"As a leading provider of products used in the world’s largest triple-play networks, Redback assures its carrier customers the highest levels of security for critical applications that require robust performance."

Rod Couvrey
Vice President of Software Engineering
Redback

Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV)

IPTV is the next generation of digital, IP-based video services poised to accelerate the revenue of WW service providers  - 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 are set to nearly triple over a three-year period, jumping from 5 million in 2007 to 14.7 million in 2010, according to forecasts.
Research from the Gartner Group shows WW subscriptions hitting 8 million this year with annualized revenue of $5.6 billion in 2010. 

There are many new technologies associated with IPTV deployment, and these technologies need to work well… together. So a key requirement for success is a formalized approach to service assurance before deployment.

• IPTV Case Study (download Full Study pdf)

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 service provider is piloting IPTV service to consumers in several communities in the United States. For this Tier 1 telecom service provider, delivering high quality IPTV will generate new revenues that will offset declining 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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