RIYADH, 21 January 2008 — Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Rotana Audiovisual, held a high level meeting with John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco in Riyadh yesterday to discuss future collaboration and the adoption of innovative technologies across Rotana’s entertainment division.
Rotana, the entertainment giant and leading producer and distributor of Arabic music and film worldwide, is set to be the first company in the world to adopt Live Simul-Cast technology, the company said in a statement.
The innovative infrastructure consists of Cisco’s Telepresence, integrated with Musion 3D Holographic Projection technology and will allow Rotana to broadcast live three-dimensional concerts, simultaneously across multiple locations.
They also signed an agreement to expand the global reach of Rotana’s media content through Cisco’s service Provider Content Delivery System and IPTV infrastructure. By building strategic partnerships with multi-global unit developers, service cable and triple-play providers across the world, the jointly developed platform will allow Rotana and service providers to deliver stunning high-definition picture quality and generate new revenue streams through expanded content availability and targeted advertising.
“Our collaboration with Cisco today comes in line with our expansion strategy and furthers our leadership in the entertainment industry,” said Alwaleed. “Working closely with Cisco, Rotana will be able to tap into new markets and communities. Furthermore, with Cisco’s Telepresence, we will be able to introduce unprecedented entertainment experiences and bring Rotana live-like concerts to several geographic locations at the same time.”
“Our meeting today with Prince Alwaleed demonstrates Cisco’s continued commitment to Saudi Arabia and the region,” said Chambers. “Our collaboration differentiates Rotana as the pioneers in offering state-of-the-art entertainment. It also signals the transformation of the entertainment and broadcast industry in the region.”
Alwaleed and Chambers further discussed how Rotana can build and extend its digital brand identity through Cisco’s Social Networking Platform and Connected Real Estate approach. By integrating building infrastructures with next-generation technologies over a converged and connected platform, Cisco will be offering Rotana content worldwide over its quad-play IP architecture.