Simplicity and reliability was the theme of Ryan Tupper’s presentation at IP Possibilities. In his talk, Tupper described how Innovative Systems consolidates disparate service features, such as unified messaging, on-demand conferencing and IPTV middleware into one box, the APMAX. In this video interview, Tupper demonstrates a couple of features embedded in the APMAX; one which allows a telco’s CSR to remotely control and monitor a customer’s set-top and another feature which allows one click creation of reports for content providers.
Voice narration isn’t necessary to make the point of this two minute video as it notes the progression of IP in telecom and the progression of Video and TV over the Net. IP displaced ATM in an industry that would have said "no way" ten years ago. And now, Video and Television over the Net have progressed to a point where few are questioning or doubting, but many are jumping on the band wagon to provide products and service.
IPTV took a bit of a hit in December 2008 when SES announced it was backing out. Yet, at that same time, Vudu announced the addition of Web to TV episodes to it’s service. LG announced a box for Netflix movies delivered over the Net to the television, and then announced a TV that didn’t need a box. Roku and VuNow also have a box for video to the TV while XBox, Playstation, and Wi already do Internet video on the TV, and then Ninetendo announced an Internet channel that struck fear in the Japanese TV industry.
Even before these Internet to TV boxes came along, there was writing on the wall with the aggregation of network, studio, and film content. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Comedy Central, Disney, and many others have been streaming programs over the net for quite some time. It was a logical progression for companies like Hulu, Boxee, and even TV Guide to aggregate.
The missing link for television video on the net, and the aggregation of that content, for watching on the TV, was a box. Today there are many with many more likely to show up in 2009. My conclusion in the video above is that operators need to learn more about these activities by watching, uploading video content and experimenting, learning to create video playlists, and embedding customized players on a website. The tools for learning are free – YouTube, BlipTV, Revver, Metacafe, Facebook, and the many others – so it seems very logical that using these, and observing will help realize how to partner in these ventures.
ViodiTV has been posting video’s for the past 6 years and learned many things by expermenting. We’ve learned what’s good and bad about various services, about generating ad revenue through new avenues, about creating playlists for linear on demand viewing, and customizing players to embed on a website. We’ve learned why CDN’s are important for video, and about many start-ups and stealths at various conference that focus on video over the net.
To use an abstract analogy I’d conclude with the phrase… In 2008 "Wii" got "Fit" on TV; In 2009 TV is getting Fit for Us. I also want to point out that the music in this video is Creative Commons License 
downloaded from ccMixter.org. "Pulsing Piano Bit for Goodby December" by Kaer Trouz.
Roger Bindl reports on interesting under-tone or evolving trends with IPTV. Coverage includes Mark Carpenter of Pannaway, with revenue generating ideas that kick off this tone. Kurt Scherf, Parks Associates, explains how his workshop expanded on integration of over-the-top (OTT). Edward Lichty of Vudu gives the perspective of an OTT service provider. Paul Scanlan, MobiTV, expands on this idea of video over the top. Steve Tanter, NDS, provides an example of a whole home network application and Marty Roberts of thePlatform wraps up with thoughts on advertising.
A high level overview of CableNEXT 2007 in Santa Clara with Roger Bindl and Ken Pyle. This 3 day conference featured a keynote speech by Tony Werner of Comcast who suggested that Cloud Computing could be a significant game changer.
contact Peter at peter at viodi dot com.
BTC Broadband sees its role as a technology leader dedicated to providing leading edge services to its community. Aggressively pursuing that path, it has launched one of the first 100%, MPEG4-based, subscription video services in the USA. The CEO of BTC, Lynn Pike, gave the Viodi View some valuable insights into the development and launch of BTC TV.
Viodi View asked Lynn what drove BTC to pioneer such an early push to MPEG4. The answers were clear. Taking a strong position against competition from Cox required a high level of video service, and going the MPEG2 route would require upgrading to MPEG 4 before achieving pay off of the MPEG2 gear.
I also wanted to know how long the process took. Lynn confided that "It took us almost 24 months, primarily due to the middleware and STB development. If we were to start today I would estimate only 12-18 months with the gating item being content contracts." Content availability will only improve as and when more MPEG4 oriented turnkey providers hit the market.
BTC teamed with Conklin-Intracom to build the infrastructure, and launched with over 145 basic and premium channels. Added features, including various flavors of PVR, network and STB based, will begin rolling out in December.
Lynn also offered some advice to other IOCs heading down this road. "Always allow more time than expected." Product roadmaps and delivery dates are still uncertain at this stage of any technology roll out and vendor support is critical.
"Twenty to thirty year old copper OSP is great for voice frequency, fair for DSL and really unfriendly to IPTV data rates. Figure on cleaning up 25 -30% of your pairs before you can deploy TV. You will find corrosion, bridge taps, load coils, moisture in splice closures, poor splice connections, and woe to you if you have paper cable …. Shorten your loops to under 9000′ – 5000′ is better."
So, how about the future? In answer to questions of bandwidth availability and consumption in the longer term, Lynn noted some concerns. He strongly supported increased fiber deployment. "….build green fields with fiber, overbuild with fiber while settlements are still available…." and looks forward to vendors expanding the bandwidth capacity of copper. "We will need 30 to 40 megs for HD, VOD and multiple streams."
Viodi will keep up with BTC’s progress, and give readers insight into the successes and roadblocks that BTC will encounter on their way to offering PVRs, HD and other video services to their community.
