2.2 Market Overview

Because the market is still emerging, IPTV STB manufacturers are finding it challenging to design for interoperability as well as for performance and low cost.

The major challenges arise from the fact that technologies continue to change, different combinations of technologies and technology vendors can be found within an “ecosystem” and various service providers are specifying assorted ecosystems for their individual deployments. The IPTV ecosystem consists of servers providing middleware, conditional access and Video on Demand (VoD) as well as encoders used to encode live video streams.

There are many variants in standards and configuration among all of these elements, and the STB needs to be able to function with all of them, regardless of the particular equipment vendor or service provider’s installation.

Home networking and home servers will deliver content to a variety of personal electronic devices via wired and wireless networks. Service providers will be expected to handle massive amounts of content and consumers' experiences should not vary according to device offering the service.

Convergence is another issue facing the IPTV Ecosystem. Today’s IP-STB shares much of the same technology that is used in Digital Media Adapters (DMAs). It is reasonable to expect that the STB might also be used as part of an extensive home network, with an Ethernet, PLC , WLAN or Coaxial connection to a household PC or to other equipments in the home that store media on a hard disk drive. Operating as a DMA, this STB could receive and playback content from the PC, such as photo slide shows, audio or even video downloads from the Internet. Since this content is typically cached from either the Internet or from equipments manufactured by a multitude of consumer electronic vendors, it is important that the STB be able to support several different imaging, audio and video standards.

This same IP-STB might in fact have its own hard disk drive (HDD) to record IPTV delivered content and then share that content with a PC or remote DMA on the network. The possibilities for interchange become even more interesting if the STB can connect to entertainment systems such as networked DVD players, sound systems and game consoles.

Because of the varying needs within a home network, the in-home networking needs to offer a variety of services to the end user.

There are a number of alliances and consortiums involved in the process of defining the in-home interconnection technologies, which are used by vendors to produce products for the in-home marketplace. One of the key challenges faced by IPTV service providers is deciding on a technology that will allow them to effectively implement these new services across their subscribers in-home networks.

Different players are getting in advantage into the in-home networking market, with different technologies and products for each solution:

WiFi technology

With Wi-Fi, consumers have the choice to be freedom from wires and want that freedom extended to all their multimedia services. IPTV subscribers can enjoy rich multimedia services anywhere in their home over a single, robust Wi-Fi network

Up to now, Ruckus Wireless is the only manufacturer that offers a good IPTV solution for Wi-Fi multimedia solution.

Ruckus Wireless has made significant technology advances using adaptive RF techniques, smart antenna arrays and quality of service engineering that enable, for the first time, the distribution of delay-sensitive traffic, such as real-time digital video, over standard Wi-Fi. Heretofore, this has not been possible using conventional consumer-grade Wi-Fi technology designed primarily for data applications.

Power Line ( PLC ) technology

Powerline Communications (PLC) is a technology allowing digital data transmission over existing power grids. The principle consists in imposing high frequency signals (1 to 30 MHz) on the electrical current (no matter what the power rate is).

The signal is then spread over the electrical grid and repeated along the way until its reception by a Customer Premise Equipment or an Adapter. The signal is extracted and low frequencies (current) are neutralized in order to isolate high frequencies (digital data). As a result, each power outlet is a potential access point to the Communications network, now accessible to everyone, everywhere, at anytime, with a high performance.

Talking about Power Line communications at households, providers can find two different standards: Universal Power Line Alliance (UPA) and Homeplug AV Alliance. Both technologies are ready to provide an IPTV solution into the in-home environment.

Inside each standard, we can emphasize two chipsets manufacturer leading the market:

• DS2 for UPA Alliance
• Intellon for HomePlug AV

Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance ( MoCA )

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA®) is an open, industry driven initiative promoting distribution of digital video and entertainment through existing coaxial cable in the home. MoCA technology provides the backbone for whole home entertainment networks of multiple wired and wireless products, with neither new wires nor installation or truck roll issues over existing coaxial cabling at households.

The brand reference for chipset manufacturer in this Alliance is Entropic.

Entropic's home networking products are based on an innovative platform technology that allows very high-speed and reliable communications between coaxial home outlets without the need to modify the home coax system and without interfering with existing cable TV services, creating a robuts IP-Based network for easy sharing of HD video and other multimedia content throughout the home.

Home PNA ( HPNA )

The HomePNA™ Alliance develops triple-play home networking solutions for distributing entertainment data over both existing coax cable and phone lines. The Alliance creates internationally recognized, open and interoperable standards and best practices. HomePNA technology enables service providers to meet – and drive – the growing demand for new multimedia services such as IPTV and VoIP to the home. HomePNA technology also provides consumers with the many benefits of "no-new-wires" home networking.

CopperGate is the leading provider of standards-based home networking chipsets for the reliable networking and distribution of multimedia entertainment content throughout the home over coaxial cables mainly, but also over phone lines. CopperGate’s chip is a system-on-chip company that develops markets and sells chipsets for the home networking and MDU/MTU Broadband Access markets.

Plastic Optical Fiber ( POF )

In this technology there are two kinds of companies’ involucrated; fiber and adapters manufacturers. There are companies that offer solutions separately (Mitsubishi, etc) or together (Thomson).