ISMA forms IPTV Workgroup
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Sep 13, 2005 at 1:04am
To further promote standards-based solutions within the IPTV market, the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) has formed an IPTV workgroup. The goals of the workgroup are to monitor developing standards or specifications for deploying an IPTV system, to create an interoperability conformance program for IPTV and to promote solutions that pass conformance testing.
With the world-wide deployment of consumer broadband connectivity, the broadcasting community has faced the emergence of a new medium for video delivery to the home: the Internet Protocol. Whether referred to as IPTV, TV over IP, TV over DSL, or Broadband TV, it consists of the same set of techniques that allow the delivery of live video streams, as well as content on demand, to a subscriber through a broadband connection supporting Internet Protocol (IP).
IPTV deployments relying on proprietary solutions for one carrier network may not be applicable to another network. This creates additional development and integration costs for all the players such as carriers, headend providers, network equipments providers, and set-top box providers. Recognizing a clear need for standardization in many areas, the ISMA has created an IPTV work group to recognize and promote interoperable solutions where multi-vendor competition can be assured,” said Jean-Francois Fleury, Chairman of the ISMA IPTV workgroup.
The workgroup has monthly meetings. Workgroup activities include:
° Selecting the best standard where appropriate for the considered areas when standards are available;
° Working closely with other entities to reach a common solution when they are working in a considered area;
° Engaging in promotional activities, focused on interoperable open standards that are deployable in this area, and member products that support them;
° Developing a brand new specification when no solution exists and no other entity is currently working in that area.
ISMA members actively participating in the IPTV working group include representatives from AOL, Cisco, Envivio, IBM, Philips, Optibase, and Thomson. The Internet Streaming Alliance (ISMA) was founded by Apple, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Kasenna and Philips.
Apple is an active participant at the IBC 2005 event. which ends today. ISMA representatives in the AVC booth, including Apple, will be demonstrating high-quality performance and seamless interoperability between standards-based products available on the market; demonstrate superior video and audio quality through implementation of standards-based technologies like H.264/AVC and HE AAC. This demonstration will show that by adopting open-standards based technologies for IP-based content delivery means superior quality, interoperability and efficiency.
zahadum Says:
sigh.
apple working on a solution :-(
apple has been caught flat-footed, once-again, when trying to solidify their quicktime franchise in the face of massive assault by microsoft.
ms has already announce deployments, roll-outs, pilots with many big carriers.
apple is playing catch-up with iptv (god, doesnt anyone at ISMA “get it’ that ATM is the only viable long-term platform: IP is brain-dead, and has taken / will take years and lots of $$$ to fix right).
itv is one of the few enterprise market segment remaining (search, eg, is another) where apple has any chance of being seriously competitive.
but not if it is always years late to the party!
wireless (video) firewire, optical firewire, metropolitan firewire, home-theatre/digital hub firewire - these are all example of other crucial building-blocks which apple has frittered away its competitive advantage.
it is just amazing dumb luck that apple succeeds when it does. it sure as hell is not from strategic planning. but rather brilliantly exploiting opportunities presented to them (remember how steve jobs was embarrased to admit at a macworld conference that apple had totally missed the boat when it came to the popularity of RIP-ing audio CD’s ... so he sheepishly introduced macs with CD burners, and touted idisk/iburn as cool ... the predecessors to the ‘RIP, burn, play’ slogan, i vaguely recall.)
i wouldnt get hopes too high about ITV at apple unless they bought tvio at a good price this year (remember they had set-top box experiments with British Telecom decades ago; they also killed their own STB joint venture with Bandai, called Pippin - they have a history of pissing away first mover advantage; and now they think with ipod - which was NOT a first mover - that they can wait as long as they want to come to market with a media product because superior design will make up for institutional incomptence (sony’s failure to defend walkman is not the same as microsft’s burgeoning success with iptv - how is it that apple can not tell the difference?!).
sigh.
Posted on September 14, 2005
Neo Says:
So, what’s really on your mind zahadum :-)!
Yes, it’s discouraging to see Apple go into silent mode again, but really means little. The fact that most STB’s support AVC and AAC-HE means that once Apple launches their IPTV solution, users could easily download it regardless of whether MSFT was first.
Waiting for perhaps Homeplug AV, new intel processors due next year, along with other technologies to line themselves up right next year if not (gulp) 2007, may very well be tactical. People want quality and something really cool by way of ease and advancements MSFT isn’t providing. Television is a key future market and there’s no reason to doubt that taking television to the next level is what it’s about and not who’s first.
I hear your anger and frustration that is shared by many. But old Apple isn’t new Apple and Pippin was another era. I don’t think they’re late to anything being that no one has anything out in the market just yet in North America.
No one saw iPod coming and the competition is pulling their hair out of their heads as seen in the press weekly. It’s a new day, and Apple’s solution for television is in the wings. While I would love nothing more to see Apple launch this NOW, it’s there gameplan, and for the time being - trust Apple will surprise the doubters.
Thanks for the time you took to present your views zahadum, as you do in fact speak for many.
Cheers
Posted on September 17, 2005
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
New2Me Says:
Althought it’s indirect, you could be assured that if ISMA is working on IPTV, then Apple is working on an IPTV solution!
Posted on September 13, 2005