In March 2002, TV and Video published an article, De zapping con el mouse, in the which analyzed the phenomenon of video transmission in internet and predicted that this would be the germ of television Interactive. The circumstances of that time allowed only think that the business would be in providing television channels through the network. At that time, the main players they were Apple, Microsoft and Real Networks. Concluded the article wondering if we would have computers with television, or televisions with computer.
Two more years Go ahead, the picture is clearer. Television over IP is a fact, although with some nuances not foreseen in that article. To begin with, although the concept is almost the same, it is no longer speaks of both interactive television and IPTV, and encompasses projects where television or video signals are broadcast to through the same infrastructure and with the same protocol used for the internet.
Second, the channels of the Television has become a lode of business, but he's not the only one. Along with the channels, other areas such as the corporate training, e-government and education at a distance they can benefit from IPTV and be, therefore, profit-generating sources.
In the IPTV arena, of the three Companies mentioned above, only Microsoft has ventured to offer network operators solutions that enable them to deliver the next generation of digital television to its customers, through existing broadband networks, set-up boxes and media players. The Microsoft TV IPTV platform supports TV channels, VOD Video on Demand, voice and information. Supported by its WMV (Windows Media) technology Video 9) for video compression, the platform takes advantage of the advantages of transmission over IP and translates them into possibilities of customization of programming, control about playback, remote recording of programs and search tools, among others.
Technological alliances made by Microsoft TV with Juniper Networks, Lucent Technologies, Thomson and Tandberg Television allow to acquire, encode and manage content streams. The Tandberg EN5920 device, for example, can encode high-quality streams and standard definition video or on-demand at 1.5 Mbps in Windows Media 9 Series format. With Juniper Networks E-Series routers, Microsoft TV demonstrates interoperability to deliver video, voice and data of quality assured. The integration of network solutions between Lucent Technologies and Microsoft TV deliver definition standard, high definition and on-demand programming to Microsoft TV IPTV set-top box via xDSL devices of Lucent. And thomson's new SET-top BOX IP, in conjunction with The software of Microsoft TV IPTV, makes it possible to offer services of next-generation television over wide networks of existing band.
Bluewin, a subsidiary of Swisscom, Swiss telecommunications company, was the first operator in Europe in offering pay-TV services based on the Microsoft TV IPTV platform via ADSL. In its beginnings, Bluewin would provide 600 households with 25 television channels, including five pay-TV channels, video on demand and features control over the playback of the transmission. By your On the other hand, SBC Communications has just signed with Microsoft a agreement to offer similar services in the United States, which it becomes the first of its kind in the country. Microsoft and SBCs plan to begin testing in mid-2005 and market the service by the end of the year.
In Europe, however, and others telecommunications companies such as the Italian Fastweb, offer combined data, voice and video packages, known as triplay, at a speed 20 times higher than that offered by DSL technologies, but at the price of telephony service stream. The company takes advantage of fiber optic lines existing to deliver these services on a single IP network. For to make this possible, Cisco was chosen.
Fastweb uses routers from Cisco to connect your corporate customers to the backbone of Metroweb, its sister company. In residential areas, the company uses Cisco Catalyst switches to connect mini-points with switches located in the basements of buildings Apartments. In each apartment, a Home Access gateway converts voice to voice over IP, allows navigation through of the computer and delivers television and video signals by demand to video stations. By the end of 2002, two years after starting work, Fastweb had more than 75,000 clients.
In our region, in Argentina and Brazil, Telezpasio, of Italian origin, also uses the advantages of IP to offer communication solutions interactive for companies, educational entities and government, which include video conferencing, digital whiteboard and visualization collective, among others.
Japan is another country that enjoys and IPTV. Yahoo! BB, in conjunction with Softbank, offer BBCable, a digital television service operating over the network of Yahoo! The service was launched in March 2003 with seven channels. and 250 VOD. Today it has 22 channels and 2200 videos on demand.
At this point, they are left in the air some concerns about the future of traditional television and, especially, about who offers it. IPTV emerges as a great opportunity for telecommunications companies enter the world of cable and on-demand television, and leaves in chapel the current cable operators. Two years ago, the question was whether the TV over IP business would be sell programming channels; today, it is clear that it is not only in offering them, but also delivering them together with voice and data.
The TV will still be television, and computer, computer, but the medium that they carry information, and to the phone, it will be one.
Like all technology Revolutionary, IPTV brings threats and opportunities. The raid of telcos in the cable operator business is a more than obvious threat. The possibility that these have of fighting back with voice over IP services is an opportunity also patent that many have not been able to make by restrictions of the regulatory framework in each country. But outside of this struggle for the medium, the opportunity of the content is enormous. IPTV services imply a new way of consuming programming and in it lies the opportunity for traditional program producers repackage their content adapting it to the needs of the new medium.
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