Heads Up, One-Way Network Operators: Yes, You Too Can Thrive in the Cloud Video Era!

The concept of Cloud Video no longer needs much of explanation. Nor does the benefits service providers can reap from a video cloud – benefits like greater service agility, reach to any screen in and out-of-home, personalization, and controlling costs with its “As a Service” framework. I mean, really. Name any flavor of professionally delivered video services, and it’s there in the cloud. Unquestionably, Cloud Video is the key to success in the current and future pay TV industry.

Our contribution to Cloud Video goes under the heading of our Infinite Solutions suite, first introduced last fall, and already gaining huge market momentum. It was the first comprehensive, commercial and “productized” Cloud Video suite, with all the goodness that comes with the cloud, plus useful additional elements like “DevOps for Video” — which, before Cisco Infinite Solutions, was almost exclusively associated with the Web industry.

So how does any of this relate to one-way network providers, both satellite and cable — aren’t they precluded from Cloud Video, because of that lack of a return path? Answer: No, no, no. Maybe it sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s not: One-way networks can reap the benefits from the video cloud.

The truth is that the days of purely “one-way” networks are over. The trends defined by industry consolidation, the need to provide advanced services, and the introduction of new devices all created diversified networks. Typical service providers operate multiple access networks, multiple types of connection, multiple types of managed devices … the operative word being “multiple.”

Cisco’s “Infinite” suite of Cloud Video solutions recognizes this diversity in network types and the “multiples.” From day one, we designed its constituent components for real-life network conditions, including one-way plant. The intent was and is to provide Cloud Video from one headend, as a service, integrated correctly with current headend-delivered services. In other words, all the cloud has to offer, on any access network — even if it isn’t natively two-way.

This means that Cloud Video can be put to work on one-way networks, within operative connectivity limits, and with the applications, user experience/UX upgrades, and modular client software that make for continuously improving video services.

This also means that services such as “video everywhere” can be offered to all subscribers, and that a clean migration path for one-way customers does indeed exist. You can learn more about how Cisco Infinite Broadcast works for one-way and hybrid providers by clicking here.

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