The Cisco® Digital Media System (DMS) is a comprehensive suite of digital signage, Enterprise TV, and desktop video applications that allow companies to use digital media to increase sales, enhance customer experience, and facilitate learning. Support from the broad Cisco partner ecosystem of deployment, solution development, and content creation partners helps ensure a successful digital media implementation.
The Cisco Video Portal is an integrated component of the Cisco Digital Media System for Cisco Desktop Video.
Cisco Video Portal
The Cisco Video Portal (Figure 1) is a Web-based application that allows users to conveniently and quickly browse, search, and view digital media interactively over an IP network. It uses standard Web technologies to deliver a compelling live and on-demand video experience. Platform-agnostic, the Cisco Video Portal fits easily into your organization's existing IT infrastructure and supports established video formats including Windows Media, Flash, and MPEG 4/H.264.
The Cisco Video Portal includes a Web-based reporting tool to give you visibility into the effectiveness of reaching your audiences. The Cisco Video Portal Reports tool allows you to measure digital media usage and trends at detailed and aggregate levels.
Figure 1. Cisco Video Portal
The Cisco Video Portal integrates with the following Cisco Digital Media System products:
• Cisco Digital Media Manager (DMM): This Web-based media management application allows you to easily manage, schedule, and publish digital media through the Web to the desktop and to digital signage displays.
• Cisco Digital Media Encoders (DMEs): The studio-level (Cisco DME 2000) and portable (Cisco DME 1000) encoders provide live and on-demand streaming digital media across an IP network in a variety of encoding formats, inputs, and monitoring functions.
Together, these products span the entire digital media value chain and can help your organization reach customers, partners, employees, and students with real-time, relevant content and communications.
Applications
Using the network as a platform for digital media publishing and access provides organizations in many different industries with innovative tools for internal and external communications, marketing, sales, education, and training. For example, through the Cisco Video Portal, you can give a widely dispersed employee base live access to a CEO keynote broadcast, and make the event immediately available for on-demand viewing.
Other applications include:
• Financial services: Train remote customer service representatives at the desktop without the time and expense of taking employees away from essential customer-facing roles.
• Retail: Provide quick and easy communication through the Web to customers about new products and promotions; offer broadcasts of live promotional events.
• Education: Extend the classroom to include remote, live broadcast and viewing of lectures as well as online, on-demand materials.
• Government: Enable live and on-demand Web-based access to government meetings and hearings; provide access to digital media-based information about relevant regulations and laws.
You can customize the interface of the Cisco Video Portal through the Cisco Digital Media Manager to reflect brand or purpose.
You can deploy the Cisco Digital Media System as one of many collaboration services on a Cisco Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) network, a flexible, feature-rich framework that can help you achieve your business and technology goals. By making the network more capable and intelligent, it improves the efficiency of everything the network touches, freeing funds for new, strategic investments and innovation.
Key Features and Benefits
Cisco Video Portal: Access to Compelling Live and On-Demand Video
The Cisco Video Portal makes it easy for users to access compelling content from a single portal at the desktop. The Cisco Video Portal offers sophisticated functions, including:
• Program listing and keyword search: Easily locate relevant media by content category, title, or keyword.
• Customizable playlists: Choose from a dynamic list of videos programmed by content publishers or bookmarked by individual users.
• Supplemental content: Access supplemental information with each video, such as tickers, related readings, related videos, Websites, and downloadable materials.
• Advanced player controls and full-screen mode: Optimize the viewing experience with enhanced control of video playback.
• Simultaneous playback and thumbnail preview: Preview other videos during main video playback without interrupting the current content being viewed.
• Slide synchronization: View audio and video streams along with synchronized graphics for both live events and video on demand (VoD) sessions.
• Viewer questions: Submit text-based questions to live Webcast event producers and presenters.
• Login and authentication: Support optional login and authentication through a Microsoft Active Directory Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server.
Cisco Video Portal Reports Tool: Metrics on Digital Media Content Usage
The Web-based Cisco Video Portal Reports tool allows you to track the access and use of digital media content by end users. You can track content effectiveness, ensure training compliance requirements are met, and shape future content development based on content trends.
With the Cisco Video Portal Reports tool, you can:
• Specify time periods: Run reports based on specific dates.
• Analyze content use: Access unique and repeat traffic metrics for each available video or as an aggregated total.
• Monitor referrals: Track top referring pages and links with the corresponding views they generate.
• Understand visitors: Acquire vital statistics about visitors, including operating system, browser, and media plug-in used.
Product Specifications
Tables 1 through 4 give features, requirements, and other information about the Cisco Video Portal 4.1 and the Cisco Video Portal Reports 4.1 tool.
