Many innovative companies are working on ideas to redefine the old “lean back” TV to take advantage of the Internet. Google and the like are in discussion with content creators and media houses to obtain rights and are signing contracts with production houses for original content. However it turns out to be or whoever wins the market, entertainment is going to move out of cable and DTH and will be running on IP networks soon.
Following voice telephony and video conferencing, TV is the next in the convergence list. But this, in terms of number of subscribers and magnitude of packet traffic, is going to be the biggest of all in the whole of IP convergence Internet has witnessed so far. Network operators and ISPs be better prepared to handle the new level of network utilization and to adapt innovative business models to latch on to upcoming opportunities.
Streaming media is not new to Internet; it started appearing about ten years ago. But adoption has been meek owing to reasons such as lack of interesting content and cost to subscribers remained high (especially for those subscribers that opted for data transfer-based billing). Now the situation has changed. Technology is ready now. Cost has been brought down significantly using edge caches and CDNs. YouTube convinced content creators about its business viability and production houses are open for discussion. Now it’s a matter of time.
Last decade also has seen a change in people’s behavior: people search for missed television shows on YouTube. Even full-length feature films are released on YouTube these days. People are more comfortable if the content is available at home on TV. The point is that the wire that provides Internet bandwidth is gaining one more item in its convergence list. That opens up new avenues for the service provider.
As this new convergence is gaining momentum, current Internet traffic pattern is poised for a change. Besides the general Internet traffic, it is also going to contain significantly high video traffic.
In coming years, access network providers will be more valued as communication, information and entertainment channels converge to that one single wire which runs to homes. It’s a question of who owns that wire. The provider that has the least complicated network and that scales seamlessly to any population will be qualified for the race. And the one that is enabled to see and seize the opportunities will win. Access Network is the Key.
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MettleWire is a new generation broadband system that manages bandwidth and powers Access Networks of ISPs and Metropolitan Area Networks. It is designed to enable access service providers to take advantage of the changing scenarios in revenue-growth perspective. It scales well and allows incremental investment as the network grows in population and bandwidth.
Mettle Networks also provides consultancy to network service providers in infrastructure planning and helps to choose appropriate technology for their access networks. For more details contact wire@mettlenetworks.com.