W h i t e p a p e r IP TV SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION

Transcription

1 W h i t e p a p e r IP TV SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION

2 Introduction With the deregulation of the telecom industry, there has been a huge rise in the number of players providing voice services. Apart from new players, Gas companies and Railway Companies, which have previously setup communication infrastructure overlaying public networks for their own captive use have also started offering telephony services. Cable TV operators who could exploit the cable bandwidth to provide truly Triple-Play services i.e. multimedia services capable of allowing customers to communicate using voice, video and data. Faced with potential erosion of their subscriber base, carriers the world over are also involved in providing additional value to the end users beyond merely offering voice services. While the first generation IP TV solutions are being rolled out by the tier-1 operators during 2006, many more operators are expected to provide such services in the near future. Television service that could be delivered over broadband, called IP TV is being seen as an effective solution complement data and voice service providers. Efficient broadband modems such as ADSL2+ and increased use of fiber in the access networks (FTTx) have resulted in making such services a reality. This paper addresses considerations in selecting and implementing IP TV solutions, general basics of IP TV and Tech Mahindra s approach to implementing such services for service providers Implementation Factors Some of the factors to be considered in selecting and implementing an IP TV solution or in selecting solution integrators are as given below Strongly integrated set-up Most solutions available in the market today were realized through opportunistic alliances between ecosystem players. This leads to extensive customization needs with consequent issues on the cost of the project. On the other-hand, it is also true that there is no one-stop shop for procuring an IP TV solution. The middle-path would be to choose a solution that is developed through a focused initiative leading to a strongly integrated setup of a majority of the components Scaling issues As IP TV grows in popularity, the need to scale the solution becomes important. Increased storage requirement (for services like VoD and network implemented PVR services) could lead to higher latency and performance degradation. A solution that uses an in-memory store coupled with a fail-proof redundancy scheme would ensure that there is little or no performance degradation as the solution is scaled to handle larger transaction volumes as compared to one that depends on hard-disk based systems (NAS, SAN etc.). Conventional video servers are disk-based which means they stream content from disk storage. One of the fundamental limitations of disk technology is that access rates have not significantly Page 2

3 improved over time. As a result, it is difficult to achieve sustainable disk data transfer rates of more than 150 Mbps per disk drive, which corresponds to 75 H.264 streams at a data rate of 2 Mbps. With this performance limit, scaling the number of streams required by a centralized store becomes extremely resource- and space- intensive. For example, to achieve 150,000 streams would require 2,000 disk drives, assuming accesses to these disk drives could be perfectly loadbalanced. In reality perfect load balancing is not feasible, further increasing the number of disk drives required. The cost, space, power, and reliability issues associated with such a large number of disk drives make this solution impractical Footprint per MB streamed With real-estate values in the market being high, a scaling solution would be cost effective only if the solution footprint is minimal. Solutions that make use of servers with very low form-factors and the use of blade servers would be critical to control this recurring cost. Also, in a conventional IPTV architecture there is a bank of video servers and a separate network switch that connects the video servers to the broadband network. This can add significant cost to a video server solution. An architecture that integrates the video server and the video switching/routing function into one unit would eliminate the need for a separate network switch to cross-connect a large number of video servers thereby reducing solution footprint and overall cost Centralized and decentralized options One of the approaches to managing scaling without performance degradation and growth in solution footprint has been to go for a de-centralized setup for the storage solutions. Decentralized solutions tend to involve additional costs associated owing to the operations and maintenance of the distributed setup. Hence, a centralized option, if feasible makes better business sense Ergonomics For monitoring quality of transmission of program, it is usual to implement a monitor wall containing an array of stacked up Television sets. Programs are chosen randomly and presented on the television monitors for human observers to monitor. Layout of the monitoring wall to prevent human fatigue and managing the air-conditioning requirements of the room would be a critical requirement. Solutions that avoid the use of television sets could be considered as better options Integrating it all Lastly, but not in the least, the choice of solution elements and the ability to integrate them to provide a meaningful solution is essential for the success of the implementation. Issues at stake in this could be summarized as per list below. Selection of an SI partner who would be able to understand the domain and has enough understanding of the OSS / BSS elements Selection of appropriate OSS / BSS solution elements, if required Page 3

4 Integration of solution with existing OSS and BSS applications, if required Introduction of service-glue for allowing easy introduction of new services at a later date Cost effectiveness of the overall solution including customization to meet operator specific needs 2. IP TV Solution The content services provided through IP TV solutions can be broadly categorized as Broadcast Type & On demand Type. The diagram below describes the various components involved in a typical solution, from the Video-Server or the Broadcast Server to the Set Top Box (STB) in the subscriber's home. The stored or broadcast content is either pre-processed or fed through the Head End system to the Media Server. A Digital Rights Management or Content Protection System is typically used to encrypt the on-demand content and store it on the Video-On-Demand (VoD) Servers. All these activities are facilitated through the Back-end Middleware. The STB when powered on sends its identification information to the Front-End Middleware, which uniquely identifies the STB and the user associated with it. It then pushes the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) content to the STB based on subscriber eligibility. The STB s micro-browser interprets the EPG information received and presents the detailed electronic program to the user on the TV screen. Upon user request for a particular program control signals are exchanged between the STB, front-end Middleware, back-end Middleware and the billing system to ensure the delivery of the content to the subscriber based upon subscriber credit availability. Page 4

