2009
2008
MRG Hybrid IPTV Set-top Box Forecast Reveals
How Operators are "Jump-starting" IPTV Services
Over 22 Million Estimated by 2012
San Jose, CA: June 23, 2009—A new global report from MRG shows how hybrid IPTV set-top boxes (STBs) are helping IPTV Operators “jump-start” early service deployment or extend the reach of their existing video IP Networks. By merging existing digital video broadcast programming with IPTV services, Operators are finding they can significantly slash CapEx and lead-time costs from typical IPTV deployment costs. In 2008, there were already 14.4 million installed hybrid STB units worldwide, with estimated growth to 22.3 million in 2012.
The report explores how hybrid IPTV set-top boxes (STBs) can receive broadcast digital channels from Satellite, Terrestrial or Cable—plus from a managed IPTV (on-demand) service. By using existing broadcast sources in addition to on-demand IPTV service, IPTV Operators can significantly reduce the content acquisition and early network infrastructure requirements. “Use of hybrids can solve some serious problems presented by technical restrictions or lack of content,” says MRG Analyst, Huw Price-Stephens, MRG Analyst. “They can also create new and bigger problems unless acquired with an effective exit strategy, which does not require swapping out the STBs.”
In addition to the forecast, the report explores and ranks the ten major market and operational drivers of hybrid STB usage in various countries, including drivers related to Core and Access Network issues, HD Access, Content Acquisition, Risk Reduction, Time-to-Market, Regulatory and other issues, each examined with a strength/weakness analysis of the solutions.
“Matching a hybrid strategy with the local competitive profile may be the best way for an IPTV Operator to differentiate the service,” says Gary Schultz, Principal Analyst/President, MRG, Inc. “This report is well worth the investment for the CapEx and OpEx costs it can save in both near-term and long-range operations.”
The report also offers a “faster-growth scenario,” which shows growth with an earlier economic recovery in 2009—including North America, Asia, Europe and ROW (Rest of World).
Hybrid IPTV Set-top Boxes—Global Market Forecast & Strategy Critique: 2009-2012 is 112 pages and is available in a printed English language edition for $1,995 USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $2,995 USD, and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service. For more information, or a corporate license, or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
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MRG's Global IPTV Forecast Advises Watchful Optimism for 2009
San Jose, CA: June 8, 2009—The new IPTV Global Forecast Report—May 2009 from MRG, Inc. shows that 2008 actual IPTV subscribers ended up at about 1 million over its last forecast in late 2008, or 21.3 million, resulting in projected subscriber growth of 26.9 million in 2009 to over 81 million in 2013. Combined (last-mile) CapEx revenue plus service revenue will grow from US$9.7 billion in 2009 to US$25.6 billion in 2013.
The new IPTV forecast for 2009-2013 is both conservative and optimistic, based on very detailed semi-annual analysis that MRG does on individual Service Providers and on a country-by-country basis (including six IPTV CapEx products broken into 4 regions).
“The relatively strong market in 2008 caused CapEx transactions to flourish through the end of 2008,” says Jose Alvear, MRG Analyst. “That anticipatory wave of orders kept vendors’ pipelines full all the way through 2008, but in Q1/2009, many IPTV vendors reported single-digit reduction in revenues, which is reflected in our flattened 2009 forecast.”
One indicator that new subscriptions will remain strong is the Q1/2009 IPTV subscriber growth of 583,000 combined for U.S. Verizon and AT&T compared with 114k new subs added by the two largest U.S. Cable Operators, Comcast and Time Warner for the same period. Also a signal of new growth is the number of new IPTV Operators in Eastern Europe and the Rest-of-World (ROW) region. The number of Service Providers in the ROW category went up from 64 companies to 84. Countries like Colombia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Montenegro and the Russian federation have seen new growth in their operations, and, the ROW region will be among the fastest-growing market from 2009 to 2013 with a 29% CAGR.
