Cisco @ #Cable13 – The Cable Show: See you in Our Nation’s Capital!

If you’re reading this, chances are high that you’re on your way or already in Washington, D.C., where you’ll spend the next few days attending this week’s Cable Show. We’re there too, not surprisingly, with a lot to share with our cable friends and colleagues. And I do mean a lot. Let’s see if I can be brief about it.

By now (I hope!) you’ve heard about our Videoscape Unity platform. That’s the one that’s focused on a sophisticated but easy-to-use, consistent interface that blends video, social networking and other information, using the best screen for experiences that are personalized, synchronized, and more social…All at the “speed of now.”

At the Show, we’re highlighting the Videoscape Open API framework, an Open API (Application Program Interface) framework that spans the gamut – cloud, network client. It includes cloud APIs, for access to things like the content, metadata and user profiles. Videoscape Unity is modular (as well as open) so we use this framework ourselves to create Videoscape apps, but it is also used by third-party developers to integrate their own apps. The Videoscape Open API Framework is just one element of Cisco’s complete story on Open APIs which we call our Open Network Environment (Cisco ONE). Cisco ONE also supports OpenStack, which is a big deal in the world of managing cloud resources. OpenStack will thread through our Cable Show discussions. In demonstrations throughout the booth, we’ll be showcasing our commitment to a second  critical piece of open source software, this time on the client side – RDK, the Reference Design Kit. Watch for gateways, IP client devices, and apps frameworks there.

So, take this one home: whether it’s open APIs or open source, Cisco is all about openness.

Cloud is a big topic for us – not just this show, but this year. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, we unveiled Videoscape Unity, which is heavy on cloud. This week, we’ll show how operators can put DVR services in the network – cloud infrastructure, an orchestration framework to make managing cDVR much easier on the Operator, and a snappy, consumer-facing UI.

It wouldn’t be a cable show if we weren’t talking about capacity and bandwidth. We’re shipping CCAP-ready gear, and making major strides to keep operators in front of the supply-side of bandwidth consumption. As in a doubling of downstream capacity, and a quadrupling of upstream capacity, using existing CMTS gear. More on that here.

Likewise for Wi-Fi and smell cell solutions, we are working to help operators build and monetize indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi.

In advanced advertising, we’ll be showcasing our work with BlackArrow on analytics and multi-screen reach. And we will be showing Big Data/Analytics capabilities to help manage and monetize video services.

Throughout the three days, seven Cisco execs will be speaking in sessions ranging from SDN to personalized navigation. Click here for that lineup, and our catch-all news release for the show.

So: Openness. RDK. Cloud. Analytics. CCAP. DOCSIS 3.1. Advanced Advertising. Like I said – a lot going on. Come on by! Booth 1819.