Transform your video services with a cloud platform: Succeed in a fragmented marketplace

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1 with a cloud platform: Succeed in a fragmented marketplace

2 Contents cloud-based platform points: Great in action 18

3 : Your business faces a significant challenge. Subscriber demands for video are constantly changing, with requests for more on-demand and multi-screen content, anywhere and anytime. Meanwhile, the cost of new service provision to meet those demands rises. These interconnected issues have resulted in a declining operating model for service providers. The good news, however, is that there is a better way. By taking advantage of a cloud for video, you can deliver new services quickly and efficiently. Your video business must launch and support new consumer entertainment services to gain an edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And it needs to do it soon. OTT providers delivering services faster and cheaper than your current capability provide stiff competition. Any operator in any market today must try to drive new services to more kinds of devices. For instance, adding more on-demand, multiscreen, or 4K options to existing services, be they traditional cable, satellite, or telecom. But each time you launch new services, the associated technical requirements often demand that you build a new platform. Each new video service to your subscribers, for example, relies on the provision of dedicated infrastructure, in terms of both hardware and software, as well as financial and service support operations. This operating model is duplicative and costly. Your business is often forced to support fragmented investments across multiple networks and platforms, which increases costs, and results in a declining operating model. This can make senior executives think twice about providing new services. A new operating model for If this situation sounds familiar, then you ll be keen to hear more about how a cloud offers a better way both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for your business to serve its subscribers. Companies that tap into the power of a cloud can improve their margins and subscriber s. Four technologies virtualization, microservices, cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) are crucial to any organization that wants to create a new operating model for. With virtualization, more flexible software-based applications replace those previously based on expensive hardware. A microservices-based architecture enables the delivery of the specific functionality that each service requires. And, all of this can be done more rapidly and cost effectively with as-a-service delivery models from a scalable cloud platform. 3

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5 Virtualization Many of today s video capabilities are built on purpose-built appliances or servers that host specific software. Take video transcoding as an example. Your business likely uses purposebuilt infrastructure for transcoding across all services, whether it be for broadcast, IP video or on-demand. Virtualization turns the traditional approach on its head. Rather than having to set up a dedicated infrastructure with its own software for each new service, virtualization allows you to do everything through software. Instead of duplicating investment across separate infrastructure installations, by establishing a common platform, video functions can be created once and then implemented across multiple services as virtual applications. Microservices-based architectures Today s video applications are well defined. They rely on multiple building blocks to perform a range of functions. By breaking virtualized applications down into their essential microservices, most services can be rapidly instantiated by implementing the required microservices, rather than having to set up an entire application. A microservices-based architecture allows you to scale up, or scale down services at a much faster rate. Imagine your business needs to set up an encoder application to process content at a specific bit rate for a specific service. Rather than having to set up a full encoding application, a microservices-based architecture means you only have to implement the functionality required for that service. And it can be done rapidly. 5

6 Scalable cloud platform Cisco s Visual Networking Index estimates that video will represent 82 per cent of all IP traffic by This traffic will be driven by more content being created in more formats and delivered to more devices to satisfy on-demand video consumption. Cloud data centers provide the scalable platform from which to support the continued growth in video format services. Cisco s Global Cloud Index estimates 83 per cent of all data center traffic will come from cloud data centers by But to be successful, you need to draw all the resources your business needs as video requirements change. You need a cloud services partner with access to scalable infrastructure that is highly available in order to offer the service levels you require for a premium video service. SaaS-based operations Rather than having to invest upfront in infrastructure, to truly benefit from the speed and scalability of a cloud infrastructure, you need functionality delivered to you as a service. This gives you the flexibility to change the amount of high quality cloud provision that your business consumes as requirements change, such as turning on a new OTT or 4K service. And it lets you focus on your video business, not the technology. What emerges is the requirement for a partner that has developed an end-to-end cloud platform, optimized for premium services like video. This platform should have a virtualized and microservices-based architecture that means your business can turn on new functionalities as-a-service. When your business needs a new application for new markets or devices, your technology partner must be able to scale its provision quickly and effectively. 6