As the IPTV market matures, many innovations are emerging, including Service Providers’ turning to Over-the-Top Video applications to supplement their video-on-demand offerings. Technical upgrades also contribute to growth, including DVRs, High-definition programming, MPEG-4/H.264, and first class system integration. “Professional services growth is brought on by stronger regional partnerships of vendors and resellers that continue to move into smaller markets,” states Alvear. “Growth in System Integration and Professional Services will also be spurred by the growth of turnkey system sales where all the components are heavily pre-integrated.”
The report includes the market growth of six CapEx products plus System Integration in 4 worldwide regions, with details about these 24 sectors and the related subscriber and system revenues for 2009 to 2013. Information is available at www.mrgco.com/iptv/gf0509.html or, contact Rob Smith at rsmith@mrgco.com, or, 1-408-453-5553 (San Jose, CA, USA). The price of this 97-page (indexed) report is $3,995 USD for a printed copy, and $5,200 USD for a PDF format Departmental License. It is free for subscribers to the IPTV Tracking Service.
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MRG's Introduces Worldwide Thin-film Photovoltaics Analysis—
Comparing Thin-film with Older Crystalline Silicon Technologies
San Jose, CA: May 18, 2009— MRG, Inc., announces a comprehensive global report on emerging thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies that will drive improvements in solar energy production for decades to come.
Because conventional bulk silicon based PV cells have been used since the 1960s, they are the most costly to manufacture especially when compared with newer less costly and less carbon-emitting techniques now available. While conventional cell types accounted for more than 83% of the market share in 2007, thin-film PV cells (evolving since the early 1970s) and organic PV cells (evolving since the 1990s) have accounted for about 17% of the total PV market in 2007. They represent one of the fastest growing technologies in the alternative energy sector, and are expected to gain 32% SOM (about 4 GW) by 2013.
Since thin cells are made by directly depositing photoactive material onto a thin substrate, they are much thinner and require less material than conventional PV cells and offer increasing efficiencies. The report tracks development and deployment of the 4 major thin-film PV cell types: amorphous silicon (a-Si); cadmium telluride (CdTe); copper indium diselenide/copper indium gallium diselenide (CIS / CIGS); and also organic (nanotechnology) systems. In 2007, the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) demonstrated CIGS PV cells with 19.9% efficiency, which is still very far from that reported for crystalline silicon (42.8%), but nonetheless demonstrates strong potential for thin-film PV and its broad applicability.
By tracking 48 main thin-film suppliers and 25 global research organizations, the report is able to forecast application and revenue growth from 2008 to 2013 for segments including a-Si, CdTe, CIGS, DSC and OPV technologies. The report also investigates key drivers enabling the development and use of organic and thin-film PV cells including government programs, silicon costs and availability; and it investigates key applications of PV including large-scale power generation, conventional electronics and disposable electronics.
Co-produced by MRG, Inc. and Fuji-Keizai, the 152-page report, “Worldwide Thin-film Photovoltaics Current Status and R&D” is available in a Hard Copy Print Edition for $1,495 USD, a PDF single-department license for $2,295 USD and a PDF corporate-wide license for $3,495 USD, For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com. (Published: February, 2009)
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MRG's Introduces Worldwide Next-Generation
Batteries Report Analyzing US$63Billion Market
San Jose, CA: May 11, 2009— MRG, Inc., announces a comprehensive report on emerging battery technologies including Next-Generation Li-ion Chemistries, Advanced Zinc and Nickel Batteries, Thin-Film and Printed Batteries, and Emerging Alternative Power Sources.
Since batteries are a US$63 billion global industry, battery manufacturers, start-ups, universities and pure research centers are developing new generations of batteries, in various form factors, for existing and emerging markets, including:
- Batteries with more energy in smaller packages: flexible and lightweight thin-film and/or screen-printed batteries for tiny electronic systems and emerging micropower energy-harvesting devices, where macro trends and market trends are converging around ecosensititives and low-power devices.
