Cisco’s “Future of Video” Demo Wins NAB Technology Innovation Award

Our “Future of Video” (formerly known as “Fresco”) wall took home the National Association of Broadcasters’ Technology Innovation Award this week, during a grand ceremony keynoted by NASA chief Charles Bolden. We are thrilled! (And not just because we’re all latent astronauts around here.)

The NAB award, now in its 5th year, goes to “advanced research and development projects in communications technologies that have not yet been commercialized,” which is a perfect way to characterize “Future of Video” – our concept of a future television environment in which the walls of our homes become the TV display itself.

The nomination reads:

“Project Fresco demonstrates a future of television that breaks out of the ‘box in the corner of the room’, showing how television will harness new display technology and an immersive layout engine to become unobtrusive, frameless, ultra high definition and ambient.  Fresco demonstrates that television’s future is both collective and personal, and shows a new relationship between large screen and companion devices.”

So what does the “Future of Video” look like? Picture your living room wall, festooned with video, audio, and interactivity that can be resized on the fly. Meaning that when the World Cup finals are on, the video occupies the entire wall; when getting started with a cup of tea in the morning, it can be resized to show multiple channels – news on one portion of the wall, weather on another. When not in use, the wall surface recedes into a wallpaper-like covering. It’s just super-cool. If you’ve not seen it, here is a video demo of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8qaT6B5AkQ

Our own Simon Parnall, director, new initiatives, Cisco Service Provider Video Technology Group, who was instrumental in designing and building the original “Fresco” demo, accepted the prestigious award. Thanks to you, Simon and the entire Fresco team, and to the NAB for selecting us!