Entone and Edgeware accelerate IPTV performance
March 21, 2011
Entone, provider of Hybrid TV and Connected Home solutions, and Edgeware, a technology leader in distributed video delivery, have announced that Entone’s Hybrid TV and over-the-top (OTT) devices are fully integrated with Edgeware’s Orbit Fast Channel Change solution.
Fast Channel Change gives IPTV operators a competitive advantage by dramatically reducing the channel changing times usually associated with digital television (DTV) service. Typical channel changing times for DTV services delivered via satellite, terrestrial and cable can take several seconds. This delay can be frustrating for viewers who have grown accustomed to analog televisions’ near instantaneous channel switching times. Fast Channel Change reduces latency and increases viewers’ overall satisfaction with their IPTV service.
“Entone’s family of Hybrid TV and OTT devices, including Amulet, Janus and Kamai are optimized to support Fast Channel Change,” stated Bart Vanderostyne at Entone. “This feature ensures that a viewer’s channel change experience is instantaneous without affecting the operator’s core network.”
Fast Channel Change is flexible and can be deployed in the core or at the edge of the network. The process begins with Edgeware’s Orbit server capturing multicast feeds and caching only a short window of the most recent data for each channel. When a subscriber makes a channel change, Entone’s devices send an RTCP request to the Edgeware Orbit server. The server then sends a pre-aligned unicast burst of data via UDP from the new channel. Regardless of the numbers of channels or users, the unicast traffic bursts are only generated between Entone’s device and Edgeware’s Orbit server instead of across the core or backhaul network.
“By integrating our caching and unicast bursting capabilities with Entone devices, we enable our operator customers to deliver seamless channel change capabilities while drastically reducing the cost and complexity for deploying a video service,” commented Duncan Potter, Chief Marketing Officer at Edgeware.
A live demonstration of Entone’s Hybrid TV and OTT solutions and Edgeware’s Orbit video server platform can be seen at the IP World Forum in the Entone stand no. 33 and the Edgeware stand no. 167.