- Larger-format, but lighter-weight rechargeable batteries with greater power, higher energy, longer run times and better safety profiles, for the advanced transportation industry including plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
- Ultra-large advanced batteries for storing energy from renewable, sustainable sources, for electric utility grid services and clean-energy generators like wind turbines and solar panels.
- Alternative, hybrid energy storage devices with attributes of both a battery and either an ultracapacitor or a fuel cell; for potentially ground-breaking future energy storage devices that may be superior to any batteries commonly used today.
Focusing on technologically advanced rechargeable batteries in large, medium and small formats, the report covers new technologies as replacements for NiCd and NiMH, especially advanced lithium-ion batteries using new electrode materials and electrolytes. It also covers printable batteries and thin-film battery stacks as enablers of micropower applications, and hybrid battery/fuel cell systems that are emerging as complements to consumer electronics batteries. Tables and charts provide a big picture of the future growth potential for advanced battery technologies based on the leading markets (applications). Included are profiles of 25 US-based commercial (a few of them public) and development-stage companies and their products and business strategies; and 12 commercial and/or university-based R&D centers. Also included is a global analysis of renewable energy capacity and projected growth; and global battery market share by technology.
Co-produced with Fuji-Keizai, USA Inc, the 98-page report, “Worldwide Next-Generation Batteries” is available in English or Japanese languages in a Hard Copy Print Edition for $1,495 USD, a PDF single-department license for $2,295 USD and a PDF corporate-wide license for $3,495 USD. For more information visit www.mrgco.com/powertech/fk_batteries09.html or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com. (Published: January, 2009)
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MRG's Global IPTV Market Leaders Report Mixes Continued Growth with Volatility
San Jose, CA: April 13, 2009—MRG Inc. announces new leaders in the Global IPTV Market Leaders Report — March 2009, which tracks the top 100 IPTV vendors in 24 regional sub-segments based on the installed base of 6 video systems products in over 700 IPTV Operations. Continuing growth of subscribers is reflected by increased deployments of IPTV products in Europe, Asia, Rest of World, and especially in North America.
While the closing of Tiscali/Italy and the reorganization of Nortel leave ripples of change throughout the industry, over 35 new IPTV operations began trials or deployment in the past six months in all 4 regions, leaving ripples of opportunity for existing companies. For the first time, Microsoft has moved upward to second position globally in Middleware and Content Protection, and first in VOD, as its competitors brace for further rolling swells from the software giant. Yet, sixteen VOD vendors remain in the race with each of the top 10 having well over 1 million subscribers. In Content Protection, Verimatrix again scores #1 globally—far ahead of Microsoft—in a sector clearly leading the industry in its sure-footed march to provision the converged 3-screen services markets worldwide and regionally.
Despite the competition in Middleware, over 22 companies continue to compete as if this were a marathon rather than a sprint, despite the fact that each of the six top vendors has well over 1 million subscribers. A similar situation exists with Set-top-Boxes (STBs), with the top 8 suppliers each having well over 1 million subscribers while Motorola and Amino (including its recent acquisition of Tilgin) are beginning to pull ahead. “Because of widely disbursed engineering, sales and manufacturing, the IPTV STB sector supports more competitive suppliers on a sub-regional basis than earlier multi-channel industries like cable or satellite,” states Gary Schultz, CEO of MRG, Inc. “In many ways IPTV as an industry looks more like a triple-play version of the mobile phone industry than older models of the multichannel video industry.”
An example of regional volatility is Asia, where UTStarcom has moved into first position for Access, VOD, Set-top-Boxes, Middleware and Content Protection due to its strong gains in China. “This kind of a regional category-take-over is unprecedented,” states Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst at MRG. “Larger regional vendors (and Service Providers) are starting to ‘pull out all the stops’ on their regional strategies, on the belief that the economic contraction is offering unique opportunities to move aggressively into unserved markets.”
