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| ITU-T Standards – A Foundation for ICT/Broadcast Convergence |
Standfirst
Houlin Zhao, outgoing Director of the Telecommunication Standardization
Bureau (TSB) and incoming Deputy Secretary-General of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) explains the role that ITU has in facilitating
convergence between the information and communications technology (ICT) and
broadcast industries.
Article
Linear television, TV where programme choice is limited by what is broadcast
at a certain time, has been the only way of viewing broadcast programming
for many years. However consumer taste driven by the Internet and the vast
array of content now available means that these days consumers aren’t
prepared to wait for what they want. They want it now.
Thus far it has been the Internet that has driven the need for broadband,
but with a growing demand for less linear TV video will become the driving
force behind directing fatter pipes into homes. A triple-play combination of
voice, Internet and video services all over a single broadband link and all
from a single provider is the scenario that many see as being the ultimate
goal of the broadband revolution. A large chunk of revenue generated by the
services that broadband will bring will be made by content provision and so
a healthy dialogue between the broadcast and ICT industries is imperative.
Standards can play a crucial role in underpinning this alliance.
The End of TV As We know It: A Future Industry Perspective, published by IBM
Business Consulting Services early 2006, says that broadcasters must act
quickly to offer on-demand – non-linear - content or they will become
irrelevant. The report argues that unless the TV industry adapts, providing
customers with 24-hour access to content with individualised pricing schemes
through a variety of platforms, it will become redundant. In addition a
recent survey by (UK magazine) the Economist’s Intelligence Unit says that
surveyed telecoms executives think that telecoms and media convergence is
even more important than telecoms and IT convergence. 80 per cent agreed
that embracing convergence within the next three years is an essential
strategy for long term revenue growth.
Broadcast/ICT convergence is a phenomenon that is forcing traditional media
into a fundamental redefinition of strategy and significantly the
technological basis by which content is delivered. Traditional TV and radio
broadcasters, newspaper and magazine publishers are now looking to ICT to
provide the means to meet the requirements of these new business models.
This is happening at the same time as the world’s ICT businesses are taking
the first steps towards defining an altogether new working environment with
standardization – particularly the work undertaken in ITU – providing the
foundation for the move to so-called next-generation networks (NGN).
Next Generation Networks (NGN)
In the last ten years telecommunication networks have carried a burden of
heavy data traffic for which they were never designed. That they have been
able to carry this massive amount of data is testament to the solid nature
of the underlying technology. This is technology that is fully reliant on a
sophisticated mesh of international standards, many of which have a home in
ITU. Now the scene is set for a fundamental change in the way that all of
this traffic is carried. A converged network carrying video, data, voice,
games and all based on the same – packet – technology that gives us the
Internet is the demand of industry. And crucial standards work to facilitate
this move is well underway across the world, spearheaded by ITU-T’s next
generation network-global standards initiative (NGN-GSI).
Broadcast/ICT convergence will not happen smoothly without a solid base of
standards. Content delivery platforms will require a range of standards to
ensure interoperability between elements in the home, in the network and in
the back offices of broadcasters and telcos.
IPTV
In addition to NGN, ITU is focusing on a number of other areas that will
help smooth broadcast/ICT convergence. A recent report from industry analyst
Gartner says that the number of households around the world subscribing to
IPTV services offered by telecom carriers will reach 48.8 million in 2010.
Buoyed by new service launches, IPTV subscribers will more than double in
2007 from an expected 6.4 million in 2006 to 13.3 million according to
Gartner. Experts agree that it is imperative that standards needs are met if
these impressive figures are to be achieved.
In April 2006 ITU-T formed a Focus Group on IPTV (FG IPTV). The formation of
the group, while acknowledging that standards work is ongoing in many
different places, including ITU, is a reaction to an industry call for ITU
to push forward and coordinate global standardization effort in the field.
The FG builds on existing work. Its scope includes architecture and
requirements, QoS, security, network and control aspects, end system aspects
– terminals, interoperability, middleware and application platforms.
The October 2006 meeting of FG IPTV in Korea agreed on the following
definition of IPTV: “IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as
television/video/ audio/text/graphics/data delivered over IP based networks
managed to provide the required level of QoS/QoE, security, interactivity
and reliability.” IPTV will help pave the way for players, many of whom are
already moving to IP-based NGN infrastructure, to offer a triple-play of
video, voice and data.
