AT&T debuted a suite of content delivery and digital media solutions to help companies package, deliver and distribute video and rich multimedia Web content across their networks to the three screens that are core to AT&T's multimedia strategy -- the computer, the television and mobile computing devices such as the iPhone and the BlackBerry. The rollout includes content distribution and management, broadcast video and digital signage services.
AT&T has struck strategic agreements with ExtendMedia, Qumu and Stratacache, which are software companies that specialize in formatting and packaging content that is suitable for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications, such as streaming video, live and on-demand webcasting, e-learning and virtual trade shows, as well as the delivery of advertising over emerging media networks. The goal is to offer a turnkey solution to encode, deliver, manage and support video and multimedia files. Businesses will also be able to combine these services with AT&T's security capabilities, hosting, applications and professional services to address their most pressing needs with complete and reliable solutions.
Furthermore, AT&T plans to complete deployment of nearly $70 million in network infrastructure and development investment by year-end to support its digital media capabilities across the U.S., Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.
AT&T is creating a new unit to accelerate the company's activities in the content space, and it named Cathy Martine, executive vice president-Content Distribution, to lead AT&T's enterprise digital media efforts.
Available today, AT&T Digital Media Solutions features the following capabilities:
- AT&T Intelligent Content Distribution Service -- A network-based Content Delivery Network (CDN) service that replicates information across the Internet, such as Web page content, large files for download, live video and video-on-demand. At the heart of the service is the ability of the AT&T global network to deliver content closer to the end-user by determining the optimal distribution path based on factors such as server load capacity and user proximity. Because the content is sent from the nearest and best caching node, CDN customers are able to distribute files to end-users more efficiently.
- Content Ecosystem -- AT&T is creating an ecosystem of software providers that it is working to simplify indexing, tagging and encoding services that are required to format content for delivery.
- AT&T Digital Signage -- An end-to-end managed service that enables businesses to distribute their own customized video and other multimedia content to both employees and customers. The AT&T service is scalable and typically delivered on High Definition LCD monitors displayed in high-traffic areas, such as retail outlets,
employee lunch rooms, airport terminals, hotel lobbies and office reception areas. - Broadcast Video -- A host of full-motion video transport services that deliver high-quality video images and stereo-quality audio over a fiber-optic network.
