Cisco at NAB 2024: Committed to Delivering Next-Level Experiences That ‘Wow’

We are less than two weeks away from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 101^st Show happening once again in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a decade-long returning attendee, I am always excited to be with customers, partners, and colleagues, shaking hands and engaging in stimulating conversations about the next wave of innovation hitting the media and entertainment industry. With new technology features, expanded partnerships, and growing customer momentum, I am looking forward to highlighting Cisco’s cutting-edge solutions and services to our booth visitors this year. 

Our leadership in this space continues to grow as we innovate across our portfolio to transform the way broadcasters, content providers, venues, sports teams and leagues are harnessing the power of AI and other emerging technologies and taking audience experiences to the next level.    

This year, we will showcase our comprehensive portfolio and demonstrate Cisco’s strategy and innovation across three key areas:   

• Enabling dynamic IP production and workflows   
• Transforming content delivery, devices, and network assurance   
• Operationalizing the fan experience with cutting-edge, technology-centric venues

Enabling Dynamic IP Production  

The broadcast industry’s evolution to IP requires sustainable technology to provide great multicast visibility and flexibility to allow integration of multiple multicast and/or unicast, on-premises and cloud domains. Visitors to the Cisco booth can expect to see our flagship solution, Cisco IP Fabric for Media (IPFM), on display at the Cloud Native Media Production- Anywhere demo to show how we are enabling these transitions to IP aligned with SMPTE 2110. With several hundred deployments across the globe, Cisco IP Fabric for Media continues to serve as the foundation to address broadcaster’s audio and video requirements. 

Cisco IPFM includes features for Non-Blocking Multicast (NBM), Network Address Translation (NAT), and now, Protocol Independent Multicast flooding mechanism with Source Discovery (PFM-SD). These components provide end-to-end multicast, live traffic visibility, simplified and flexible deployment at scale, innovations in NBM active, and both PTP and RTP flow monitoring. With our simplified network management and operations tool for provisioning IP-based media fabrics, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC), users can now take advantage of an expansive view of the network with 2022-7 visibility and enhanced Events UI Tab to capture critical fault notifications. 

Together with Intel, we will be highlighting our innovative solution for Cloud Native Media Production which uses cloud-native architectures with open standards and open-source software to power new media workflows and help speed digital transformation. 

Transforming Content Delivery, Devices, and Network Assurance 

Together with our partner Qwilt, we will be showcasing Global Edge Cloud for Content Delivery, highlighting how together we are creating a more efficient way to deliver highly distributed live and on-demand content. Our joint solution, serving over one billion unique subscribers globally, provides Quality-as-a-Service by pushing content caching and delivery out to the embedded edge of the carrier network. 

Comprised of Cisco’s edge infrastructure and Qwilt’s Open Edge platform, the solution based on open caching is helping meet the ever-increasing demand for content delivery and edge cloud services and improving re-buffering time, time to first frame (TTFF), average bitrate (ABR) and error rate for live-streamed content delivery.  

We’ve seen a growing need for trusted collaboration tools and devices to help drive engaging virtual and hybrid entertainment experiences, and to connect teams across the globe. In the Cisco Devices: Be there, from Anywhere demo, we will highlight intuitive and interoperable device experiences that are designed to make remote and hybrid collaboration seamless and distraction-free, on any meeting platform. The native Microsoft Teams experience on certified Cisco collaboration devices is designed for frictionless employee experiences. 

Accedian will take center stage in our Cisco Critical Network Assurance demo, highlighting how the most recent addition to Cisco’s observability portfolio is providing industry-leading network performance monitoring and assurance to help enable seamless operations for content providers, service providers, and more.  

Operationalizing the Fan Experience 

One of my personal favorites, and arguably the cornerstone of our Sports, Media and Entertainment portfolio, is our best-in-class VisionEDGE solution for IPTV & Dynamic Digital Signage in partnership with Wipro. A solution that truly “wow’s”, VisionEDGE provides dynamic content management solutions and high quality experiences to every fan, in every seat at venues all over the world including (but not limited to) Allegiant Stadium here in Las Vegas, CITYPARK in St. Louis, Etihad Stadium in Manchester, GEODIS Park in Nashville, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, and SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in Los Angeles (host of Super Bowl LVI). 

As you make your way across the show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center during NAB be sure to check out the Cisco Booth, #W2743 in the West Hall, and see for yourself how Cisco and our impressive ecosystem of partners are forging a path of innovative new experiences for the media and entertainment industry. 

To learn more, visit the Sports, Media and Entertainment section of the Cisco Portfolio Explorer or book a meeting with us here.

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