Partnering through changes in the Media Industry

Change is a word that to some sparks curiosity, anxiety and opportunity. That “change” happens a lot in life, technology industries, families, you name it and one that I have learned to get comfortable with (to some degree that is). Life changes as we go from college to the “real world”, or from marriage to having kids, or as an example in the business world when I got my first mobile phone to now living in a an application centric world littered with smart mobile device choices all around me. I still recall winning a sales contest to earn my first Palm Pilot phone in 2005…man was I excited to be able to check my email on my phone…sheesh can we go back?! Talk about changes!

These types of changes come as people and companies try to understand life, society and market transitions, rationalize investment and make “bets” on where to invest time, energy and resources to capitalize on these changes and transitions. For me that change personally has come in improving my health, losing weight, trying to balance my family/work life and getting active. I actually just completed my third half marathon recently and have even shed some weight off the waistline a much needed change for me to be the husband and father I need to be.

One transition that has intrigued me for several years is the Media & Entertainment industry’s move to IP and specifically around the transport of content. At Cisco we took a hard look at this “change” or what many call Digital Transformation, several years ago. From the technology, business model transitions and the partnerships we needed we created our plan called the Cisco Media Blueprint to solve this industry change as well as our industry leading content transport solution, Cisco’s IP Fabric for Media solution. Rest assured we are full steam ahead as we progress through this exciting market transition ourselves!

To see this “change” in action up close and personal, we are utilizing one of our own events, Cisco Live to showcase this technology first hand in combination with our partners from Grass Valley and our in-house production team at Cisco TV to showcase IP Broadcast to the 28,000 attendees and the world wide audience of nearly 200,000 watching remotely including 4 Keynote presentations, 23 innovation showcase sessions and countless Cisco and sponsor content. We embarked on this a year ago at Cisco Live and we are committed to showing the industry again that we believe in our IP solutions, our partnerships and the evolution of the media industry. To sign up for an exclusive tour of the Cisco TV’s broadcast center “behind the scenes tour with Cisco and Grass Valley” click this registration link. But to really give you a sense of how much we are focused on this industry, let me catch you up to speed on what else we have done and what we are doing in this industry and this solution to stay ahead:

Wins! Yes, we are winning great projects and they continue to be with an impressive list of customers. Folks like the BBC, CANAL+, Univision, Arena TV, Sony Pictures, Korean Broadcast System, Telstra, NBC, Voices of America, and NRK are just a few of the great wins Cisco and our partner ecosystem have secured since deploying this solution.

Partners! We have taken a partner centric approach to this industry from day one. We knew that change at the business model and technology level would impact our ecosystem partners, but together we knew we could help solve the move to IP together. With open API’s and what the industry calls COTS (Common of the shelf) hardware…aka IP Fabric for Media, coupled with systems from the likes of Grass Valley, Imagine, EVS, and Lawo just to name a few, we are taking a partner centric approach to the market!

Programs…Yes, we are taking these types of deployments serious and continue to focus our attention on the entire partner landscape including the all-important systems integrators and partners who deploy these IP Fabric systems for Cisco and our Ecosystem Partners. Recently we launched a new Channel Partner Program specifically around IP Fabric for Media. By doing so we are providing a roadmap to the industry’s integrators on how to deploy these solutions, the training required to understand the solution and the integration of 3rd party products to provide turnkey systems to the market.

Honoring those who make change! Recently Cisco made a commitment to recognizing those partners that commit to industry digital transformation and becoming an industry “change agent”. With our Industry Partner Expertise Badge, we are providing exclusive recognition to partners in the Media industry (and other industries) and opportunity to stand out from the crowd during this time of change.

You see change can be difficult, it was especially difficult logging those hours on the treadmill for me training for my recent half marathon! But honestly that’s what we do so well at Cisco. We adapt, evolve and lead the digital transformation journey! We’ve made investments, divestments, movements, innovation, planning and so forth, but have confidence that with these “changes” we clearly know how important this move to IP is for our partners and our customers in the Media Industry. We are ready and excited to continue moving ahead during this time of change, the real question is this: Are you?

For more information on Cisco Partner Digital Transformation & Industries approach, please visit http://cs.co/customerin for more information.