What to See at NAB
Broadcasters' confab transforming into new media showcase
By Karen Brown
from the April 16, 2001 issue of Broadband Week
The NAB is flipping channels, and increasingly tuning into interactive TV technology.
The National Association of Broadcasters annual convention beginning later this week in Las Vegas remains a playground for traditional television media, but the new broadband technologies on the block also are showing up in force.
This year's theme, "Embrace the Future" is a good hint of that, as is the lineup of keynote speakers--ranging from Internet technology pioneer Vinton Cerf of WorldCom to RealNetworks' CEO Rob Glaser. The convention, which drew more than 115,000 attendees last year, also includes an expanded NAB Multimedia World track featuring digital video technology and new media conferences.
Interactive TV and new media will be a major theme, according to Mark Gray, president, chairman and CEO of Kasenna Inc. That's not surprising coming from Kasenna, the year-old spinoff of Silicon Graphics Inc. "I think we are going to see fewer broadcasters," Gray predicts. "The groups and the networks worldwide are sending fewer people. But at the same time the companies in the iTV space and the new media space are sending more. I think it is going to be less of a broadcasters' show and more of a world new media forum."
With a background in the early interactive TV market while part of SGI, Kasenna also looks to make an announcement that gets it back into that business. "Frankly, the iTV market has been six months away for six years," he says. "We have seen activity particularly in the Asian markets and now we think it is time to get back into it."
"NAB has gotten to be more than the National Association of Broadcasters--it's sort of become the world television congress," Gray adds.
Kasenna will be unveiling a developers' program for its mainstay video management and archiving engine, which it wholesales to content providers. NAB increasingly is a good place to hunt up streaming media business, Gray says. "Half of the exhibitors have a need for streaming media, so we look upon them as potential customers," he says.
Another company making its way to Las Vegas is digital video provider Concurrent Computer Corp. Del Kunert, vice president of marketing, says Concurrent will be showing hospitality and education-oriented video-on-demand products. That's because the company is seeing increased attendance from interests outside traditional broadcast, particularly educators involved in distance learning, Kunert says.
Kunert also sees another trend at NAB: the increasing amount of technology on display. This year he expects to see plenty of IP streaming technologies, with a heavy emphasis on using MPEG-4 and ample amounts of interactive and targeted advertising systems.
"One of the reasons I go is that NAB has increasingly become a show that is oriented toward digital and digital video technologies," he says. "These are technologies that we are very interested in and very interested in integrating with."
"In a way it's a nice show because you see the content guys and the programming guys and all of the glitz," he adds. "But increasingly there is a lot of technology there."
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