“Some IPTV market segments are more volatile than others and will certainly see some changes in the future,” says Jose Alvear. “However, one thing is certain: the IPTV market is still going strong. Not only are subscriber numbers rising, but new Operators are also in the midst of deploying IPTV systems all around the world.”
For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at MRG, rsmith@mrgco.com, or, telephone 1-408-453-5553 (San Jose, CA, USA). The price of this 78-page (indexed) report is $3,995 USD for a printed copy, and $5,200 USD for a PDF format Departmental License. It is free for subscribers to the IPTV Tracking Service.
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Why Global TV Advertising Continues to Dominate,
and How Interactive Advertising Fits into the Mix
San Jose, CA: January 15, 2009— MRG’s new report shows how global developments in “Advanced Video Advertising” (AVA) for set-top boxes will continue to keep TV advertising dominant in global ad markets. By tracking both traditional and interactive TV advertising techniques, it provides an ROI calculation for each of the six most used interactive methods in the global advertising markets for Cable, Telco TV, Terrestrial, and Satellite operations. It also explores why global TV advertising is up in 2008 and 2009, even though newspaper, magazine and radio ad revenue is continuing to fall in Europe, Asia, North America and the Rest of World.
“Finding the right message and time slot for personalized TV advertising is only the first step,” says MRG Analyst, Mike Galli. “Using the right interactive methods and platform(s) for specific message enhancement is another necessary step even in regional or local campaigns, and the tools are now available to manage these campaigns.”
By focusing on the six dominant types of interactive video ads (1), the analysis provides IPTV and Cable Operators and national and regional advertisers a context for creating a roadmap for implementing advanced advertising. It explains, for example, how much Polling and Voting would cost and what kind of results to expect; it also profiles over 15 AVA vendors and 8 advertiser/Operators, describing what AVA types are supported or used by each.
“Using these six Interactive video advertising techniques works well on the TV platform, but also readily translates to the PC or Mobile TV screen,” says Galli. “Knowing the usage and technology behind new interactive TV is basic. TV advertising is still dominant worldwide and growing, so innovation here spells opportunity to migrate campaigns to other platforms. We’re still in the stage of figuring out the most effective TV interactive advertising before migrating them to other platforms; and managing the (multi-platform) campaigns from one video headend. We’re seeing the first examples of that today.”
The report also reviews strategies and best practices to get started in advanced (video) advertising; and to progress to more advanced forms of interactive advertising including request for information (RFI) and e-commerce. “Operators should not be restricted to using just one form of ad, but should instead offer multi-faceted campaigns in multi-platforms,” says Galli.
The Advanced Video Advertising Report – January 2009 is 86 pages and is available in a printed English language edition for $2,495 USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $2,995 USD, and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
Footnote (1)
They are: Polling//Voting, Banner, VOD ads, Telescoping, DVR Showcase and Social Advertising.
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Steady Growth Continues in Global IPTV Market, Reports MRG, Inc.
Local Differentiation Key to Growth
San Jose, CA: November 10, 2008—While threats of financial collapse lurk at every corner, global Telcos apparently did enough belt-tightening back in 2000 to 2003 to lessen their exposure to financial volatility. Multimedia Research Group’s latest IPTV Global Forecast shows that global IPTV subscribers will grow from 20.4 million IPTV subscribers in 2008 to 89.6 million in 2012. To drive this growth, IPTV Operators worldwide are expected to continue investing in improved Quality-of-Service, ease-of-operation, HD content, exclusive programming and time-shifting as differentiating features.
The new MRG report, IPTV Global Forecast 2008 to 2012 — October 2008, provides new insight into strategies and services added by IPTV Operators to accelerate growth. “This new Forecast gives an overview of the differentiating services offered by the top IPTV Operators,” says Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst at MRG. “Operators continue to add impressive new services and improved QoS (Quality of Service) in competitive markets especially in Europe and North America.”
