IPTV: it is not all who are nor are all who are

If all suppliers of the Industry were today gathered in a single room and they ask those who offer services to raise their hands related to IPTV, a very significant proportion of hands it would look up.

That's right, during the Past NAB fair, 170 companies (out of 1,500 present) will be identified as related to this new trend, whose figure the market has been modeling, but still does not have a face defined.

IPTV or internet TV?
We will try to give features to this incipient face that, without However, he already speaks. But, first, a quick test: of the next options which do you consider the definition more ACCURATE IPTV?

a. Youtube.com or any other website with videos.
b. Buy programs through iTunes and watch them later in the Own iPod or on TV, with the iPod as a player.
c. Receive audiovisual content on the TV through the same internet connection I use for telephony.
d. All of the above.

And the right answer is C! Although, in practical terms, all audiovisual content published on the web could be classified as IPTV, it is consolidating in the industry by such a term, the transmission of television programs using the IP protocol to the televisions, through broadband connections.

The other thing, the video that we see on a web page, we could call it television in line or television on the internet (Internet TV) and also configures as a possible source of income for broadcasters. As an example, there are the initiatives of the British chains BBC and Channel4, which have developed their own players to allow English public access to your programming usual within eight days of issuance original (www.channel4.com/4od and www.bbc.co.uk/imp).

However, we return to our topic at this time, IPTV. What is IPTV? We already stated it before. A more detailed definition would break down its two important elements: IP and TV. Television, we all know what it consists of. The term IP or internet protocol, either is unknown and specifies the package format and schema of addresses on a network, allowing the transport of information from one point to another.

Internet has been with us in Commercial form, fortunately, it has been a long time since. Why So, only now is it possible to broadcast television over IP? The answer, of course, points to the ever-increasing bandwidth of networks. At this point they come to play an important role telecommunications companies offering band access wide, and they're actually driving marketing of IPTV.

But they have not been the only ones. To the as in other areas of communications, to the arena of the television companies from very different origins have arrived, as software developers or device manufacturers receivers, which are currently part of the cartography of the IPTV. Interestingly, the ones that have taken the longest to arrive are the companies traditionally associated with television.

Before entering to see who lead the IPTV business in the world right now, it's need to add something more about what this new one looks like application of technology. First, for the end user, IPTV includes so far (it is necessary to remember that the business is in full development):

• The same or more channels of those you receive by cable or broadcast.
• Video on demand.
• Due to nature transactional IP, has the same possibilities interactive internet. Such a feature can be exploited in multiple ways by the suppliers of this service (e-commerce, advertising personalized, interaction between the same subscribers or with the supplier company).
• Finally, promise to receive the service on different devices through a same network connection.

On the side of the provision of the system, roughly, architecture has six areas Main: video header, access, set-top boxes, middleware, video on demand and content protection.

Some inhabitants of the IPTV world
Consulting firm MRG recently revealed the companies featured in each area, in four geographic regions and globally. To select these companies, the Report about the leaders in the IPTV market (IPTV Market) Leader Report), took the estimated number of subscribers IPTV assets that were directly used or supported by products of each company. This was the case in all the segments, except in the video headers, for which took the estimated number of IPTV channels offered using the company products.

According to this report, the leaders Current IPTV market by region and in the world are:

Source: © 2007 MRG, Inc.

As you can see, there are companies with evident leadership in its segment, such as Harmonic, Tandberg and Verimatrix. There are also others with operations in several segments, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, Thomson and Cascade; this it is explained, in some cases, by acquisitions and mergers between companies, as in the case of Alcatel-Lucent (the recent Ericsson's acquisition of Tandberg appears to announce many more of these movements in the near future).

But who are these greats? of IPTV? Let's look at a few.

Amino
In the set-up box segment, a key player is the company Amino, which in 2006 received the innovation award at NAB, in the Content Delivery category. His AmiNet set-top box series has been used by about 600 customers in commercial and pilot deployments in more than 50 Countries. During the last NAB 2007 fair, the company presented AmiNET530 models (the next generation of set-top boxes with video recorder for IPTV and capacity of support HD), AmiNET125 (set-top definition box standard and multicodec designed for IPTV and Internet TV) and AmiNET130 (High Definition STB with H.264 MPEG4/AVC).

