W h i t e p a p e r

IP TV SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION
IP TV SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION

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.

1.1. 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.

1.1.1 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.

1.1.2 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

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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 load-
balanced. 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.

1.1.3 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.

1.1.4 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. De-
centralized 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.

1.1.5 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.

1.1.6 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

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• 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.

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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.

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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 • Interactive VoD • Video Conferencing
• Pay TV • Scheduled Play Out / • Interactive TV
• Hi-fi radio (broadcast) Capture • Interactive Online Network
• Electronic Program Guide • IPR protections for Personal Gaming
• Multicast Streaming recording • Interactive E-learning
• Live streaming for VoD • Pay per view • Interactive E-Shopping
• Progressive downloads • Games on demand • Tele-medicine
(video, music, gaming • Time-Shift TV
content) • Music download / streaming
with play lists
• Music on demand
• TV based internet access
(browsing, E-mail, SMS,
MMS)

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.

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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

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Tech Mahindra has been ranked as the 9th largest BSS System Integrator in the world by
Gartner Inc in 2004.

3.2 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 high-
performance 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 front-
end and back-end middleware. Together these elements have been deployed in networks with
cable and xDSL access and are hence field-proven.

3.3.1 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.

3.3.2 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

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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 thought-
leadership 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.

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4 Glossary

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

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