Multimedia applications for standard IPTV: ITU-T IPTV standard suite in action

This paper describes multimedia applications for IPTV based on the suite of standards recommended by ITU-T. It explains how value-added multimedia applications in areas such e-commerce, e-health, smart-grid, and entertainment can be achieved using the newly developed standards that have been discussed and adopted by the market. It also shows how ITU-T standards enable coordination of multi-device and multi-source services, such as fixed-mobile convergence. Although standard based applications are often perceived as less versatile and attractive to the public than applications based on proprietary technologies, due to the latter's specificity and specialization, they can provide sufficiently effective, and sometimes essential, functionalities in areas where interoperability is a key, especially in areas where public interest is at stake. In this paper, we demonstrate this with concrete examples.