Enterprise Medianet

As video becomes pervasive in an organization and more video devices are used, new demands are placed on the network. It can be challenging to accommodate video needs while reducing complexity, planning for capacity, and providing the best possible user experience.

Smarter Network, Endpoints, and Services

Traditional IP networks need to evolve to medianets to accommodate these changes. A medianet is an end-to-end IP architecture that helps to enable pervasive media experiences.

The medianet architecture includes a smarter network, smarter endpoints, cloud services, and shared media services.

More Medianet Benefits

A medianet reduces total cost of ownership and scales video through features such as auto-configuration and media monitoring. At the same time, it helps to ensure a quality user experience while optimizing bandwidth use and efficiency.

Take a comprehensive, architectural approach to your video strategy, starting with medianet.

Get Details

Find out how Cisco can help you build a medianet with these resources:

• Cisco Medianet: The Difference (Video - 3:40 min)
• Media Awareness
• Medianet At-a-Glance (PDF - 119 KB)
• Medianet Data Sheet
• Medianet 2.x Solution Overview
• Medianet Q&A
• Why You Need a Medianet (Video - 2:33 min)

Discover the value of an architectural approach to your video strategy with a medianet:

Cost Savings

• Faster troubleshooting: Quickly identify video, voice, and data application problems in the network with Performance Monitor and Mediatrace. These tools offer real-time metrics, fault identification, and isolation capabilities in a medianet.
• Easier deployment: Smarter endpoint devices with the network intelligence of Media Services Interface (MSI) work closely with switches and routers to speed deployment, set policies, and improve operations.
• Improved network visibility results in better planning and investment decisions and bandwidth scoping with Performance Monitor, Mediatrace, and Cisco Prime Collaboration Manager.

Quality of User Experience

• Predictable quality of experience: With better visibility into the network, competing demands for video can be optimized to allow a quality user experience.
• Ability to optimize user experience based on available resources: Media-optimized networks adapt lower priority video to what the network can provide based on policy.

Flexibility and Agility

• Flexibility to use any device anywhere: With Cisco Media eXperience Engine, video can be shared on a variety of devices.
• Alignment of resources with business priorities: Video resources can be shifted to make critical video high-quality, and non-critical video adequate.

Efficiency

• Ability to optimize delivery: Technologies such as Performance Routing optimize video delivery through performance, acceleration, and best route selection.

Simple Video, Voice, and Data

A medianet simplifies deployment of video endpoints and provides enhanced network visibility while reducing complexity and costs.

• • 

    Autoconfiguration

    • Automates device configuration and registration
    • Simplifies deployment of video endpoints
    • Reduces ongoing operational costs of media applications and endpoints
    • Data Sheets
• • 

    Media Awareness

    • Differentiate business-critical applications and determine the importance of a session based on its business value so the network can consistently provide service assurance and optimal user experience
    • Extract actionable application information from the network
    • Data Sheets
• • 

    Media Monitoring

    • Enhances visibility into the network
    • Reduces operating costs with faster troubleshooting of video, voice, and data
    • Make business-related network decisions with precise assessment of the impact of video, voice, and data on the network
    • Data Sheets
• • 

    Media Services Interface

    • Reduce costs of deploying and managing video endpoints
    • Quickly troubleshoot issues and cut operational costs
    • Detect network issues while they occur for immediate remediation and improved user experience
    • Data Sheets

Building the Medianet Experience

The medianet architecture offered by Cisco integrates a smarter network with smarter endpoints to simplify the deployment and operation of various media and applications, and to enhance the quality of experience. Working together, the architecture components provide adaptation, integration, and automation to scale visibility and policy from endpoints across the network.

• Smarter network: Medianet technology embedded into routers and switches makes the network media - and application-aware.
• Smarter endpoints: Medianet technology embedded into endpoints enables endpoints to become network aware and utilize intelligent network services.
• Shared media services: Shared network resources and capabilities that enrich media experiences.
• Cloud services: Extend medianet capabilities beyond the enterprise to enable service provider-to-business, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer media experiences.