense run rate, given the challenging macroeconomic environment. We are targeting reductions in travel and discretionary-related expenses, including offsite meetings, outside services, equipment, events, trade shows, prototypes, marketing and other activities. Given this focus on reducing costs, we are modifying our participation in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2009.

We have several speakers presenting in the various CES sessions, and Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers will be delivering a keynote at the conference, as well. We are focusing our CES presence on our direct customers, press and analysts in order to create a more intimate event and reduce expenses. We look forward to an exciting CES 2009 with multiple product announcements that will reinforce Cisco’s consumer strategy. We remain committed to the consumer market, and we believe our cost control focus at this time is appropriate. In support of our CES presence, we will be utilizing Cisco’s world-class Web 2.0 collaboration technologies, such as TelePresence and WebEx, to maintain essential customer and partner communication. Cisco will have compelling demonstration areas and meeting rooms in the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas as we have for the past several years.”