In Europe, for example, steady IPTV subscriber growth continues while more HD channels are being offered to Western and Eastern European subscribers. By 2012, European subscribers will still be slightly ahead of Asia, with Europe maintaining 41.5% of the worldwide subscriber market and Asia, 35.8%. Despite economic contraction, consistent growth continues at the three major French IPTV Operators as they compete to bring better quality and unique content to their users; and as new competition comes online in 2009. Many European IPTV Operators have increased subscribers by offering differentiating services, exclusive content and interactive features. Likewise in Asia, despite flat growth in Japan, rapid growth is expected in China, Taiwan and Korea.
By 2012 North America will have only about 17% share of the total worldwide subscribers, however it will dominate the global market in terms of gross service revenue at about $13 billion, due to higher ARPU. Together, Verizon and AT&T are projected to have about 3 million subscribers by the end of 2008, and they should continue their rapid growth into 2012. Smaller U.S. and Canadian Operators are following similar strategies.
The report includes the market growth of six CapEx products in 4 worldwide regions, with details about these 24 sectors and the related subscriber and system revenues for 2008 to 2112. Information is available at: www.mrgco.com/TOC_IPTV_GF1008.html or, contact Rob Smith at rsmith@mrgco.com, or, 1-408-453-5553 (San Jose, CA, USA). The price of this 90-page (indexed) report is $3,995 USD for a printed copy, and $5,200 USD for a PDF format Departmental License. It is free for subscribers to the IPTV Tracking Service.
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MRG
Report Demystifies Content Protection and Forensics
for IPTV Operators Moving Toward Converged Services
San Jose, CA – October 20, 2008 – To survive the next few years, small and large Service Providers (SPs) worldwide are getting ready to offer “Converged” services where content is time- and place-shifted to many different devices besides the TV set. One big question SPs face is how to secure and protect content when it is in-house, and to trace content that has been “leaked” back to the origin of the leak.
“IPTV SPs will have to embrace Converged services in most markets where there’s already competition from Cable, Satellite or even (free) multi-channel digital terrestrial,” says Jose Alvear, Analyst. “This report greatly simplifies the path to securing high-value multi-platform content as a means for SPs to move more quickly toward differentiation of their services.” Since convergence means adding more release windows and more platforms to distribute new (or re-released) content, many of those windows need to be secured with both Content Protection and Forensics.
This report captures and explains the dynamic sector of IPTV Content Protection as it evolves from basic Conditional Access (and Encryption) to DRM (Digital Rights Management) and Forensics (including Watermarking and Fingerprinting). It profiles major security companies like Conax, Irdeto, Latens, NDS, Nagravision, SecureMedia, Verimatrix, Viaccess and Widevine. In its assessment of opportunities, risks and recommendations, it advises Service Providers and CP/DRM vendors alike on how to change costs into revenue generators. The report is a must-have resource for Content Owners, IPTV Operators and multi-platform Service Providers; as well as for Middleware, VOD and Encoder/Decoder vendors, and other key players in the single and multi-platform (Converged) video delivery value chain. “Because content owners have high concern about controlling their content, SPs are finding that a flexible protection and forensics strategy can actually help improve negotiations with content owners for unique programming and new release windows,” states MRG CEO, Gary Schultz.
Content Protection for IPTV & Multi-Screen Converged Services: Trends & Opportunities in Conditional Access, DRM, Watermarking & Fingerprinting — September 2008 is 119 pages and is available in a printed English language edition for $2,995 USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $3,995 USD, and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
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MRG's Global IPTV Market Leaders Report Reflects Significant Shifts
San Jose, CA: September 23, 2008—MRG Inc. announces new leaders in the Global IPTV Market Leaders Report — August 2008, which tracks the top 100 IPTV vendors in 24 regional sub-segments based on the installed base of 6 video systems products in over 660 IPTV Operations. Continuing growth of orders are reflected by increased deployments of IPTV products in Europe, Asia, Rest of World, and even in North America.
