Stuart Corner
Thursday, 10 January 2008 14:28
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Scheinman revealed in the blog that Cisco was working on EOS which he described as "a software platform that serves as an entertainment operating system enabling consumers to have an interactive, personalised, community-based entertainment experience, while simplifying the administrative experience for content owners in engaging audiences, and distributing and monetising their content."
Cisco believes that owning and controlling this distribution platform and the means by which content is delivered in the home - the set-top box, home network and home gateway - will give it a significant strategic advantage.
Cisco has been moving in this director for well over a year.
Back in September 2006 I reported the launch by Cisco of a system for the management and delivery of digital video and audio 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. And I commented that "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."
Six months later when Cisco's announcement of its plans to acquire Tribe.net (a pioneer social networking site since overshadowed by the likes of MySpace and YouTube) were being greeted with incredulity
I pointed out that the deal made perfect sense in the light of these earlier developments.
It's rather gratifying that, with the emergence of EOS, others are now starting to see the sense of the acquisition of Tribe.net and in Cisco's acquisition in 2007 of Five Across whose Connect Community Builder platform "empowers companies to easily augment their websites with full-featured communities and user-generated content such as audio/video/photo sharing, blogs, podcasts, and profiles."
From other reported comments by Scheinman, EOS represents a major move by Cisco into the services business. He told
Internetnews.com last November that "Our goal is to create a real business. We'll be able to offer media companies a solution that's much cheaper than doing it yourself and hopefully we'll be more scalable than others."
He revealed more details of EOS at Cisco's annual analyst conference, C-Scape 2007, in San Jose. Reporting his comments,
ComputerWorld said "Cisco will provide social networking capabilities, content distribution and content targeting, which will rely on a recognition and relevance software engine." And it reported Scheinman saying that the concept behind EOS was that "content finds you" and not that users search blindly for content.
