IPTV Vendors Up the Ante

Abstract

IPTV infrastructure is an overly competitive vendor market today with fourteen companies that can reasonably claim complete solutions. As IPTV moves beyond replicating cable services, fewer vendors will be able to span the expanded skill set needed.

One common theme among telcos is clear - they are all looking to provide an efficient next-generation network on which they can offer high-quality value-added services (VASs) to their customers. Telecoms operators are faced with a string of challenges from defending their core fixed revenues to generating growth from new wave services and international operations.

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Consolidation likely as IPTV matures

Raising the entry stakes

• Early market allowed entrants from multiple sides
• The game continues to change
• Next step is a bigger commitment
• Success factors: Ability and will to invest in new competencies
• Market is overly competitive today

Integrated solution has not proved a differentiator

• “Complete end-to-end solution” is unhelpful description
  • + Point solutions aren' t the competition
  • + But where are the “ends”?

Vendors divided into transport and video camps

• Strongest competitors have both: partner up
  • + Addressing video quality issues requires both skill sets
• Telecom OEMs have the greatest stake in this market
  • + Transport adding video intelligence
  • + Telecom operators need both types of help and more
• Video contribution industry struggling with its own migration
• IMS increasing in importance

Web stage is a different type of transition

• IPTV trying to become a service platform
• Applications viewed as the new battlefield
  • + Platform support for third-party applications
  • + IPTV vendors do applications today
• Some IPTV middleware may finally justify the name “middleware”
  • + Separating end-user-device and network-side middleware

Vendor strategies

• IPTV encompasses many angles
• Full service versus product in a box
• Feature weighting reveals different priorities
• Vendors recognize that the customer is the operator, not the viewer
• Strategy depends on target customer type

List of Tables

• Table 1: Vendors who offer both partner and in-house options

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Ability and will to invest in IPTV competitiveness
• Figure 2: IPTV middleware vendors by customers and total end users
• Figure 3: Categorization of IPTV vendors by breadth of offerings
• Figure 4: Extended IPTV infrastructure including video processing and video-aware broadband transport
• Figure 5: Vendors ranked by breadth in transport and video
• Figure 6: Transport vendors by relative strength in wireless vs. wireline and synergies between IPTV and wireline transport and IMS
• Figure 7: Feature weighting based on vendor messaging
• Figure 8: Feature set focus, operator versus subscriber