Streaming Media - October/November 2007 - (Page 32) the 2007 streaming media readers’ choice awards Collaboration/Conference Solution ■ WEBEX • First runner-up: Tandberg • Second runner-up: VectorMAX MeetingAnywhere Even though the Google/YouTube deal grabbed all the headlines (we don’t even need to write the dollar amount, do we?), Cisco’s $3.9 billion acquisition of WebEx was the biggest M&A news of the last couple years, and WebEx’s #1 showing here is a perfect summation of why. WebEx’s own commitment to video has been minimal; as Streaming Media columnist and industry analyst Steve Vonder Haar wrote in his June/July EYES ON THE ENTERPRISE, “Never did one get the feeling that WebEx was truly committing itself to promoting and openly encouraging the integration of video capabilities,” despite the addition of some webcam functionality in recent years. But WebEx is far and away the market leader in business collaboration solutions, to the point where businesspeople will talk about “doing a WebEx meeting” the same way they talk about having a conference call. Now that WebEx has teamed up with Cisco—which in 2005 also acquired Scientific Atlanta—the writing is on the wall for video to become central to WebEx’s mission. Collaboration/Conference Solution - WEBEX Content Management Platform - VERISIGN INTELLIGENT CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK Content Management Platform ■ VERISIGN INTELLIGENT CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK First runner-up: Multicast Media Technologies Vidego Second runner-up: Accordent Media Management System VeriSign benefits from the same sort of name recognition as does WebEx; even if you know nothing about its actual content management offerings, you’ve seen the name and the familiar “powered by VeriSign” logo when you’ve made online purchases. But the company’s both changed and expanded its focus from web-transaction security, selling off its payment gateway to eBay and acquiring Kontiki and its peer-to-peer Delivery Management System. By pairing Kontiki’s technology with its own backbone and customer base, VeriSign has been able to achieve a level of awareness much higher than either it or Kontiki could have achieved alone. As a result, 2007 saw VeriSign announce several major deployments of its Intelligent Content Delivery Network, such as a deal with the UK’s Channel 4 and the fact that they’re behind the BBC’s much-hyped (if also much-maligned) iPlayer. 32 STREAMING MEDIA October/November 2007
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