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Cisco, Harmonic, Ericsson, AT&T Tout NBC Olympic Partnerships

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The Olympics are an important benchmark for the streaming video world, a chance to show strong and reliable service and lead with new offerings. As the Winter Games start in PyeongChang, South Korea, several companies are celebrating their partnerships with NBC in preparing and streaming live and on-demand video to U.S. viewers.

Cisco is providing a variety of IP video contribution and distribution services, as well as networking and security offerings. Thanks to Cisco, notes Dan Robertson, vice president of Olympics information technology for NBC, the broadcaster's network operation center in PyeongChang mimics its existing facilities in Stamford,  Connecticut. Cisco is providing network routing and switching infrastructure, transport technology, network security, and collaboration tools.

NBC is using Harmonic storage systems and media servers during the Games: Harmonic Spectrum MediaDeck servers capture footage as it's generated, while MediaGrid systems store content both in PyeongChang and Stamford.

Ericsson is handling the NBC Olympics' video encoding using its AVP 2000 contribution encoders. The company notes that it has engineers on hand around the clock in PyeongChang, providing support to multiple sites as needed.

Delivering all that video to U.S. viewers is the work of AT&T Global Video Services. Voice, video, and data will stream over AT&T's network, notes Christopher Connolly, senior director of transmission engineering and operations for NBC Olympics, highlighting that company's secure transport and operational support.

NBC's coverage of the Games began early today, with the Opening Ceremony coming tomorrow. NBC will stream 1,800 hours of live video from PyeongChang, the most ever for Winter Games, 

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