Reinventing TCP for video

The explosion of video traffic on the Internet is fueling more investment and interest in new technologies, including a new version of Total Control Protocol called FastTCP that is now being marketed to service providers as a tool to boost the video throughput of IPTV networks.

While IPTV doesn't use TCP — it instead uses an IP protocol called User Diagram Protocol — it is still possible for FastTCP, developed by Caltech spin-off FastSoft, to make the overall end-to-end delivery of IPTV services more efficient, said Ron Westfall, IPTV and broadband analyst with Current Analysis.

“The digital content control mechanisms built into a platform itself as part of an overall end-to-end network scheme required for any multiple-stream delivery will benefit broadcasters and IPTV services alike as part of the overall content mix,” Westfall said.

FastSoft might well be of interest to larger players such as Alcatel-Lucent or Ericsson, Westfall said, although the founders already chose to spin off the Caltech research that spawned FastTCP into a venture-backed firm rather than become associated with Cisco.

“There is something of a Back to the Future theme right now,” Westfall said. “The inherent nature of video dramatically increasing the amount of bandwidth that will be required to support on the public Internet is creating a new wave of clearly differentiated innovations. I think we could see a whole slew of new start-ups and innovative companies.”

FastSoft is now marketing a version of its product, the E 1000, that targets IPTV and content delivery networks as well. The E 1000 doesn't require any upgrades or changes on the receiving end of the transmission.

“In an IPTV network, even though the customer has a set-top box, we found that service providers are very interested in getting more throughput than they can on existing pipes,” said Dan Henderson, vice president of marketing for FastSoft, “so they can deliver more high-speed video into the home over the existing bandwidth.”