IPTV middleware breakdown
According to a London research firm, nearly one-third of IPTV subscribers are getting their video on proprietary middleware. The conclusion is that IPTV providers are skeptical of off-the-shelf versions.
Worldwide, the number of IPTV subscribers was estimated to be 7.5 million as of June. By comparison, iLocus said that out of 55.4 million consumer VoIP lines worldwide, about 18 percent were on proprietary hosting platforms.
iLocus indicated Thomson was the lead supplier of off-the-shelf middleware, primarily due to France Telecom deployment. Next was Cascade, followed by USTarcom, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens, Microsoft, Orca, Vcom, Hawei, Minerva and ZTE.
"IPTV equipment has all the ingredients of a market in its infancy," iLocus states. Touche.
For More:
- The iLocus summary is here
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Comments
Posted by Anonymous | September 26, 2007 - 4:29am
This is why the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) www.dvb.org has defined a Specification called GEM-IPTV whcih is now a Global Standard encompassing Digital Broadcasting and IPTV. It allows for Operators who must carry or would like to carry channels that already use the DVB's MHP standard to have a HYBRID STB and not have multiple software that complicates the receiver in terms of implementation and cost.
The IPTV industry has replicated the TV industries Middleware problem of yesteryear and will eventually realise their are already standards out there that they can use.
Meanwhile its a business by business world and everyone wants to be the next Microsoft with their IPTV software! Including Microsoft...
When will humans learn not to replicate the history of their predecessors?
