IPTV World Forum exhibitor Q&A - Nortel

Nortel will be exhibiting its solutions for blending entertainment with communication and which address the challenge of "hyperconnectivity" at this year's IPTV World Forum, including its Video Services Platform 9500.

Has the IPTV World Forum come around at a good time for the industry?

David Holt, Leader Video Solutions EMEA: Definitely, in how many industries do you see the opportunity for interaction, and the acceleration of entertainment with communications -  from consumer TV remote, mobile and gaming device, pc, telecom IP infrastructure, internet, and video headend components.  And of course video content players, whether that is major studio houses or you and I.  As applications and devices become hyperconnected, the possibilities expand and accelerate.

But two key realities are also mounting, the pressures on the network – including the demand for more bandwidth, quality of experience, and back office integration; and the business reality of establishing revenue streams from new services. These two realities set the backdrop for new ideas; applications and technologies to win or fade away.

What do you see as the key threats and opportunities for the IPTV market?

IPTV is becoming one of many video applications that are demanding increases in bandwidth to the home (more than 20 Mbps), yet consumers are looking to the net and other connected consumer electronic devices for the same and different content.   How will the network and providers handle these demands?

Those that are able to develop and deploy applications with speed will win. Open applications platforms based on web services will enable services to be layered on top of the IPTV network and blended to create unique new applications.

The ability to target and personalize services easily will give the consumer convenience and ease of use and the provider the opportunity to monetize interactions.  Imagine a single subscription to broadcast content, video on demand and personal content on any device (TV, PDA, pc) anytime, anywhere.

With the emphasis on differentiated services and the increasing role of multi-vendor applications, systems integration flexibility will be key to successful and profitable deployments.

How does your company plan to address these?

As the market shifts to be driven by applications that will increase ARPU including many applications blended with IPTV,  Nortel will deliver a network-based video application architecture and software that enables providers to deliver high margin converged services on their existing network infrastructure.   This architecture will be open, standards-based and allow for innovation, time-to-market and application differentiation

The Video Services Platform (VSP) is built upon a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and open interfaces to shorten service time to market and enable new service and application delivery whether by Nortel, a service provider or third party.  It operates in both pre-IMS and IMS-based deployments and offers service providers and third parties access to key services using web services (WS) interfaces.  By opening the interfaces using web services the VSP enables true innovation in the video applications space.  The VSP is one example of how Nortel is addressing hyperconnectivity and creating an opportunity to to offer new blended services for consumers and simplify business for service providers.

The first application on the VSP delivers entertainment blended with communications through Nortel’s CM 9520.  Blended services are enabled by applications which traverse the traditional stove-pipes of voice, video, data and wireless and offer consumers significant new values and service providers major new revenue opportunities.  CM 9520 is built on the video services platform (VSP 9500) which will support other suites of blended services in the future. 

The Communications Module 9520 is a suite of applications developed by Nortel which blends entertainment with multimedia applications such as telephony, SMS/MMS, picture/video sharing, and wireless integration.  It provides the TV users with access to multimedia communications, and provides service providers with new revenue potential and strong differentiation.

Why should delegates visit your stand at the IPTV World Forum?

See how Nortel is leveraging an open, standards-based architecture to blend entertainment with communications and enable future blended video applications with its Video Services Platform 9500 and Communications Module 9520.  Visiting Nortel Booth will give you a better understanding of how to move from the base IPTV to the next generation of interactive video and multimedia applications.

The VSP 9500 is based upon open interfaces using a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to deliver superior application velocity.  Our video architects and solution experts will be on hand to answer your questions on application and network requirements to implement new services, such as “Three Screen” services with optimal quality of experience and network utilization.

Single subscription video services across multiple devices, leveraging a provider’s existing network infrastructure will also be demonstrated using the Nortel Video Services Platform 9500.  And serving as the foundation for blended entertainment services is Nortel’s end-to-end IPTV offer that provides secure, reliable and scaleable multicast and video-on-demand services.

Nortel will be exhibiting at Stand #135