The merger and acquisitions activity continues with news from Viaccess’ purchase of Orca and Espial’s acquisition of Kasenna, leaving ripples of change throughout the Middleware, Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Content Protection sectors. For the first time, Microsoft has moved upward to third position globally in Middleware, VOD and Content Protection, as other Middleware and VOD providers brace for further rolling swells from the software giant. Verimatrix again scores in the top 5 vendors in all 4 regions and as Number one globally in Content Protection.
In VOD, Thomson advances to Number one globally for the first time, and Alcatel-Lucent remains Number one in Middleware. In STBs (set-top boxes), Motorola remains the global leader while competitors Sagem, Cisco and Amino are showing the ability to close the gap in front of them.
“Some IPTV market segments are more volatile than others and will certainly see some changes in the future,” says Jose Alvear, MRG Analyst. “However, one thing is certain: the IPTV market is still going strong. Not only are subscriber numbers rising, but new Operators are still in the midst of deploying IPTV systems all around the world.”
Companies like Ericsson, Thomson, NEC, Nortel and Cisco are expected to create strong “turn-key” alliances with various companies on a regional and local basis, to compete with the strong regional successes of companies like UTStarcom and ZTE. “Turn-key system strategies on a regional and even a local basis mark a new era in vendor strategies that help IPTV Operators control and accelerate early deployment,” says Gary Schultz, President, MRG, Inc.
More details are available at: www.mrgco.com/TOC_IPTV_MLR0808.html Or, contact Rob Smith at MRG, rsmith@mrgco.com, or, telephone 1-408-453-5553 (San Jose, CA, USA). The price of this 84-page (indexed) report is $3,995 USD for a printed copy, and $5,200 USD for a PDF format Departmental License. It is free for subscribers to the IPTV Tracking Service.
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MRG Releases Worldwide Forecast on Cleantech Development
San Jose, CA: July 14, 2008—MRG, Inc., announces a broad-based new report on the global cleantech industry, encompassing a wide range of products and services, from alternative energy generation to wastewater treatment to more resource-efficient industrial processes. Although some of these industries are very different, they all share a common thread: they use new, innovative technology to create products and services that compete favorably on price and performance while reducing humankind's impact on the environment. To be considered "cleantech," products and services must:
- Optimize use of natural resources, offering a cleaner or less wasteful alternative to traditional products and services;
- Have their genesis in an innovative or novel technology or application;
- Add economic value compared to traditional alternatives.
Already, the market for cleaner fuels and more efficient devices to improve generation, delivery, and performance now accounts for 20-25 percent of all global energy investment. While the cleantech catchword was created only about five years ago, the sector it describes already generates approximately U.S.$200 billion a year. The cleantech market is the third largest venture capital investment category, behind only biotech and software. Not surprisingly, some of cleantech's biggest proponents are the same entrepreneurs behind earlier venture-funded breakthroughs in computing, telecommunications, and the Internet.
The current global market for cleantech products and services is about U.S.$284 billion, growing to over U.S.$1.3 trillion in 2017. Of this (2017) amount, more than one-third (U.S.$467 billion) will be attributable to renewable energy sources, such as biofuels, solar, tidal, and wind power. Together these energy-related segments are expected to grow from a current value of U.S.$104 billion to approximately U.S.$467 billion in 2017. The total segments covered include Agriculture, Air & Environment, Materials, Energy, Recycling, Manufacturing/Industrial, Transportation and Water Recycling. Forecasts by application include Air Pollution Control, Biofuels, Demand Response, Environmental Remediation, Fuel Cells, Green Building Technologies, Hydrogen, Solar, Solid-state Lighting, Thermoelectrics, Waste-to-Energy, Water/Wastewater, Wave/Tidal Power, and Wind Power.
