Cisco Helps Enhance Video Transmission Services at Sports Venues Nationwide

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - September 9, 2010) -  Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced today that it is providing its Cisco^® Digital Content Manager Gateway to enable JPEG 2000 video transport for Level 3 Communications' new Vyvx^® VenueNet+℠ contribution network infrastructure at sports venues that are directly connected with Level 3 fiber access. VenueNet+ is an end-to-end fiber infrastructure designed to support future broadcast applications, including 3D transmission. Level 3 will use the Cisco DCM Gateway to support new video encoding services, including the delivery of uncompressed as well as JPEG 2000 compressed HD video feeds over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

Level 3 previously announced plans to upgrade its Emmy Award-winning Vyvx VenueNet infrastructure and launch the VenueNet+ video-transmission service in time for the start of the 2010 professional football season. To date, Level 3 has installed this service in all 31 major professional football venues in the U.S. Additional features of the VenueNet+ service offering include new monitoring capabilities for television operation centers as well as visual monitoring, high-speed IP access and phone services for broadcasters on site at the venues.

Highlights:

• Level 3's new VenueNet+ service offers broadcasters higher-quality high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) encoding, high-speed Internet, and phone support in select VenueNet+ venues.
• Since 1994, Level 3 Vyvx VenueNet^® services have set a standard for broadcast event delivery, deploying services in more than 100 professional sports venues in the U.S.
• Cisco's DCM Gateway is designed to provide the reliable delivery of video content over IP video networks. It provides the flexibility to transport uncompressed video or to encode the content in the JPEG 2000 format.
• JPEG 2000 and the uncompressed transport of video feeds are becoming increasingly popular among broadcasters, as they maintain the integrity of the video signal and allow broadcasters to deliver the highest-quality picture possible with the lowest latency. 
• The Cisco DCM Gateway provides operators with additional advanced capabilities including:
  • New flexibility in multiplexing architectures, as well as impressive scalability and cost-per-stream points not previously available, all in one rack unit (RU).
  • Efficient processing of the rapidly growing number of complex digital video streams with better overall video picture quality.

Supporting Quotes:

• Mark Taylor, vice president of Content and Media at Level 3:
  "Level 3 has made significant network investments in its Vyvx portfolio to offer the VenueNet+ service, which provides top-quality event support for broadcasters and paves the way for the future innovation in the way events are delivered. Our collaboration with Cisco helps us better provide the video transmission services our customers want today while anticipating their evolving demands for future applications."
• Bart Spriester, vice president and general manager, Digital Media Networks, Cisco:
  "Cisco's DCM Gateway platform offers the density, flexibility and video quality to meet the demands of the contribution market and broadcasters who manage sophisticated IP networks. IP is fast becoming the video-transport network of choice, and Cisco's vast experience in operating and supporting IP networks positions us well to assist customers like Level 3 with efforts to offer broadcasters more choices for optimal video transmission from sports venues anytime, anywhere, 24/7."

Supporting Resources:

• Visit Level 3: http://www.level3.com/
• More about the Cisco DCM: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9230/index.html
• For more information about Cisco's service provider news and activities visit our Service Provider blog SP360 or follow us on Twitter @CiscoSPVideo and @CiscoSP360.
• Subscribe to Cisco's SP360 feed.

Technorati Tags/Keywords:
Bart Spriester, Cisco, Digital Content Manager, DCM, IP, Level 3, Mark Taylor, JPEG-2000, MPEG processor, video, video compression

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