IPTV World Forum preview

The IPTV World Forum is next week in London, and unfortunately, this U.S.-based reporter/blogger will miss the boat. I blame not only the lousy economy, but also a busy show schedule here in the U.S. for the Fierce family of publications, and also the fact that I would miss at least three of my fantasy baseball league drafts if I were to attend.

I know that last excuse will be lost on most Forum attendees even as the ongoing World Baseball Classic wins new converts (all three of you) around the globe to the U.S.-originated sport. Truthfully, I wish I could make it to London. Like the WBC, the IPTV World Forum, aims to bring the world's service providers and vendors together on the same playing field to show their stuff. Unlike the WBC, the IPTV World Forum, as the single largest IPTV event that I know of, actually accomplishes this goal.

Speakers at the event will include some of the biggest names in the IPTV world: Christopher Schläffer, Chief Innovation Officer at Deutsche Telekom Group; Richard Griffiths, Director of TV and Entertainment at Eircom; Bernard Rapaille, Head of TV at Belgacom; Franz Kurath, Executive Director of Broadband Content at AT&T, Paul Berriman, CTO of PCCW Hong Kong and many other speakers who will no doubt chastise me for not mentioning their names along with the others.

Also, the IPTV World Forum's World Series Awards (another baseball reference!) will showcase some of the best technologies and service approaches to emerge from the IPTV ecosystem. Nominees include: AT&T; Telekom Austria; PCCW of Hong Kong; Belgacom; Portugal Telecom; China's BesTV; and many other companies. You can find the entire shortlist in this press release.

Finally, there will be plenty of news coming out of the show, and here's just a taste:

• Canadian company Mariner already has announced a partnership with U.K.-based Endurance Technology that will officially bring, Mariner, a long-time IPTV solutions vendor, into the European market. At the show, Mariner will no doubt further discuss its plans for working with European IPTV service providers.
• Set-top software company ANT, developer of the Galio Platform, plans to launch the ANT Academy, which the company describes as an applications community for connected TV. Initial members include both academic and commercial parties: Georgia Tech Research Institute; Anglia Ruskin University; Accedo Broadband; CloverLeaf Digital LLC; Datmedia; MiCard; Two Way Media; Vizimo; and weComm.
• SecureMedia will demonstrate new Encryptonite ONE CA/DRM System offerings, including the eOne Virtual Set-top Box for PC and Mac, a new PC media player and other innovations.
• Neptuny will roll out the latest version of its content recommendation engine, Contentwise 2.5.
• Witbe will discuss its new Quality of Experience approach, employing passive software agents inside the set-top box to measure QoE and improve customer support and troubleshooting..

There will be much more to come, to be sure, and even though I won't be making the trip to London, I'm hoping to track as much show news as I can from the FierceIPTV Command Center here in Chicago, so please keep me posted on whatever you see/do/announce at the show that seems interesting.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and happy travels.

-Dan