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IPTV interactivity to 'shake' foundations of cable, satellite

Feb 27, 2007 8:00 AM

There are opportunities for telecom network operators and broadcasters to work together to produce local content, says Lightbulb Communications partner John Abel.

NAB2007 will offer a new conference and program devoted to the needs of those from the telecommunications industry who are grappling with the launch of IPTV services.

Former USTelecom executive John Abel, who now heads Lightbulb Communications, is helping to organize Telecom@NAB2007, which will take place April 16-18 at the show.

IPTV Update took the opportunity of the launch of this new event at the NAB convention to gain a little insight into the view of the IPTV market by the event's co-producer.

IPTV Update: What are the primary goals of the Telecom@NAB2007 conference and program schedule?

John Abel: If broadband video services delivery to consumers is the future of the telecom industry, then the industry must understand video and the special requirements of video on telecom networks. In addition, if telecom carriers are to understand consumer-driven video in ways that their competitors (cable/satellite) do, then they need to be at NAB, where their competitors have been convening for years. Digital video is what drives the world of entertainment and information. There is no better place in the world to learn about video than at the NAB Convention.

There are other quality events for telecom industry professionals, but if consumer-based video services are the future of the industry, then the NAB show is a must-attend.

Our intent with these conferences is to educate telecom carriers about video services and the special requirements of video on networks; provide a forum for the discussion of technologies that affect broadband network deployments; have telecom carriers experience the living laboratory on the exhibit floor and to become immersed in video technology; and provide a forum where telecom companies and broadcasters can network and get to know each other. There are business deals to be had here for local exchange carriers and local broadcasters.

IPTVU: Does entering the IPTV space require any fundamental change for telecom operators from the point of view of service quality? While the five nines might be what's required of a telecom voice network for acceptable quality of service, will that be enough for delivering video over an IP network? Will the new conference address these different QoS expectations?

JA: Yes, it does require a change for telecom companies. Over the past 20 years, the telecom networks have become more driven by data than even by voice, but data and voice networks are very different from high bandwidth video networks. As examples, data is a non-real time service; there can be dropped data packets, and the lost packets can be resent through the "did you get it" protocols of data networks. Actually, the same is true in voice; one can conduct a voice conversation with a few dropped packets, and most of the meaning of the conversation can still survive. But, in video services, dropped packets are fatal. Dropped packets can destroy a video picture, or other impairments can destroy the consumer's confidence in and enjoyment of the video service.

It should be noted, however, that the largest telecom companies have been transporting video for broadcast and cable network programmers for many years, so the largest carriers have considerable experience at transporting video. What they lack is the experience at delivering video services directly to end-user consumers.

Consumers have increasingly higher and higher expectations of video quality and video services; consumers want more video services at higher video-quality levels. If telecom companies are deploying broadband video or plans to do so in the future, then they must immerse themselves in video. They need to understand video encoding, rendering, nonlinear editing, video compression, video formats, etc. This is precisely why a telecom operator should attend the NAB convention, the destination for all things video.

Finally, many technology suppliers to telecom network operators are focused on producing testing and monitoring technologies to monitor the network and make certain that the video served up on the broadband network is the highest quality that it can be. We already have received several abstracts that have been submitted for the Telecom Technology Papers Conference that address monitoring and maintaining quality of service.

In today's video marketplace, the consumer has a dizzying array of video technologies that are available to from DVD players, HD sets and receivers, multiple STBs, game consoles that connect to TVs, projectors, sound systems, etc. A future business opportunity is to keep all of the consumer technology connected and integrated so that the consumer can enjoy the technology and know how to use it. So watch for telecom carriers to become the digital network administrator for the consumer's home.