Still on the verge

Although IPTV is now more widely deployed than it was a year ago, the last time we published a stand-alone IPTV supplement, there is still a clear sense in this industry that there is much more to come — we just don't know what, exactly.

I think one reason for that uncertainty is that we are waiting to see what the current generation of young PC users does with the combination of TV and PC services. Think about it — when was the last time you heard a speech from a middle-aged (or older) telecom executive or listened to a panel of telecom executives that didn't include at least one amazed reference to how a son or daughter is able to juggle homework, a TV show and four instant-message streams at the same time?

At our recent Telephony LIVE event, Andy Lippman, associate director and co-founder of MIT Media Lab, pointed out that “technology” is anything that was invented since you were born. Cars are not technology to anyone anymore, and most of us alive today grew up with TV, although I'm old enough to remember my family's first set. But PCs are technology to those of us over 30, as are cell phones. E-mail is something today's teenagers grew up with — and pretty quickly discarded as a primary means of communication. Social networking and virtual worlds are what today's 8-year-olds consider child's play.

IPTV, with its ability to combine features from the Internet with the video entertainment that we know as traditional TV, has the potential to be the ultimate multitasking tool. Already, we know, there are services that let you answer the phone via the TV after you've seen who's calling, and the capability exists to combine instant messaging and other forms of communication with networked games or video delivery.

But the real way in which IPTV will become part of the social fabric of communication has yet to be determined.

In this issue, my colleague Ed Gubbins looks at how IPTV might evolve on page 2, while Sarah Reedy revisits IPTV middleware land to find there's still something of a muddle in the middle on page 4. One sure sign that IPTV is moving into the mainstream is concern about billing issues, which Rich Karpinski examines on page 6.

Our cover story explores how content delivery networks are evolving, as these will become an essential part of the IPTV story — however the service evolves.