Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) is adding to last year's Videoscape announcement, giving the architecture the ability to handle video transcoding in the network.

The additions being announced Tuesday morning at the 2012 International CES, some coming from acquisitions such as BNI Video and Inlet Technologies, are particularly targeted at cable providers. Cable is making the transition to IP video delivery but will be supporting QAM for some time.

Some of the pieces being introduced include:

• Videoscape Voyager Virtual: Cloud-based software that prepares IP-based video for MPEG-2 set-top boxes
• Cisco Media Processor and Transcode Manager: Two network-based features that convert video to adaptive bit rate; the former works on the fly, while the latter is more of a batch job (for long-term assets such as video-on-demand content).
• Videoscape Multiscreen Gateways: Set-tops, essentially, designed to receive both QAM and IP video. The 9800 series, being introduced today, can record six HD streams at once.

Why this matters
Cisco doesn't have a Flip camera line or ūmi telepresence system to talk about at CES, but it does still want to be relevant to consumer video. The company's long-term plan has been to turn video delivery into a network function.

As executives indicated last year, Cisco wants to provide the infrastructure to match up all video services with all devices. Transcoding, and the magic that lets any video get formatted for any end device, should be within the purview of the network, in Cisco's view. Tuesday's Videoscape additions move Cisco closer to that goal.

For more
A review of some of Cisco's video moves:

• Cisco to Buy BNI Video for $99M
• Cisco's Videoscape Leader Resigns
• AlcaLu, thePlatform Take On Cisco's Videoscape
• Cisco Paints Inlet Into Its Videoscape
• CES: Cisco Unveils Master Plan for Video

— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading