Glowpoint pitches outsourced video to cable

Glowpoint this week has teamed up with Sony at the CableLabs Summer Conference to demonstrate an outsourced video conferencing system using Sony’s Instant Video Everywhere (IVE) service.

The IVE service, which uses Glowpoint’s existing network, will allow cable operators to offer video conferencing and video telephony services to its existing base of residential users. Perhaps more appealing, though, is the ability to provide those same services to the small and medium business market where cable operators are starting to make some in-roads, according to Michael Brandofino, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Glowpoint.

“The problem with video on the corporate side is we’ve never had the hockey stick growth that everyone expected,” he said. “In order for video to grow, we’ve got to get it out of the conference room.”

The IVE (pronounced “ivy”) service also is based on the premise that video calls and conferencing should be as easy to use as dialing a phone. GlowPoint, which operates as the outsourced provider of the service, is targeting cable operators by providing a service that can be self-branded. Beyond connectivity, the company also is providing Live Video Operator service, Direct Dial Video Numbers, Video Call Mailboxes and access to “Lisa,” the Video Call Assistant.

We took it beyond network transport,” Brandofino said. “We took the telephony features that people were using and ported them to the video environment.”

Users will be able to use a variety of hardware devices, also. The company’s recently launched a soft codec for the IVE service. However, it also is looking into porting that to other equipment such as game consoles, intelligent TVs, set-top boxes or home entertainment systems.