Cisco Systems is taking an important spot in Sky’s video cloud after locking in a deal to provide security for the U.K.-based provider’s coming next-gen, multiscreen offering, Sky Q.
Under the deal, Sky will use the Cisco VideoGuard Everywhere security platform (Cisco nabbed VideoGuard technology via its 2012 acquisition of NDS) for broadcast TV, streaming and video downloading. Sky is also tapping Cisco’s headend platform for service delivery and its set-top middleware for Sky Q.
Set to launch later this year, the premium-level Sky Q service will hit the traditional big screen TV as well as other connected devices- something Sky called “fluid viewing.” Sky Q will also let subs watch up to five screens at once while recording four other channels . Per The Guardian,Sky will launch it first in the U.K, and then expand it into other countries, including Germany and Italy.
Cisco also announced a third element to its Infinite Solutions suite for cloud-delivered multiscreen video – Infinite Broadcast, a system for one-way and hybrid satellite and cable TV service providers. D-Smart, a Turkish TV provider, is an early taker, using Infinite Broadcast to update its D-Smart Blue multiscreen service.
Infinite Broadcast complements Cisco's Infinite Home (multiscreen video solution for two-way telcos and cable MSOs) and Infinite Video (OTT delivery to platforms such as Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV) solutions.
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