Brooktrout, Radvision link for video collaboration

Brooktrout Technology and Radvision today announced a partnership that brings together Brooktrout's SnowShore IP Media Server and Radvision Scopia video platform to give service providers the ability to offer IP video services over any type of network.

Among the first applications the companies see coming out of the collaboration is video messaging. The companies, however, will explore all forms of video over broadband including interactive multimedia content streaming, video in contact centers, and live entertainment.

"For some people when you talk video, they think TV, but there are a wide range of video applications," said Peter Vescusco, vice president of market development for Brooktrout. "Video can really be the tipping point to mass adoption [of broadband]. Video has the potential to be the killer app."

Brooktrout and Radvision already have long histories of providing elements of video applications to service providers. However, two companies have radically different core competencies, said Eric Burger, chief technology officer of Brooktrout.

"What we do really well is interacting with the subscriber," he said. "Radvision does a really good job of trans-coding and media conversion."

The collaboration likely will get some of its earliest traction with cable operators and wireless carriers, Burger said.

"The wireline [telco] guys are asking about it," he said. "They know video is important to us, but we're not quite sure what we're going to do with it."