7 There are four key pillars for a successful cloud-based platform 7

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9 Key features: Publish any to any device Deliver across any network Start anywhere, scale everywhere The age of having to build numerous platforms for different video-enabled devices and networks is over. The modern cloud services platform can help your business deliver any service to any device, whether that s the TV in the house, the PC on the desk or the tablet in the hand. The scale of the achievement is remarkable, especially when you consider the huge amount of technical variations between modern devices and across networks. The good news is that you ve probably already made a strong start in terms of providing content across networks and devices, and delivering services across both traditional and online networks. The key question is where to go next. It s crucial to recognize that to be able to publish any to any device and across any network, you must consider the variability of delivering content across those devices and separate networks, such as satellite, cable or IP. A cloud platform works with this variability, allowing you to deliver content to any device and across any network. With a microservices-based approach, the functionality you need to take that next step can be rapidly implemented and delivered. The ultimate outcome of a single platform for is that you can start anywhere and scale everywhere. Your starting point, for example, might be the delivery of on-demand sports content to specific devices in the lead up to a major event. Your end point could be the creation of a much broader channel offering in terms of packaged sports content, targeting a much wider array of video devices. The modern cloud allows your business to reach this transition point at your pace. 9

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11 Key features: Video quality with intelligence across networking, encoding, and clients Content discovery, intuitive search and personalization with enriched metadata A great quality video is connected to two key elements: the quality of the video being consumed, and the user to discover and select that content. Let s deal with video quality first. Poor quality video creates an inferior viewing for consumers. Your business must be able to ensure quality of is maintained. You need a service that automatically checks for concerns regarding video reliability and quality. To do so effectively requires visibility across video processing systems, preparing the content, the network delivering the service, and the client playout of the content. One key area is encoding, which looks at the original source content and checks whether video degrades as it is processed. Network analytics provide an additional layer of insight regarding the impact of video transport on the video quality of. Your partner should also provide visibility on video quality across different clients. Content discovery, the second key element of a great video, is just as important as consumption. Your customers must find it easy to discover great content and the discovery process should not just be reliant on the viewer. Rather than a user searching for content, a high quality video service will allow content to find the customer. Intuitive search through voice recognition, for example will help users discover new content, in a more natural and seamless way. Another key discovery element comes through recommendations, where the service suggests similar content based on topical or contextual references. A further layer of discovery comes in terms of personalization, where great content is recommended to your viewers based on histories and preferences. Enriched metadata which is information that helps describe other data is the key to successful content discovery. The ability to integrate customer viewing data with third party metadata capabilities such as recommendations can provide a compelling video discovery to subscribers. 11

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13 Key features: Reduction in monthly video expense per subscriber High availability cloud infrastructure Continuous business and operational improvements with analytics The ability to launch new services quickly is important for your business. Keeping the cadence of service innovation will give you a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace. However, the ability to deliver services quickly comes from being able to access new functionalities as-a-service. If you re looking to introduce or enhance a video service, you can t afford to wait while IT managers prepare a data center, procure equipment, hire people, and implement and test the technology. That intensive process could take many months, during which time the opportunity to gain a competitive edge is lost. SaaS allows your business to create high quality services on-demand. If your organization has a short window to deliver new content for a major event, such as the Olympic Games, or add new functionality to differentiate, it can access capability quickly without having to worry about traditional concerns, such as data center provision. It s also crucial to recognize that high quality SaaS is more than just a means to increase the speed of delivery. Moving on-demand also helps your business to reduce complexity and cost. Instead of maintaining your own hardware, your cloud partner manages the services on their infrastructure. Estimates suggest world-class SaaS can produce as much as a 15 per cent reduction in monthly video expense per subscriber. A world-class SaaS provider will offer vital expertise in other areas. Technology management is unlikely to be the core activity of your business and neither should it be. If your focus is on delivering premium video services to your subscribers, a trusted cloud partner will take the strain and help you deliver video that s always available on a highly resilient infrastructure. Finally, analytics will play a key role. Your partner should provide analytics as-a-service. Your business can t take high quality service levels for granted. The ability to improve operational performance is directly related to the opportunity to access immediate insight on performance. You ll need detailed metrics that show how the platform is performing and how the service is being delivered to subscribers. You will also need analytics on viewing behavior, which will measure what type of content is being consumed where and by whom. With better visibility, you can make the changes to optimize service and revenue opportunities. 13

