”Video will be the next voice,” Cisco CEO John...

"Video will be the next voice,” Cisco CEO John Chambers said at a CES news conference Wednesday introducing his company’s Videoscape connected TV platform. Cisco says that by 2014 more than 90 percent of consumer Internet traffic will be video, and the amount of video will expand sevenfold. The Videoscape architecture -- which Chambers said centers not on boxes and hardware but on software, network and partnerships -- is designed to bring together digital TV and online content with social media and communications “to create a unified, networked entertainment solution.” Chambers spoke of anytime, anywhere content driven by video that will “reinvent the TV experience.” He showed a multitasking TV allowing users to answer phone calls, send and receive video e-mails and watch sports while bringing up related statistics, buying sports gear with the TV remote and communicating about the game with friends on a social networking site. He said the open platform uses the cloud, the network and client devices to deliver new video experiences over the Internet. Devices in the chain include a Videoscape media gateway to integrate voice, linear and online video, high-speed data, Wi-Fi and network traffic routing and an IP set-top box supporting all video formats and delivery methods. Those include pay TV, broadcast, premium channels, VoD and the Web and Videoscape software clients that extend the experience to home and mobile devices including connected TVs, tablet PCs and smartphones. Chambers said Cisco is working with several major global service provider customers, including Telstra in Australia, to enable video experiences through the Videoscape platform.