The 175-page report, “Cleantech: Current Status and Worldwide Outlook—2008” is available in a Hard Copy Print Edition for $1,495 USD, a PDF single-department license for $2,295 USD and a PDF corporate-wide license for $4,495 USD, For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
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MRG Reports How IPTV Life after QoS Leads to Roadmap for Converged
(Multi-platform) Service & Increased ARPU
The Road to De-Siloization of Services Allows for Cost Reduction and Foundation Building
for Multi-platform Services, Using NGN, SDPs and (even) IMS
San Jose, CA: June 17, 2008—The much-hyped road to converged (multi-platform) IPTV services loops back and passes the starting point as MRG’s new IPTV infrastructure and service report provides a much needed roadmap to converged services for IPTV Operators to use in competing with Cable, Satellite and even Internet Video in the coming 5 years. “De-siloization,” or “silo-busting” of independent service operations is described in detail as one of the first phases on the new roadmap to multi-platform services.
“The purpose of this report was to identify if, when and how IPTV Operators would move to advanced and converged (multi-platform) services,” states Gary Schultz, President of MRG, Inc. “The reality we discovered is that the interim steps to converged services—de-siloization and unification of database elements of the back office—were quickly becoming vehicles for Operators to decrease OpEx and improve customer loyalty.” This very much parallels the gains achieved by taking on QoS and QoE components covered in earlier reports by MRG, making it possible for Operators to upgrade their infrastructure on a continuum along with increased customer satisfaction, increased revenue and decreased churn. Judicious use of Service Delivery Platforms (SDP), NGN (Next Generation Networks) and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystems) also is key to intelligent infrastructure upgrades while keeping control of CapEx.
By breaking the emerging multi-platform services into functional groups of Time-shifting, Place-shifting, Personalization, and Socialization, the report gives ample examples of what these services may look like on different playback platforms and regions of the world; and of what the infrastructure requirements will be to support the new features on various platforms.
An easy example is making theater ticket purchases possible on a home set-top box and transmitting the “ticket” to a barcode on the consumer’s mobile phone, so that the mobile phone can be scanned at the theatre to allow entry. This can only happen if the Operator has control of both platforms.
“The Millennial generation already expects video, personal communications and messaging services wherever they are, regardless of device or network,” said Steve Hawley, Sr. IPTV Analyst, MRG, Inc. “Operators that aren't transforming their service platforms to serve these ‘digital natives’ are already at a disadvantage.”
The report identifies the converged features and use-cases that are getting the most interest and traction among Operators. It also details the technology options and the subsequent steps that Operators can take to converge their separate voice, broadband, messaging, mobile and video service infrastructures, to provide silo-busting features and new revenue-streams.
Over 180 companies and IPTV Operators are featured in this full-scale analysis of the steps and standards needed to reach the next plateau of IPTV services, including Operators Deutsche Telecom, PCCW, Orange, and many others; and Vendors Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson/Tandberg, IBM, HP, Integra5, NSN, Motorola, Cisco, and many others.
The 298-page report, IPTV, IMS and the Emergence of Multi-Service Convergence — June 2008 is available in a printed English language edition for $3,495.00 USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $4,495.00 USD, and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
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Resilience the New "R" Word in MRG's Bi-Annual Global IPTV Forecast
San Jose, CA: May 13, 2008—The new worldwide IPTV Forecast from MRG, Inc, the only bi-annual IPTV report based on over 600 IPTV Operators worldwide in over 70 countries, confirms that the increased revenues of Telcos and IPTV Operators remain in positive financial territory, and are not negatively impacted by the global turmoil in the credit, oil and housing sectors. The new forecast, based on most recently verified subscriber and revenue growth data, shows IPTV subscribers growing from 24.4 million to 92.8 million 2008-2012; and service revenue totaling $37.1 billion by 2012, with CapEx growing to $5.5 billion. While Europe’s subscriber size in 2012 will remain dominant, Asia’s subscriber base will nearly equal Europe’s in 2012, followed by North America.
By breaking down CapEx revenues into 7 sub-sectors (Access, Video-Headends, VOD, Set-top-Boxes, Middleware, CP/DRM, and System Integration) and into 4 regions, the forecast makes it easy for hardware/software suppliers to develop strategies, and refine marketing plans and partnerships around the best growth opportunities for their companies. By also breaking out expenditures of the top 75-80% of the IPTV Operators in each region, based on prevailing prices for each region, the report makes it easier to anticipate revenues and strategies for each of the top Operators in all 28 sub-sectors.
