RGB claims radical change in video economics

Three-year-old startup RGB Networks, which officially took the covers off of its stealth mode product, has unveiled a service of video processors that it believes will change the economics for broadband operators providing video.

The processors are based on what the San Mateo, Cal.-based company is calling its Video Intelligence Architecture that also allows for inexpensive deployment of video streams that include digital broadcast, video on demand, HDTV and on-demand stream ad insertion. Key to the system—and the economics—is the ability to use gigabit Ethernet infrastructure that cable operators already have installed and telcos are migrating toward.

"We’re taking the next step in bringing all of those capabilities and bringing it into the switched digital video world," said Adam Tom, co-founder, president and CEO of RGG. It turns a high-performance low-cost data network into a video network.

At the same time, the company is promising a level of density with its processors, which can work with standard Ethernet switches, and will cut video processing costs by a factory of 10.

"The technology that we’ve developed over the past years is how to do everything over a massive number of streams at the same time," Tom said.

And though initially focused on cable operators, since that’s where most of the dollars are being spent, the company is watching the telco video environment for signs that larger carriers are ready to make the jump to offering video.

"One of the things that all the telcos are interested in is going all digital right away," said Lou Mastrocola, vice president of business development for RGB.