Alcatel-Lucent
The company, originated in 2006 by the merger of the French Alcatel and its American competitor Lucent, steps two segments of the IPTV architecture: access and middleware. On the access side, the company developed the TPSDA solution (Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture), which deploys a distribution architecture for adding and delivering services customized to the subscriber, while satisfying demands of stability, reliability and performance.

On the part of the middleware, the company is in withdrawal after entering into negotiations with Microsoft that was a competitor in this field, for develop a joint management and delivery solution of IPTV services for telecommunications companies. Alcatel-Lucent, however, will continue to abide by the agreements established with companies that use middleware platforms created by the company, such as Open Media Plataform and Imagenio.

The company also announced the creating a new business unit to add content (video, games, music, etc.) that can be packaged and delivered to service providers.

Harmonic
During NAB 2007, the company provides solutions for high-performance video, announced that it works in conjunction with Microsoft in the development of an integrated video solution IP-based, around the Microsoft TV software platform IPTV Edition, and DiviCom video encoding solutions, of Harmonic. Integration, which represents one of the first IPTV solutions for both SMTPE VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), enables broadband providers to offer broadcast quality video services at very high rates bit drops.

Alberto Salazar, General Manager for Latin America of the company, he also commented that work with some companies in six Latin American countries, in pilots for the implementation of IPTV services.

Microsoft
As a common denominator of some companies involved in the world of IPTV, there is Microsoft. The software giant announced during NAB 2007, the establishment of new collaborative relationships at different levels with important providers of ipTV technologies in areas such as processors of servers (AMD, Intel), coding solutions (Grass Valley), set-up boxes (Pirelli Broadbad Solutions) and servers and storage (Sun Microsystem).

Microsoft had already established similar agreements with other companies such as Alcatel-Lucent in systems integration and network infrastructure; Harmonic, Tandberg, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta and Modulus Video at video headers, and HP and IBM, on servers and storage.

The Microsoft TV platform is a family of software solutions that helps vendors of service to create and deliver new digital services of television to end users. Incorporates middleware both client- and server-side, digital rights management for the protection of content, video-on-demand delivery, and management of the system.

Motorola
Of the six major segments of the IPTV network, Motorola has operations in three: access, set-up boxes and middleware, with set-up boxes being their biggest fortress. The same conclusion was reached by a study of the ABIresearch consultancy on this market. In addition to your already gaining ground in North America, the company has ventured with success in Europe. Your participation in the deployment of services Of Television Version, telecommunications company and broadband access provider, has also helped her to achieve this leadership.

Panorama in America Latin
In the region, the issue is barely making its way. The recent IPTV World Forum Latin America held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last January, he laid bare several plans to launch of IPTV services, driven in particular by telecommunications companies and service providers of internet, which must first in some cases overcome the obstacle imposed by the regulations of its respective countries Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, which prevents them from offering these services.

Companies such as Telecom Argentina, Brazil's Telemar, Brazil's Telefónica and Brasil Telecom; Chile's Telefónica Sur and Chile's Telefónica; the Colombian UNE EPM, the Mexican Telmex and the Venezuelan CANTV, have announced launch or testing to launch IPTV services.

According to Werner Schuler Schütz, General Manager of Television and Multimedia Services of Telefónica Peru, speaker at the event in Brazil, during the next two years it is expected that services over IP in Latin America represent revenues of US$1 billion, of the which half would correspond to video applications and the rest would include from remote purchases (T-Commerce) to people location systems.

By way of conclusion
IPTV, more than a technology, is the application of a Internet protocol technology, IP, for deliver television programmes by a means other than terrestrial, cable or satellite. Although he is just learning to Walk, there are already several and important companies involved in this incipient business, as has been seen.

The protocol itself, as only IP, is also used in other applications, such as transmission of videos from the place where a news story is produced, to the editing room, closed surveillance networks or teleconferences.