5 2.1 Functional Components The major functional components of the IP TV architecture are: Content Sources - Content Sources represents a functionality that receives video content from producers, and other sources, encodes the content and, for VoD, stores content in an acquisition database. The VoD Server in the above figure forms part of Content Source. Service Nodes - The Service Nodes represents a functionality that receives video streams in various formats, then reformats and encapsulates them for transmission with appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) indications to the wide-area network for delivery to customers. Service Nodes communicate with the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for service management and with the IPTV service for the subscriber, session and digital rights management. The Middleware components in the above figure forms part of the Service Nodes. Wide Area Distribution Networks This provides the distribution capability, capacity, quality of service and other capabilities, such as multicast, necessary for the reliable and timely distribution of IPTV data streams from the Service Nodes to the Customer Premises. The Core and Access Networks include the optical distribution backbone network and the various Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) located at the central office or remote distribution points. Customer Access Links - Customer delivery of IPTV is provided over the existing loop plant and the phone lines to homes using the higher-speed DSL technologies such as ADSL2+ and VDSL. Service providers may use a combination of Fiber-to-the Curb (FTTC) and DSL technologies or implement direct Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) access depending on the IPTV service offerings. Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) - In the IPTV context, the CPE device located at the customer premise provides the broadband network termination (B-NT) functionality at a minimum, and may include other integrated functions such as routing gateway, set-top box and home networking capabilities. IPTV Client - The IPTV Client is the functional unit, which terminates the IPTV traffic at the customer premises. This is a device, such as a set-top box, that performs the functional processing, which includes setting up the connection and QoS with the Service Node, decoding the video streams, channel change functionality, user display control, and connections to user appliances such as a standard-definition TV or HDTV monitors. Page 5

6 2.2 IP TV Services The range of services that could be offered comprise broadcast services, on-demand services and interactive services some of which are listed in table below. Broadcast Services On-demand Services Interactive Services IPTV Pay TV Hi-fi radio (broadcast) Electronic Program Guide Multicast Streaming Live streaming for VoD Progressive downloads (video, music, gaming content) Interactive VoD Scheduled Play Out / Capture IPR protections for Personal recording Pay per view Games on demand Time-Shift TV Music download / streaming with play lists Music on demand TV based internet access (browsing, , SMS, MMS) Video Conferencing Interactive TV Interactive Online Network Gaming Interactive E-learning Interactive E-Shopping Tele-medicine The following is a brief description of some of the services listed above. IPTV and Pay TV: This refers to the delivery of Television Channels broadcast by third-party providers. This requires the mechanism to classify channels as free-to-air and pay channels. Electronic Program Guide: This refers to the user interface for rendering information about programs being broadcast in various TV channels. The solution provides flexibility in defining the EPG with grid and mosaic templates. Interactive VoD: This refers to the service involving selection of a video content from a list of available titles by the user and playing it after due credit authorization / payment collection. The solution provides for play control of the video content viz., fast-forward, pause etc. Scheduled Play-Out: The solution provides the facility for the operators to record certain broadcast programs to be retransmitted as per a defined schedule. Scheduled capture: A subscriber would be able to use the EPG to identify programs to be broadcast that need to be recorded for his subsequent viewing using the solution. The captured video could be played out by the user with complete play-back control. Time-shift TV: The subscriber for this service would be able to press the Pause button available on his remote while watching specific broadcast program that are eligible for Time-Shift viewing, to invoke this service. By pressing the Resume button, the subscriber would be able to view the program from the instance of pressing the Pause button. Playback control for fast-forwarding to real-time would also be available. Page 6

7 3. Implementation Approach Tech Mahindra s approach to implementing IP TV solutions is based on a set of alliances and partners. The following section briefly describes the partner and the salient features of the partner s product. The names of the partner could be shared when engagements are finalized. 3.1 Solution Integration Through sustained investments in R&D, Tech Mahindra has developed capabilities across several areas that include IT systems for Telcos such as OSS/BSS, consulting services capabilities for system integration, network technology areas in legacy as well as NGN elements, signalling protocols & interoperability, network and application performance management, embedded systems and a number of areas that cross horizontals such as testing & security that are of significant importance to Telcos and technology vendors alike Continuous involvement with Telcos has provided Tech Mahindra with a comprehensive understanding of Telco business processes. Leveraging this experience, Tech Mahindra has carried out extensive System Integration activities in the telecom space. Tech Mahindra has played pivotal roles in executing System Integration activities for customers. Tech Mahindra s role has included activities like Program management, Architecture consultancy, Solution design, COTS selection, etc. The table below provides a summary of Tech Mahindra s System Integration capabilities / achievements: Area Tech Mahindra Achievements / Services System Integration Led as Prime as well as support SI roles in providing E2E solutions for customer care & billing as well as OSS Fulfilment & Assurance Solutions. Playing the role of support SI in Tier 1 Telco transformation journeys. Solution Design Tech Mahindra is actively involved with transformation journeys in designing next generation telecom solutions for Europe s leading service provider Tech Mahindra has created a group of ~ 700 solution designers in the area of NGN solutions for the customer Billing E2E System Integration for billing for a number of Telcos (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore) CRM System Integration for Customer Care solutions for a number of Telcos (Middle-east) Executed the first 3G implementation of Geneva, TIBCO, Siebel for a Greenfield operator in the APAC region Data Warehousing System Integration for a Telco in the Middle-east Page 7