Standards are necessary in order to give service providers, whether
traditional broadcasters, ISPs or telecoms service providers, control over
their platforms and their offerings. Standards here will encourage
innovation, help mask the complexity of services, guarantee QoS, ensure
interoperability and ultimately help players remain competitive.
The group was launched following a decision taken at a public consultation
meeting attended by around 120 experts from the world’s ICT companies.
Attendees agreed that all players in the IPTV value chain will benefit from
worldwide standards and that rapid progress is necessary in order to avoid
market fragmentation. The group’s progress after two meetings means that it
is well on track to produce a set of global standards for IPTV.
ITU-T Study Group 9
The longest established work in the field of broadcast/ICT convergence is in
ITU-T’s Study Group 9. SG 9 focuses on the use of cable and hybrid networks,
primarily designed for television and sound transmission. The group is home
to standards relating to IP Cablecom the end-to end system for delivery of
time-critical communications services, including telephony, to the homes and
businesses of cable TV customers. Recent work includes a standard (ITU-T
Recommendation) that allows content providers to roll out value-added
interactive video services to any network without modification. Previously,
proprietary or country-specific standards forced content providers to
develop different product versions for each market.
Additionally Study Group 9 has produced standards aiming to reduce theft of
service, a key concern for cable operators and also Recommendations that
cover Internet over cable, VoIP over cable and videoconferencing over cable.
Home Networking is a topic that has recently entered ITU-T’s portfolio with
some of this work centered in SG9.
Home Networking
The phrase – home networking - refers to the linking of all types of
electronic devices for applications such as entertainment,
telecommunication, home automation systems and telemetry (remote control and
monitoring systems). And given the wide range of previously unrelated
technologies involved, standards that allow for interoperability are seen as
key to the successful marketing of the concept. ITU-T in 2005 convened a
Joint Co-ordination Activity on Home Networking to harmonize work going on
across ITU-T Study Groups as well as other standards bodies and to identify
what exactly needs to be standardized in the field aiming to produce a
roadmap outlining this activity.
A recently approved Recommendation establishes the concept of a digital
rights management (DRM) bridge on a home network. DRM has been identified as
a key issue to deal with in home networking, as well as an important driver
for the technology. With standards in place, it is felt that many more key
manufacturers may enter the market. DRM in home networking is seen as a
particularly important issue to resolve where a user can store and
distribute content among various home-networked devices. A bridge will mean
that from a user’s perspective their digital purchases can be played on all
networked devices without trouble.
Video Coding
Perhaps the best known of ITU-T’s recent work in the field is the H.264/AVC
video codec jointly developed by a collaboration called the Joint Video Team
(JVT) between ITU-T and the International Organization for Standardization/
International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) Moving Picture Experts
Group (MPEG). H.264/AVC is also an excellent example of how ITU-T works with
academia, with key contributions received from academic institutions around
the world. H.264/AVC is the first truly scalable video codec, delivering
excellent quality across the entire bandwidth spectrum - from high
definition television to videoconferencing and 3G mobile multimedia. The
dramatically increased compression performance of H.264 enables applications
like videoconferencing, streaming video over the Internet, and digital
television on satellite and cable to offer better quality video at lower
cost. It also allows new video applications such as high-definition TV
(HDTV) broadcasts, high-definition films on DVD, video on mobile phones, and
videoconferencing over low bandwidth connections that were previously
impractical because of economics or technology. H264 is deployed in products
from many different companies and services such as terrestrial broadcast
television, the new HD DVD and Blu Ray disc formats, and a large number of
deployments of direct-broadcast satellite-based television services.
Global Standards
We have seen a desire to expedite and accelerate a global focus on standards
for NGN, IPTV and in other areas that involve broadcast and ICT convergence.
There has been extraordinary consensus that ITU must lead IPTV work and I am
pleased that – again - ITU is seen as the right place to develop and
harmonize this international standardization work, as well as identify and
help fill gaps where there is still a standardization need. I am equally
confident that in many other areas ITU will facilitate the necessary work
environment to produce standards.
The shift from the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) to a
fundamentally different infrastructure presents what some say is a herculean
task for the telecoms industry, certainly it is one of the most complex
transitions ever to have occurred in telecoms. Convergence is a part of this
shift and its success depends on harmonious cooperation of all players,
standards makers, broadcasters, network operators, device manufacturers and
regulators. I believe that ITU will continue to offer an excellent platform
for these players to meet and shape the ICT world of the future. | | | |
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