Cisco gives biz vids preferential treatment

Cisco is a firm believer that streaming video is key to the future of business collaboration over 802.11n wireless networks. It also reckons a CEO's company-wide speech should take precedence over you showing your buddies a video where a dog rides a skateboard.

To that end, Cisco has cooked up a new set of tools for its Unified Wireless Network access points and wireless routers. Dubbed VideoStream, these let administrators identify specific streams for preferential treatment.

The technology was unveiled as Cisco announced that the Rochester Institute of Technology will become a showcase customer, using VideoStream to boost video relay services that allow its 1,100 deaf and hearing-impaired students to communicate over video telephones in real-time via a sign language interpreter.

According to Cisco, VideoStream can not only improve video quality and stability, allowing network admins to prioritize bandwidth for streaming video traffic in general, but also give them the power to prioritize particular streams. It can also block new requests to join a multicast if they would impair video quality.

Furthermore, Cisco claims that the technology will monitor both the wired and wireless aspects of a network to make sure a video multicast is using network resources efficiently throughout.

Under the auspices of Cisco, RIT said that its also exploring the idea of adding capabilities to let students view closed-caption lectures, visual signing, and transcription services in real-time on laptops and other mobile devices. ®