Within the past week, two colocation companies have contacted me to say that Cisco is acquiring colocation space in various third party data centers in the U.S. for what Cisco is calling a new Cisco based content delivery network. While Cisco has operated a CDN of their own for over ten years, it's never been an external facing offering for other companies outside of Cisco's own personal use.

With Cisco already having their own colocation facilities, purchasing data center space from multiple companies, in multiple locations certainly sounds like the start of a content delivery network. And with all the talk lately of how important video is to Cisco's plans, it sounds like Cisco's quietly building out their own CDN with a desire to compete with the major players. While the companies I have spoken with are only talking about Cisco taking colo space in the U.S. for now, even a regional based Cisco CDN offering would be interesting.

If Cisco is in fact building their own CDN, you have to wonder why they don't acquire one of the major CDN players already in the market. Cisco has the cash and has not been shy lately in saying that they want to do more acquisitions in the market. While Akamai may be too expensive for them, companies like Limelight and EdgeCast could be taken out of the market for what would be pocket change to Cisco. I also have to wonder how other CDNs in the market who buy Cisco gear for their networks would react if that vendor was then competing with them for the same delivery services they are selling.

A new CDN offering by Cicso won't be a disruptor in the market, but it would be an interesting one to watch. Cisco has the resources to be able to be build their offering for the future for when video based CDN services truly become a large business, doing over a billion dollars a year by 2011.

I'm pleased to announce that Reza Hajebi, who leads Yahoo!'s Infrastructure Strategy and Planning group and global CDN ecosystem, is confirmed as our second keynote at the Content Delivery Summit taking place next month in NYC. In addition to focusing on building out large scale networks, storage systems and data centers around the world, Reza also leads the management of Yahoo’s global CDN ecosystem which include both internal CDN resources and working with third party content delivery networks.

Reza joins Jeffrey Cohen, GM of Microsoft's Edge Computing Network as the second keynote at the summit.

I have one 15 minute demo slot open at the Streaming Media East show next month for someone tied into the online video advertising industry that can showcase some compelling video advertising campaigns. Please contact me ASAP and include details on what the campaigns are. Updated: Spot has been taken.

Tuesday May 12, 2009
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Demo: Compelling Video Advertising Campaigns
How can content companies and ad agencies create the most compelling video ads? What is the best way to leverage the brand awareness and interactivity that online video advertising has to offer? This sessions will focus on the creative side of online video advertising and will teach you some best-practices for creating the right content that's best suited for online viewing. Come see firsthand examples of some of the most creative and successful online video campaigns running today, hear how they were made, and learn what makes them successful.

With all the rumors lately about Disney possibly cutting a deal with Hulu, various sources at Disney are talking to many on Wall Street about Hulu's financial situation saying the company is getting low on cash. While Providence Equity Partners, who put $100M into Hulu two years ago, is saying Hulu is not having any finance problems, I tend to believe Disney. No company who is ever running low on cash says they are and their investors always tell you things are fine.

While $100M sounds like a lot of money, for a site the site of Hulu it's not unreasonable for them to have gone through the vast majority of that capital in the past 24 months. What investment NBC and FOX also put into Hulu is not known, but with Hulu's advertising revenue not yet covering their costs and their traffic skyrocketing, Hulu is clearly burning a lot of cash. Hulu served over 300M streams in February and according to comScore, attracted 34.7 million viewers in the same month. Depending on who you ask, most agree that Hulu is only filling about 50% of its ad inventory which has not been helped by the downtown of online advertising in the current economy.

If Hulu truly is ruining low on cash as Disney says, then it puts Disney in the drivers seat with their negotiations with Hulu and probably gives them some leverage they may not have had a year ago. Whether or not this was Disney's tactic from day one is not known but it will be very interesting to hear more about the deal if it happens as I'm sure many details will be leaked. While those at the Cable Show are saying not to expect a deal in the next few days, the consensus amongst many is that a deal is expected to be announced shortly.

Over the past few days, I've gotten details that Sling plans to announce HD support for Mac users this month. While Sling would only comment on the record to say that it would be "coming very soon", folks testing the new service have told me it's ready to go. Hopefully we will finally see the capability launched this month, potentially around NAB, but considering Sling has pushed off deadlines in the past, I can only hope this one does not slip again.

The HD feature for Mac users won't be available in a desktop application but rather will be available via the Sling.com website enabled via a web-based Mac player that links to the PRO-HD box.

Late last night, Internap announced it will implement a restructuring program to reduce their headcount by about 45 employees in an effort to reduce their operating costs. The company does not say when the reductions will be completed but says that when finalized, they expect to save about $5M in annualized operating expenses.

These cuts come as no surprise since new President and CEO Eric Cooney is now running the ship and it's not uncommon for changes like this to take place with new management. Eric said the cuts were needed to "better prepare the company to manage through a tough economy, improve results and increase value for customers and shareholders." While it's a prudent move to help try and get Internap back on track, I think what investors are really waiting to hear about is Internap's strategy, product road map and plans to increase revenue growth. While Eric has only been on board for a short time, I expect that before too long the company will present their new strategy to the market and we'll hear more news on what direction Eric is looking to take the company.

As of now, I only have one speaking spot left for the Streaming Media East show, for a moderator on a panel entitled "Reinventing The Ad Model Through Discovery And Targeting". I'm looking for a neutral moderator who is not affiliated with any ad vendor and is someone who considers themselves an expert in the online video advertising market. If interested, please contact me ASAP and provide me with details on your expertise with the subject.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
B202 – 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Reinventing The Ad Model Through Discovery And Targeting
While advertising has emerged as the primary business model for broadband video, it remains relatively immature. Key constraints include users' inability to find the videos they seek and limitations on targeting ads against particular content. This panel will explore how industry participants are addressing these challenges and starting to show results. Come hear the factors that are affecting the current business models for online video advertising and the hurdles that need to be overcome to truly allow content to be monetized on the Web.