On Wednesday night, Cisco CEO John Chambers delivered a 45-minute presentation that focused on the future of video over networks.  He predicted that 90 percent of all Web traffic in the near future will be video-based, and explained that Cisco is getting ready to make these video experiences as consumer-friendly as possible.

Cisco has purchased several companies to pursue its video initiative, including Pure Digital (maker of the handheld Flip camera line) and more recently, videoconferencing giant Tandberg.

Chambers described new video in-home telepresence technology that Cisco plans to trial this spring, through a partnership with Verizon.  (Cisco will provide set-tops and cameras; consumers will be able to use their existing HDTVs.)

Chambers also explained that Cisco was providing the back-end support for NBC during its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, even offering Flip cameras to athletes and commentators so they can upload content from the events.

“Who would have thought a decade ago that Cisco would be here talking about consumer products and video?” joked Chambers.  “It is video that changes everything.”

Chambers further emphasized the intimate nature of video technology, and showed short video clips he took with a Flip camera of his family in Hawaii and Costa Rica.  Video is the “killer app” for the Web, he explained, especially for the tens of millions of video-enabled portable devices being sold globally today.  “The video experience was not really ready for the big time until now,” he added.  Now that many households have broadband and 50 percent have HDTV, Chambers says consumers are ready to fully utilize video.