Earlier this month, the head of the International Telecommunication Union standardisation bureau (ITU-T) hosted an open meeting to discuss what, if anything, should be done about the global standardisation of television over IP (IPTV).

I happened to be in Geneva at the time, so I went along. I was amazed to find well over 100 people there from all over the world and that they had submitted 42 documents for consideration. It suddenly struck me that IPTV must be a very important topic.

It appears that IPTV grew from the realisation that new video coding standards meant that good quality broadcast video could be transmitted over ADSL broadband connections. Using IP to carry the traffic means that the same connection can be used for internet access and other IP-based services. Since then, IPTV has spread to other mechanisms, including cable systems and 3G mobile.

In the meeting it soon became clear that many organisations, are setting different standards for IPTV and there is a desperate need for co-ordination. It was agreed that the ITU-T was in the best position to handle this work and a Focus Group was set up.

This is not the same as the focus groups beloved by marketing organisations and political parties, but is ITU-speak for a special group set up to focus on one topic. The first session will be in the week of 10 July.

So why is IPTV so important? The fact that the first meeting was sponsored by Cisco Systems may provide a clue. There is certainly a very strong relationship between IPTV and next-generation networks (NGNs).

If IPTV services take off, the associated NGN traffic could be significant and may affect the way NGNs are designed and dimensioned. It’s also worth noting that BT has long had a department dedicated to IPTV and will launch services this summer against heavy competition from BSkyB/Easynet and the NTL group.

IPTV has the potential to offer users the ability to watch whatever they want, whenever they want, and by using 3G mobiles, wherever they want. The current interest in mobile TV trials indicates that this is how many people want to watch TV.

You may wonder why any of this is of interest to the broader business community. I expect that IPTV will be a big success and it will drive down the price of high-speed network access. An HDTV bitstream needs about 5Mbit/s for just one channel. A typical household might want up to four simultaneous channels, so we are looking at about 20Mbit/s as the norm for cheap access.

An essential part of any IPTV system is the electronic programme guide (EPG). With the extra flexibility offered by IPTV, the EPG will be more like a web site where one can select from a huge range of content. Network providers will offer slots on the EPG to a wide range of providers, not just the usual broadcasters.

Companies may find that the EPG provides another way of advertising their products or conveying information to users. It’s worth keeping an eye on IPTV.

‹ bpechey@ieee.org