SkyStream puts BT on video

BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) is using SkyStream Networks edge media routers [EMRs] to combine disparate communications methods into a package that delivers interactive, on-demand video into the corporate space.

Called BT Enfocast, the service which is starting in the UK and expanding internationally, lets corporations deliver interactive broadcast-quality TV to the desktop. The EMRs integrate with existing satellite providers. BTBS is among the initial customers for SkyStream’s enterprise strategy that focuses on video services to enterprises using both video and IP in an interactive satellite environment.

“It saves a ton of money for the enterprise customers for each of their sites,” said Bethany Mayer, SkyStream’s product marketing vice president. “It’s about 87 cents-per-user-per-month for delivering video to the desktop with this service. It’s [MPEG-2] video-on-demand to desktops as well as video play out to televisions.”

SkyStream’s EMR sits at the edge of enterprise networks or in service provider POPs to extract IP content from incoming DVB MPEG-2 transport streams, routing it via 10/1000 Fast Ethernet onto the corporate LAN or last-mile broadband networks for multi-point delivery.

“There’s an interesting video opportunity for service providers in the enterprise space,” said Mayer. “It’s somewhat of a secret that almost all the Fortune 100 companies do some kind of video over satellite. They’ve been doing that for the past 20 years…traditionally to the TV set. Now, a lot of them are coming to SkyStream to add Internet content onto the satellite, and add some interactivity.”