8 Tech Mahindra has been ranked as the 9 th largest BSS System Integrator in the world by Gartner Inc in Streaming Server, Storage & Content Switch Tech Mahindra has partnered with a renowned IT-solution major with proven track record in providing carrier grade servers to the telecommunications industry for close to three decades. The solution proposed through this alliance combine a low footprint with efficient highperformance in-memory storage systems. The system introduces major innovations that enable an extremely scalable yet cost-effective and highly available solution for IPTV services. They are: Memory based streaming, capable of supporting 160,000 virtual private H.264 streams at 2 Mbps to all subscribers without content replication Network integration, combining the functions of video streaming, multiplexing, switching, and routing all in one high density package Optical transport integration, based on 10 Gigabit Ethernet and WDM technology which eliminates the need and cost of separate boxes for this function Scalable stream session management, based on a high-density and fully redundant network blade server Network based redundancy, providing 1+1 or n+1 protection for any component of the system Together, these innovations provide an extraordinarily cost-effective end-to-end solution for centralized interactive television networks capable of supporting the largest and most demanding deployment requirements. 3.3 Middleware Components The middleware components that constitute the solution as depicted in the figure in section 2 above are achieved through two other partners who have pre-integrated solutions for the frontend and back-end middleware. Together these elements have been deployed in networks with cable and xdsl access and are hence field-proven Front-End Middleware The partner s solution is a powerful return-path solution that supports a running environment for interactive TV service plug-ins and handles requests from the users. It simplifies the dynamic service-side business logic for interactive TV by enabling efficient management of customer and set-top box, as well as robust authorization/authentication functionalities. It uses open standard technologies such as DVB-MHP, OCAP, ACAP and J2EE, which support stable services, shorten development time and support integration with other backend business servers. The solution also supports an authoring tool that allows for quick creation of interactive applications. The authoring tool enables creating new interactive TV applications through a User-friendly GUI with drag-drop ease. The authoring tool would also allow for emulation of designed service prior to deployment Back-End middleware The partner s solution, capable of providing the asset management, entitlement management and session resource management functions, is targeted at the management of the stored VOD content, the management of subscriber interactions with the system and the management of VOD, Broadcast TV and SVOD product offerings. This component s interfaces to other Page 8

9 components of the solution could be either based on existing standards (such as CableLabs metadata standard) or based on open documented interfaces (such XML over HTTP) thereby providing ease in integration with OSS and BSS applications. 3.4 OSS / BSS Components With over seventeen years of providing OSS and BSS solutions to telecommunications operators across the world, Tech Mahindra is the foremost software services provider from India with exclusive focus on the telecommunications industry needs. Tech Mahindra s familiarity of popular OSS and BSS products is a combination of experiences in developing some of these products for the OSS/BSS vendor, as well as, through field-deployment experiences. Tech Mahindra s involvement in standardization forums in the OSS/BSS areas is indicative of the thoughtleadership that Tech Mahindra possesses in defining standards that shape the industry. Tech Mahindra s ability to work with any products / solutions available in the market and integrate with the specific solution allows the operators greater flexibility in selecting and using OSS/BSS solutions. 3.5 Set Top Box The solution can use any MHP compliant STB. A reference design of a functional STB for the solution has been shared by the solution partners with many of the popular STB vendors thereby providing an ecosystem of tightly coupled solutions along with a competitive vendor base. 3.6 Other IP TV Components The other IP TV components that would be used with the solution including the Head-End and DRM elements would be selected from a set of partner companies who have a track-record of having deployed such solutions to work with the solution components described above. Page 9

10 4 Glossary Abbreviation ADSL BSS CPE DRM DSL DSLAM DVB EPG FTTC FTTH FTTx GUI HDTV HTTP IP TV IT Tech Mahindra MHP MMS NAS OCAP OSS PVR QoS SAN SI SMS STB VDSL VoD / VOD WDM xdsl XML Description Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line Business Support Systems Customer Premises Equipment Digital Rights Management Digital Subscriber Loop Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer Digital Video Broadcast Electronic Program Guide Fiber to the curb Fiber to the home Fiber to the curb/premises/home Graphic user interface High-Definition Television Hypertext transfer protocol Internet Protocol based Television Information Technology Mahindra-British Telecom Multimedia Home Platform Multimedia Messaging Service Network Attached Storage Open Cable Application Platform Operations Support Systems Personal Video Recording Quality of Service Storage Area Network Solution Integrator Short Message Service Set Top Box Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Lines Video on Demand Wavelength Division Multiplexing Common reference to DSL technologies Extensible Markup Language Page 10