Cisco launches 'YouTube for the enterprise'

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 26 September 2006 16:37

Business IT - Technology

Cisco Systems has launched a system for the management and delivery of digital video and audio that is designed to make it very easy for an enterprise to upload video content, in real time and for employees or customers to search and view that content.

• Announcements

Cisco acknowledged that, while its offering at present is a technology not a service, it had the potential to be developed into a system that could enable members of the public to upload and access video in the same way as YouTube. It would even be possible for Cisco itself to offer a service based on the technology, putting in head on competition with the enormously successful YouTube. Cisco is already using the technology to deliver internal and external video content.

The Cisco Digital Media System (DMS) represents the commercialisation of technology developed by Cisco initially for internal use, to communicate with staff across its global enterprise. It has since been extended to make video news and other Cisco informational videos available via a public portal

The Cisco Digital Media System is claimed to "quickly and easily allow users to create, manage and deliver live and on-demand digital media in various formats to multiple wired and wireless devices [over an IP network]." It was developed by Cisco's Emerging Markets Technology Group and launched, globally at Cisco Australia & New Zealand's Networkers event on the Gold Coast.

According to Cisco, while many organisations routinely make video content available on the web uploading is often delayed because it requires the involvement of IT specialists, and it is often difficult to find because search and categorisation functions are rudimentary.