Scaling server-based channel-change acceleration to millions of IPTV subscribers

Channel-change times in multicast-based IPTV distribution networks are often slow compared to analog video networks where the channel change is almost instant. One way to overcome these relatively slower channel change is server-based channel-change acceleration based on the rapid acquisition method standardized by the IETF. Concerns about potentially large backbone traffic and bandwidth requirements, however, have prevented operators from deploying such a solution on a large scale. In this paper, we explain techniques to overcome this limit and present data from a real-life deployment. We show how this solution is deployed in a scalable way to almost a million of IPTV set-top boxes while limiting the required backbone traffic and server capacity.