A Platform and Services for Standardized IPTV Ecosystems

Convergence of fixed, mobile and cable networks has tackled well known patterns, where incumbent operators have reliable understanding of telecommunication and broadcaster of TV provisioning. Currently both parties are cannibalizing their business models by providing integrated bundled solutions: telecommunication, Internet and TV - known under the notion of Triple Play. To-date, a lot of vendor specific silo approaches are appearing. These approaches lack of three characteristics: cross-vendor interoperability, integrated telecommunication and interactivity. Thus, Standard Development Organizations (SDOs) addressing the standardization of open interfaces to face these issues. This paper presents Fraunhofer FOKUS activities towards Next Generation IPTV ecosystems and proposes a novel IPTV architecture and a prototypical implementation facing interoperability, telecommunication and interactivity.