Vision - September/October 2007 - (Page 18) But others are using language to describe it that borders on the miraculous. For instance, Matt Bross, the chief technology officer at BT, calls it “Innovation Possible TV,” suggesting it will open doors previously unimaginable. So, how does this “miracle” actually work—and will it work? the technology’s potential to expand its programming line-up and choices. “IPTV is definitely the end game,” Mark Wegleitner, Verizon’s senior vice president, recently told xChange Online. HIgH IntErEst for HIgH-dEf The telcos’ optimism is shared by a handful of prominent research firms who have declared that IPTV will be the next big thing in communications. Strategy Analytics, a research company based in Boston, projects that 7.9 million IPTV set-tops will be sold worldwide in 2007, an 111 percent increase over 2006. But the company goes further out on the limb, stating that worldwide IPTV set-top sales will hit 112 million in 2012, with 33.5 million sold that year alone. Charlie Wang, IPTV chairman for Hisense, an electronics company based in China, says IPTV will enable TV providers in his country to offer more services. Unlike the U.S., for example, Chinese TV viewers don’t have access to a variety of entertainment options so the IPTV technology allows for more content streams to enter the home. “Watching TV is still the most important luxury (in China),” Wang says. “With IPTV, a (TV provider) can offer more programming options that are not available in China. They can order movies from Hollywood.” Strategy Analytics believes IPTV’s growth will be fueled by the rising consumer demand for high-definition TV and digital video recorders (DVR). IPTV Expand CapaCIty IPTV, a two-way technology, enables a company to deliver a range of services over a network infrastructure, usually deploying high-speed broadband lines. By using the network protocol, the data—whether it’s video or information accessed via the Net—can be streamed to the home instead of delivered via more traditional (and more expensive) transmission methods such as cable, satellite or fiber optics. With current cable and satellite systems, the operators must store all the information on a fixed system which can quickly fill to capacity. But the IPTV streams are only sent to the home if the consumer requests them, which saves enormous bandwidth. Consequently, an IPTV company could offer dozens of high-definition channels while a cable operator might have room for just 15 to 20. The extra high-def channels are not taking up storage space on an IPTV system. “IP changes everything,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told The Chicago Tribune in a recent article. “iP changes everything ” —Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson with outgoing CEO Edward Whitacre, who presided over the launch of the AT&T IPTV system. AT&T now is using an IPTV system while Verizon plans to go all IPTV in about two years. Verizon is using Internet Protocol for its video-on-demand, VoIP and Internet access, but not broadcast video. The telco was wary of investing so heavily in IPTV in the early stages of its roll-out. But Verizon officials are keenly aware of companies such as AT&T will need the IPTV set-tops (and related infrastructure) to provide more high-def channels and special high-def features, to their subscribers. AT&T’s u-Verse TV service now allows subscribers to record as many as four high-def programs at the same time—twice what most cable or satellite operators permit. Strategy Analytics estimates that three million HD-enabled IPTV set-tops will be sold in Europe this year. “In our view, any IPTV system that does not have, or is not planning for, HDTV upgrades will not be competitive in the long term,” says Peter King, Strategy Analytics’ director of connected home devices. “DVR functionality also is becoming an increasingly important competitive tool in the battle for new customers.” Strategy Analytics’ view is shared by iSuppli, the El Segundo, Calif.-based research company which predicts there will be 103 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2011. The two research groups are betting that the competition between the telcos and existing TV providers will spark the IPTV industry. “The fight to capture the expanding base of IPTV subscribers will put telecom operators on a collision course with existing pay TV market competitors and with a new class of broadband video portals as they roll out progressively more sophisticated offerings,” says Mark Kirstein, iSuppli’s vice president of multimedia content. And iSuppli believes that IPTV’s capacity to allow the telcos and other companies that use IPTV‘s technology to offer more services, will help level the playing field in the communications category. “Ultimately, interactive and value-added services delivered via IPTV will narrow the divide between traditional TV broadcast programming and interactive broadband media experiences,” the company said in a June, 2007 report. With glowing forecasts like that, it’s not surprising that other industry heavyweights such as Motorola, Thomson, Apple, Cisco and Microsoft are rushing to invest in IPTV. Microsoft, which now offers IPTV software and services to 18 companies on four continents, unveiled an updated version of its IPTV platform, called Microsoft Mediaroom, in early summer which allows consumers to view multiple channels (or camera angles) at the same time and transfer PC-stored media such as photos and videos to the TV. “Microsoft is committed to providing our IPTV customers with the very best software platform so they can take full advantage of their intelligent, two-way www.ce.org 18 September/October 2007 http://www.ce.org
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