Cisco has unveiled its new Infinite range of cloud-powered video services aimed at service providers, broadcasters and media companies. It claims the cloud could cut the delivery time for a new video service from 12 months to 90 days.

The first two services in the range to be released are Infinite Home and Infinite Video. Home will deliver linear, on-demand and time-shift TV video to any screen over two-way cable and telco networks. Infinite Video offers the same service, but is geared to cater for a variety of consumer electronics devices reached over unmanaged mobile Internet connections.

Cisco claims its new efficiencies will make the tests, trials and roll-outs of new services quicker for service providers and make service updates easier. This, claims Cisco, will improve the subscribers’ experiences, cut costs and boost revenue for broadcasters.

Broadcasters can now launch a new video service in 90 days, according to Cisco, because the networking technicalities have been dramatically simplified by the new cloud infrastructure. Once running, service improvements that once took months can now be completed in minutes, because the functions are no longer installed on individual devices, having been centralised on the cloud infrastructure. This makes addressing changes a lot less complicated and time consuming. Advances in cloud orchestration software have also helped automate and simplify configuration and activation even further, Cisco said.

With the pace of management quickening, service providers will get a faster delivery of new features. The Infinite systems will be pre-integrated and will use open-source components with open application programming interfaces.

Getting video services to market quickly is crucial to today’s video operators, said consultant Colin Dixon, digital media analyst at nScreen Media. “This is exactly the type of technological approach needed. That agility will have huge implications.”

The Infinite Home service was used in beta trials by service provider Kabel Deutschland. “The platform moves control and functions into the cloud, making it quick and easy to update and offer new services,” said user Florian Landgraf, senior VP at service provider Kabel Deutschland.