BT to launch Content Connect broadband TV platform next year

Dave Bailey, Computing, Friday 10 September 2010 at 17:00:00

Cisco to provide backbone for IPTV offering

Network giant Cisco's
Content
Delivery System (CDS) will form the backbone for BT's wholesale broadband TV
platform, Content Connect, following a deal between the two companies announced
today.

The platform will launch in 2011.

ISPs will be able to buy
BT
Wholesale Content Connect (WCC) to deliver digital content to computers, TVs
and mobile devices with quality of service (QoS) of viewing experience
guaranteed to customers.

BT Wholesale's content services strategy director Simon Orme said: "Working
with Cisco enables us to offer an efficient, long-term solution that brings the
power of broadband and content together.

"It will allow all players, including content service providers, to extract
more value from content services in the future,? added Orme.

The problem for ISPs currently, said BT, is that in many cases the quality of
streamed content is worse the closer you get to the edge of the network.

Content streamed over Cisco's Content Delivery Network will be cached so that
the QoS can be delivered much closer to the end user ? avoiding congested parts
of the network.

This would enable content providers to stream media with an assured level of
service providing uninterrupted access even at peak times.

Cisco CDS would allow BT to provide its BT Wholesale?s Content Connect
service across the UK, with built-in QoS, detailed reporting and analytics.

ISP customers using BT Wholesale?s platform will also be able to monitor
network status, and detailed broadband statistics about the viewer's experience
through a single portal-based view.

Since content delivery takes place on a private network, security concerns
would also be reduced, said BT.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2269594/bt-launch-content-connect