All-IP Video Transformation of MSOs: Building Immersive and Personalized Multi-screen Integration Experience

All-IP Video Transformation of MSOs: Building Immersive and Personalized Multi-screen Integration Experience

With the development of new video technologies such as 4K, 8K, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 360° panoramic video, IP videos are being applied and popularized in multiple sectors, including video conferencing, security surveillance, E-learning, remote healthcare, VR concert/entertainment, holographic videos, and smart home. Video subscribers are no longer satisfied with linear TV. They have new requirements on video services and experience, prompting multiple system operators (MSOs) to transform to all-IP videos.

Consumer Behaviors Have Changed; Providing Multi-screen Integration Service Is the Future of the Industry

In addition to traditional cable linear TV, video on demand (VoD), time shifting, and playback functions, demands are increasing for personalized multi-screen video services and consumers hope to watch videos from different devices anytime and anywhere. In the era of ultra-high definition (UHD) video, innovators and early adopters are embracing new technologies that enable more immersive experience, which is made possible by new video services such as 4K, 8K, 360° panoramic video, AR, and VR.

The current trend in the MSO video industry is to develop IP-based integrated videos, and provide immersive and personalized multi-screen videos. In addition to offering traditional cable pay-TV services, MSOs also need to provide IP-based integrated video services for user generated content (UGC), communications, and vertical industries.

MSO Video Transformation Faces 3 Challenges

There is an urgent need for MSOs to accelerate their all-IP transformation to meet the new demands of video services and offer premium video services to subscribers. However, they face the following challenges:

  • E2E Service Platform Construction and Operations are Costly

For current services, including linear cable TV, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) VoD, over the top (OTT) & TV everywhere, and smart home, MSOs implement closed silo-type operation. Under this type of operation, different platforms are independent from each other. As a result, the construction and operation costs are high on E2E video service platforms, service bearer networks, customer-premises equipment (CPE), and set-top boxes (STBs).

  • Low Home Access Bandwidth Is Unable to Support the Commercial Application of New Video Services

MSOs reserve too much spectrum resources for QAM, leaving insufficient spectrums for home broadband and IP videos. As a result, home access bandwidth is low, and makes it hard to support the large-scale commercial application of 4K, 8K, 360° panoramic video, AR, and VR. Therefore, MSOs fail to deliver UHD immersive viewing experience.

  • Non-integrated Services and Uncreative Experience Cause Revenue Decline

Non-open integration service platforms cannot aggregate third-party Internet content quickly, causing a shortage of innovative services. Additionally, it is hard for those platforms to provide consistent personalized video experience, resulting in unattractive service offerings, high churn rates, and falling revenues.

Commercial Values of MSOs' All-IP Video Transformation

Accelerating all-IP video transformation is of great importance to MSOs.

  • Simplified Network Platform and Unified Video Service Platform Reduce E2E Construction and Operation Costs

An all-IP video service platform simplifies existing network platforms, supports flexible and fast deployment, and covers MSO service application scenarios extensively. By using unified spectrum resources and converged access network platforms, MSOs are able to further reduce investments as well as O&M costs, especially the costs of network reconstruction, CPEs, and STBs.

  • Gigaband Brings UHD Immersive Video Experience

Unification of spectrum resources will help to increase home subscribers' access bandwidths, and promote the development of 4K, 8K, 360° panoramic video, AR, and VR, speeding up the progress of immersive gigaband UHD videos.

  • Personalized Video Experience Improves Subscriber Loyalty

The all-IP video transformation enables uniform management, injection, encoding, decoding, package, storage, and encryption of video resources by using next-generation video technologies. Through transformation, MSOs are able to deploy IP-based integrated video services and multi-screen services comprehensively, provide consistent personalized videos, enhance video service attractiveness and values, and improve subscriber experience to further increase revenues.

  • An Open Platform Enhances Full-service Operation Capabilities

An all-IP-based open and unified platform for the operation and delivery of integrated video services allows fast content aggregation and service overlapping. This platform also promotes the development of vertical video services, such as smart home, improving MSOs' full-service operation capabilities.

Huawei Is Committed to Promoting the All-IP Video Transformation and Developing New Video Services for MSOs

Huawei, a leading video service enabler, provides integrated video solutions for MSOs by using unified cloud video platforms, and new-generation fixed-mobile video broadcast and content delivery technologies. In addition, with the platforms that support both fiber and coaxial access, Huawei's solutions meet the requirements of multiple home network access scenarios. By deploying Huawei's solutions, MSOs can continue to provide cable QAM video services, as well as provisioning 4K UHD videos, 360° panoramic videos, AR, VR, smart home, and UGC vertical video services, accelerating all-IP video transformation and all-media video service development. Furthermore, Huawei's converged access network platform can support linear cable TV, QAM VoD, and OTT videos, allowing MSOs to achieve smooth evolution for future video demands, and protecting their investments in access networks.