CES: Cisco seeks to reinvent TV with Videoscape platform

LAS VEGAS: Cisco has unveiled a new platform designed to bring web-based services and wireless networking to end-user and consumer entertainment devices.

Cisco Videoscape will combine networking and content sharing with premium media services and infrastructure for service providers.

Central to the platform are devices that integrate with a television set, providing a camera for videoconferencing and hubs for connecting other devices.

Cisco explained at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the Videoscape platform makes an IP-connected TV the centre of a multimedia entertainment network.

"At the heart of the entertainment experience has always been video," said Cisco chief executive John Chambers. "I think there is going to be an opportunity to completely redefine the video experience."

Also forming the backbone of the Videoscape platform will be tools for service providers. The company intends to offer the Cisco Conductor, which will allow service providers to manage and display large loads of video and content for the Videoscape service.

Cisco envisions an offering that combines IP services such as videoconferencing and media sharing, with premium television services that incorporate conventional television with specialised streaming video content and targeted advertising.

"We think the future is about reinventing the television," said Chambers. " We think there's a natural partnership where you will see Cisco enabling our service provider partners to change this landscape."