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15 Key features: Enabling new functionality and preventing piracy Protecting premium content Securing video infrastructure from cyber threats Security should be a business enabler, not a constraint. An organization that develops robust rules for will feel confident in its ability to move faster and develop new services. The right approach will enable your business to add new services and be sure that only the people who have paid for this service will be able to consume it. In many ways, therefore, is all about protecting the value of your business assets. High profile hacks at entertainment firms demonstrate that the potential cost, both in terms of financial and reputational damage, can run into millions of dollars. Fail to secure your assets and you could lose revenue, customers and good will. Your executives are fully aware that premium content such as movies and sports can provide a strong hook when it comes to subscriber acquisition and retention, but sourcing such content comes at a price. Any executive that successfully bids for content will want to ensure their investment is protected. will ensure your business is capable of holding and distributing premium content securely and effectively. Yet good is much more than simply keeping your content under lock and key. Your whole business is only as secure as its weakest link, and that weak point could be anywhere: your back-end systems, your network, or subscriber devices. All of these are connected across open IP networks, making each of them potential vulnerabilities. Hackers excel at finding vulnerabilities, so your approach must be consistent across all systems and devices, to create seamless across the video delivery chain. Premium content will not be protected if a cyber criminal is able to find a way to access your back-end servers and download the source file. Your business must create an end-to-end approach to that encompasses the entire infrastructure. The end goal will be that your business, your content and your service are protected. 15

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17 Eastlink Stream: Eastlink is Canada s largest family-owned and -operated telecommunications company. The service provider wanted to give its subscribers one optimized TV platform that syncs with. By using Cisco s Infinite Video cloud services platform, Eastlink created the Eastlink Stream app, which lets subscribers seamlessly stream live TV, prime time programming and the most popular movies on-demand across a variety of devices. Cisco is offering it s Infinite Video Platform to Eastlink as-a-service to support video across devices. Eastlink subscribers can watch their favorite TV shows wherever they choose. Its unique features allow subscribers to: Surf the app with a simple swipe to see what s on, while still watching their current program Search and discover content by network, show title and genre, and all within the app Search for a show on live TV or the hundreds of titles in the on-demand library Leave the app and return to the same show they were originally watching Watch the most popular channels live and on-demand from anywhere in Canada Lee Bragg, CEO at Eastlink, enthused: We asked our customers what they wanted in a TV streaming service, and what consistently came up was the need to get back to simple TV. Our teams worked closely with our technology partner to map out a cloud video solution we could launch news services from quickly, powered by an easy to use app for customers of all ages, that can take them to what they want to see with a few swipes. 17

18 Transform your Consumer demands for video might constantly change but your business can embrace cloud platforms and quickly and effectively to meet those demands. Virtualization, microservices, cloud, and software-as-aservice (SaaS) are all crucial to the creation of your new operating model. With a cloud partner that can offer one platform for, and by focusing on, world-class SaaS and uncompromising, your business will be able to deliver the innovative and differentiated that will attract and retain subscribers. Take the next step Cisco s Infinite Video Platform is a cloud-based platform for operators and broadcasters to process, secure, distribute and monetize video on any consumer device. It helps you transform your video operations so you can provide a superior viewing to your subscribers, and differentiate your business from the competition. 18

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