The television. It isn’t
just for watching anymore.
Skype and Cisco both
launched new products at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show
that allow users to turn their televisions into videoconferencing hubs.
Skype announced that
Skype-enabled TVs were in the works at last year’s CES, and this year it’s
partnered with Sony and Vizio on Skype-enabled Sony Bravia and Vizio Via
television sets, the company announced on its blog. Skype-enabled TVs are
already available from Panasonic and Samsung.
Skype-enabled Blu-ray
players with Web cams are also expected to be available soon.
Cisco announced the release of Cisco Videoscape at CES. The
comprehensive TV platform for service providers combines digital TV and online
content with social media and communications apps, the company said.
The platform leverages
the cloud, network and client devices to give consumers the ability to use
video over the Internet on their televisions. The solution integrates a media
gateway, an IP set-top box and Videoscape software clients that can connect home
and mobile devices like TVs, tablets or smartphones.
The Videoscape Media
Suite lest service providers manage and publish content across multiple screens
and the Cisco Conductor for Videoscape coordinates services and
subscriber-management functions across the platform.
The Cisco umi
Telepresence video conferencing technology lets users communicate with others
through their TVs.
"We see tremendous opportunity with IP video services
that offer consumers interactive, internet-like experiences using both the TV
and the PC. We worked with Cisco to deploy a Content Delivery Network that
quickly proved to be a key differentiator for Telstra, and means we can provide
products and services with a more consistent and reliable video experience to
multiple devices,” said David Thodey, CEO of service provider Telstra, in a
statement.
“Our CDN supports the breadth and depth of content that gives
our customers choice and reliability to download and access their favorite
movies and programs to the TV using our T-Box media player, through direct
download to the TV, or via the PC."
Computer Networking 
