"Mu's Test Suite complements our internal vulnerability detection methods, which accelerates our remediation efforts, and decreases exposure to exploitation. "

Joe Levy
Chief Technology Officer
SonicWALL

Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV)

IPTV is today's generation of digital, IP-based video services and critical to the revenue of both service providers and cable operators globally - in the US alone, researcher Strategy Analytics predicts revenue will top $13 billion in the next 4 years with AT&T and Verizon leading the charge.  IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe will nearly triple over a three-year period, jumping from 5 million in 2007 to 14.7 million in 2010, according to forecasts.

Gartner Group expects more than 19 million IPTV subscribers in 2008, a 64 percent increase.  Gartner also estimates 2008 IPTV revenues at $4.5 billion, up 93.5 percent from a year earlier.

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With so many new IPTV technologies requiring interoperability, reliability and security, Mu is working with both developers and operators to ensure these technologies work well… together.  Mu delivers IPTV service assurance to help increase operator's competitive advantage and increase vendor product quality:

• IPTV Case Study (download Full Study pdf)
• Verizon and other Leading IPTV operators DiscussBest Practices with xChange (eBook)
  

Case Study

An estimated 55 million people will subscribe to IPTV services by 2010, according to the Open IPTV Forum. But before any service provider can tap into new revenue streams from IPTV service delivery, it must make a massive investment necessary to build a robust, secure digital TV infrastructure.  The combined IPTV and switched digital video (SDV) market is forecast to grow in healthy double-digits annually to reach $9.8 billion worldwide in the next 3 years, according to Infonetics Research. 

A leading network operator is aggressively rolling out IPTV services to consumers in several US regions. For this Tier 1 telecom service provider, delivering high quality IPTV will generate new revenues that will offset declining fixed voice revenues. IPTV will enable the company to more effectively compete with the cable industry’s successful triple-play services.  The provider also believes IPTV will help it create long lasting customer relationships, which will ameliorate the industry’s pervasive issues with customer churn.

Challenge

• Offer broadcast TV, video-on-demand, interactive TV and targeted advertising to consumers as part of an IPTV pilot, which will generate new revenue streams and offset declining voice revenues
• Compete more effectively against triple-play services from cable companies
• Identify potential sources of service degradations before they impact the customer experience and service level agreements
• Ensure that IP-based video can share the next-generation network without impacting the availability of other revenue-generating subscriber services, including VoIP
• Verify that IPTV network equipment is free from zero-day and known vulnerabilities

Solution

Results

• Successfully piloted IPTV services to consumers in several regions in the United States, collaborate with a top European IPTV provider, paving the way for future rich content service rollouts
• Met massively high service availability requirements for IPTV without impacting VoIP and other services that run on the same next-generation network infrastructure
• Verify that IPTV products are free from vulnerabilities that may affect security or robustness before products are purchased and deployed into the production network
• Automate and conduct comprehensive testing of highly complex IPTV applications and equipment to meet aggressive service rollout schedule

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