Table 1. Cisco Video Portal and Cisco Video Portal Reports Tool Product Features
Item
Feature
Product compatibility
Compatible with Cisco Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) Software, Cisco Digital Media Manager, Cisco Digital Media Players, and Cisco Media Encoders
Components (software)
Web-based Cisco Video Portal and Cisco Video Portal Reports tool
Supported encoder file types
Microsoft Windows Media, Flash (.flv), Apple QuickTime (.mov), and MPEG/H.264 - Up to a maximum of 2GB per file
Table 2. Cisco Video Portal and Cisco Video Portal Reports Tool Product Sizing Matrix
Product
Maximum Number of Connections
Cisco Video Portal 4.1 Perpetual Software License with Cisco 7825 Media Convergence Server
500 concurrent user connections
Cisco Video Portal 4.1 Perpetual Software License with Cisco 7835 Media Convergence Server
1000 concurrent user connections
Table 3. Cisco Video Portal Client Requirements
Component
Requirements
Browser
Windows
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Mozilla 1.8 or later, or Firefox 1.5 or later recommended
Linux or UNIX
• Mozilla 1.0 or Firefox 1.0 minimum
• Mozilla 1.8 or later or Firefox 1.5 or later recommended
Apple Macintosh
• Safari 2.0 minimum
• Safari 2.0 or Firefox 1.5 or later recommended
Adobe Flash plug-in
Adobe Flash 8 plug-in or later recommended
Windows Media plug-in
Windows Media 9 or later (required if Windows Media content is offered)
QuickTime plug-in
QuickTime Player 7.1 or later recommended
Cisco Digital Media Manager Live Event Module 1.0
Windows
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
Minimum supported resolution
1024x768
Table 4. Cisco Video Portal Reports Tool Client Requirements
Component
Requirements
Browser
Windows
• Internet Explorer 5.5 or Firefox 1.5 minimum
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later or Firefox 1.5 or later recommended
Linux or UNIX
• Firefox 1.5 or later
Apple Macintosh
• Firefox 1.5 or later
Adobe Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) plug-in
Adobe SVG 3.0 plug-in minimum, Adobe SVG 3.03 or later recommended (required only for Internet Explorer)
Ordering Information
Table 5 provides ordering information for the Cisco Video Portal and Cisco Video Portal Reports tool as part of the Cisco Digital Media System.
Table 5. Cisco Video Portal and Cisco Video Portal Reports Tool Ordering Information
Product-Software on Server Appliance
Part Number
Cisco Video Portal V4.1 for MCS-7825-H3 for up to 500 concurrent viewers
• VP4.1-500-K9
• VPR4.1-K9
• MCS-7825H3-K9-VP4
Cisco Video Portal V4.1 for MCS-7835-H2 for up to 1000 concurrent viewers
• VP4.1-1000-K9
• VPR4.1-K9
• MCS-7835H2-K9-VP4
Software Upgrades
Cisco Video Portal V4.0 Upgrade from V3.5 for MCS-7825-H2 for up to
500 concurrent viewers
• VP4.0-H2-U3.5-K9=
• VPR4.0-U3.5-K9
Cisco Video Portal V4.0 Upgrade from V3.5 for MCS-7835-H1 for up to
1000 concurrent viewers
• VP4.0-H1-U3.5-K9=
• VPR4.0-U3.5-K9
The DMS V.4.0 to V.4.1 Upgrade is available to all Cisco customers with a current Software Application Support (SAS) contract via http://www.cisco.com.
Access to the DMS upgrades is available from this website by selecting the Support: Download Software: Video and Content Delivery: Cisco Digital Media System web page selections.
Hardware Spares
HW Only MCS-7825-H3 w/ 2048MB RAM and Two 160GB SATA HD, Spare
MCS-7825H3-DMS1=
HW Only MCS-7835-H2 w/ 2048MB RAM and Two 72GB SAS HD, Spare
MCS-7835H2-DMS1=
Service and Support
Cisco and its partners provide a broad portfolio of end-to-end services and support that can help you improve network total cost of ownership, business agility, and network availability to increase the business value of your network and your return on investment. This portfolio is based on the Cisco Lifecycle Services approach, which defines activities needed, by technology and by network complexity, throughout the six phases of the network lifecycle: prepare, plan, design, implement, operate, and optimize.
Cisco Services for the Cisco Digital Media System in the prepare, plan, design, and implement phases of the network lifecycle help you successfully deploy a reliable, high-performance Cisco Digital Media System. Specific activities include:
• User feature and functionality requirements validation
• Architecture validation
• Network and operations readiness assessment
• Detailed design and implementation schedule development
• System acceptance test plan development
• Staffing plan development
• Installation, configuration, and integration support
For the Cisco Video Portal, Cisco Services in the operate phase help ensure that Cisco products operate efficiently and benefit from the most up-to-date hardware and software maintenance. Software Application Support (SAS) strengthens application availability, functions, and reliability with 24-hour access to technical support and software updates, and Cisco SMARTnet® and Cisco SMARTnet Onsite support provide registered access to Cisco.com for online technical assistance, access to the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC), Cisco IOS® Software updates and upgrades, and Advance Replacement of failed hardware.
