The Platform

According to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) IPTV Exploratory Group, IPTV is defined as “the secure and reliable delivery to subscribers of entertainment video and related services. These services may include, for example, Live TV, video-on-demand (VOD) and Interactive TV (iTV). They are delivered across an access agnostic, packet switched network that employs the IP protocol to transport the audio, video and control signals. In contrast to video over the public Internet, with IPTV deployments, network security and performance are tightly managed to ensure a superior entertainment experience, resulting in a compelling business environment for content providers, advertisers and customers alike.” In other words, IPTV is television delivered via an IP based network.

While the basic concept of IPTV is simple, actually creating a comprehensive IPTV system is not. Some may qualify posting videos online using free online services to be viewed on set-top boxes or smart devices as an IPTV system, but it is a very crude version and wouldn’t suffice for an entire multi-unit infrastructure. To create a functional and comprehensive solution there are a few things that need to be in place: TV Head-End; Middleware; Resource Management; Scheduled Content Service Platform; Content-on-Demand Service Platform; End User Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)