• AT&T intros corporate video network service
By Brian Santo

AT&T is trying to make it easy for mid-size companies to create and manage a corporate network. AT&T has set up its Private Content Distribution Service (PCDS) to sell a comprehensive solution that includes the procurement of the necessary equipment, installation, monitoring, trouble ticketing, patching, reporting and day-to-day operational support of the service.

Companies can use the resulting system for live or on-demand video streaming, managing other large files, conducting online training, delivering corporate video, holding webcasts for employees and other internal operations. AT&T said PCDS is a fully managed solution. The service is immediately available.

AT&T said it developed the service in response to increasing use of video by corporations. "On the average business day, about one-third of the more than 17 petabytes of traffic traversing AT&T's global backbone network is video content. A mere three years ago, video content traversing the AT&T network produced barely a blip," said Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president of strategy and application services for AT&T Business Solutions.

• Broadway Systems intros next-gen ad platform for ops
By Traci Patterson

Broadway Systems – which offers a software platform for cable operators that manages multiple aspects of their advertising businesses – is showcasing its latest software at NAB this week in Las Vegas.

The company’s multi-platform solution has been engineered to integrate all aspects that are crucial to successful management of a cable network’s advertising operation, the company said. The system can manage programming, sales, stewardship, traffic, billing and finance within a single, integrated platform.

New at the 2009 NAB show are proposal and management tools to handle non-traditional ad campaigns. The new tools integrate Internet advertising, video-on-demand (VOD) and other non-linear elements with traditional campaigns.

• Report: VOD resistant to economic flu         
By Mike Robuck

Video providers can take solace in the fact that even though the economy has crumbled, customers are reluctant to cancel their TV services.

Going one step farther, research firm Parks Associates has said that demand for cable and IPTV video-on-demand (VOD) premium services will stay strong despite the economy, with revenues exceeding $11 billion by 2013.

"Currently, 37 percent of U.S. digital cable customers use premium VOD regularly, up from 21 percent in late 2004," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates. "The cable companies need to use this type of service to combat challenges from telco/IPTV services, which grew over 110 percent in subscriptions from 2007 to 2008."