Cisco IP Video Technology to Enable Groundbreaking NBC Coverage of Beijing Olympic Games
Cisco has been selected to provide Internet Protocol (IP) video network infrastructure and video-encoding solutions to NBC during the network’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Aug. 8-24. Cisco’s IP video infrastructure will enable NBC personnel in New York and Los Angeles to edit video as it is captured in Beijing and deliver it to three screens: TV, PC and smartphone.
Described as one of the most demanding network environments in the world, the groundbreaking trans-ocean network powered by Cisco will enable the transfer of gigabyte-sized files between Beijing, New York and Los Angeles. In previous Olympics, NBC staff had to work from videotapes to add graphics and captions to event shots. In one of the single most ambitious media projects in history, NBC will present more than 3,600 hours of broadcast coverage during the 17-day event. It would be impossible to use a tape library to replicate enough video copies for use at eight different networks as well as NBCOlympics.com. Using a file-based workflow for shot selection, the network can select shots and distribute them to affiliates even before an event is finished.
“With the Cisco network solution, we’ve achieved the Holy Grail of digital video, which is the ability to perform shot selections on low-resolution files and extract high-resolution material from those files even as they are being recorded. That is a huge accomplishment,” said Craig Lau, vice president for Information Technology, NBC Olympics. “Cisco is a trusted partner, and in the demanding IT environment of the Olympic Games, we depend on trusted relationships. We have absolute deadlines for when Olympics coverage begins and ends. Cisco technologies help us exceed expectations and meet our timetables in an unforgiving environment.”
