Meeting to establish global standards for IPTV industry

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) anticipates that a consensus on standards will increase simplification and integration for IPTV manufacturers, service providers and customers.

Focus groups have been formed for the discussion of global telecommunications recommendations for 30 agendas regarding next-generation networks.

Microsoft has stated that this initial high-level output of the ITU IPTV-FG is just one step in the process of defining standards for next-generation delivery networks and services, and considerably more work is expected going forward.

Today, major operators around the world are deploying IPTV services based on existing Internet standards. IPTV is a relatively new service offering, and the full set of requirements for standards is not known. Microsoft expects to see continued activity in this area for some time to come.

The ITU expects that the approval process for new standards is expected to take under eight months to complete. Attendees have reported that the process has been relatively consensus-based so far, due in part to the relatively new nature of IPTV technology. No majority voting has yet taken place.

The focus groups are to centre on 21 documents covering IPTV requirements, architecture, quality of service, security, digital rights management, unicast and multicast, protocols, metadata, middleware and home networks, all with the ultimate goal of moving from proprietary platforms to interoperable ones.

A further three ITU meetings are to take place later this year.

Add to Bookmarks:

Related posts for Meeting to establish global standards for IPTV industry: