The importance of end-to-end IPTV

With new technology and new business models in place, IPTV over fixed telecom networks has now taken off. Improved technology, such as ADSL2+ and VDSL2 for copper lines, combined with deep fiber access solutions, will offer the required transmission speeds for delivering standard TV (SDTV) as well as high-definition TV (HDTV) to homes.

As a result, the telecom industry is now in a position to aggressively launch TV services in addition to their current offerings. And for the telecom industry, IPTV is more than just TV over IP; it will eventually become an interactive and personalized TV experience. In contrast to traditional terrestrial and satellite broadcast TV, telecom networks have a real two-way communication option - a prerequisite for interactive and personalized TV - at their disposal.

All this requires a substantial upgrade of the entire transport network - access, metro and IP edge - since IPTV requires up to 50 times the throughput and superior network quality compared to today's high speed Internet applications. For operators to grasp the full potential of fixed and mobile service evolution it is furthermore necessary to have an infrastructure such as IMS harmonizing application requirements with the underlying transport network.

Olle V Tidblad, Ericsson's business solutions owner for IPTV Network Infrastructure, says this is a big challenge for operators. "The IPTV experience has to be better than today's traditional broadcast TV. Therefore, operators will have to build their network for high capacity, quality and reliability to be able to take advantage of the interactive and personalization aspects of IPTV."

For suppliers, this means a great opportunity to sell new equipment, support and services. Furthermore, operators are moving towards fewer suppliers, and towards suppliers that can take on a total end-to-end IPTV responsibility, delivering not only products but also IPTV services related to network dimensioning, multivendor integration and network roll out.

Tor Hammarström is leading Ericsson's IPTV network infrastructure project. "We have seen that the old product-centric purchasing model has created huge multivendor integration issues for operators," Hammarström says. "Therefore we see an advantage for suppliers such as Ericsson that can offer a total end-to-end integrated solution, including a full range of services. For the operator, this removes a lot of risk and complexity when introducing IPTV in the network."