The report also reviews Mergers and Acquisition activity. “While the IPTV industry will continue on its M&A path toward consolidation in certain sub-sectors, such as DRM and Middleware,” states MRG President, Gary Schultz, “there is no question that the IPTV industry will see unique new mergers and partnerships in the next 3 years.”
“We believe strongly that IPTV as a technology and as a business is already having major impact on the entire Telecoms world, and will continue beyond 2012,” states Steve Hawley, Sr. IPTV Analyst of MRG, Inc. “The Telecoms sector is thriving partially because of distressed sectors like transportation, housing and fuel, while investment continues in advanced communications technologies.”
IPTV Global Forecast – 2008 to 2012 — April 2008 is 77 pages and is available in a printed English language edition for $3,995.00 USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $5,200.00 USD, and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report, contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
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MRG's Global IPTV Market Leaders Report Reflects Market Resilience
San Jose, CA: April 2, 2008—MRG Inc. announces new leaders in the Global IPTV Market Leaders Report -- March 2008, which tracks the top 120 IPTV vendors in 24 regional sub-segments based on the installed base of 6 video systems products in over 650 IPTV Operations. Surprisingly, continued growth of orders and deployments are defying the global credit crisis as reflected by increased deployments of IPTV products in Europe, Asia, Rest of World, and even in North America.
The new global leaders in each of the 6 product segments are Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, SeaChange and Verimatrix, with 2 each for Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent. While the global market leadership has under 20% change since the last report in September 2007, more shifts and changes are occurring within the regional segments, as companies refine their strategies and/or absorb other companies. "The jockeying within the regional segments reflects a refinement of the regional marketing and product strategies of each of over 120 ranked companies," says Gary Schultz, MRG President. "Partnerships are deepening and companies are developing more niche products appropriate to local needs, which drives
local growth."
"Even though the IPTV market is still small by comparison with cable and satellite, the market for goods and services is stabilizing," states Len Feldman, Director of IPTV Analysis for MRG. "The majority of Tier-1 Service Providers around the world have already made their main supply choices for access ports, set-top boxes, Video-on-Demand systems and other products, and are now securing second or third sources. The vendors that haven't locked in very many Tier-1 customers have diminishing options for growth."
This report provides unmatched granularity in the IPTV market niches and nuances that really count the most. The positioning and strategies within the regional sectors is where most companies are targeting their energies, using this report as a navigation tool in an increasingly crowded market. Other regionally-ranked Number-One companies include NEC, TANDBERG, Harmonic, Thomson, Yuxing, Cascade, Sagem, Tellabs, Nokia Siemens Networks, BitBand, Amino, and NDS.
More details are available at: www.mrgco.com/TOC_IPTV_MLR0308.html Or, contact Rob Smith at MRG, rsmith@mrgco.com, or, telephone 1-408-453-5553 (San Jose, CA, USA). The price of this 73-page (indexed) report is $3,995 USD for a printed copy, and $5,200 USD for a PDF format Departmental License. It is free for subscribers to the IPTV Tracking Service.
Executive Overview
Table of Contents
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Index of Companies
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MRG's New IPTV Report Dissects Monitoring
and Management Market for QoS and QoE
London, UK—11 March, 2008—MRG’s Monitoring and Managing QoS/QoE for IPTV Report helps simplify the pursuit of Video Quality, Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) as they relate to the design and operation of IPTV services. Created primarily for IPTV Operators, Technical Specialists and Test/Monitoring & Management (TM&M) Executives, this report goes far beyond what has been traditionally covered in Video Quality of Service Analyses.
“This report offers insightful and thoughtful methods to exploit the natural advantages of IP in ways that can be seen and appreciated by the customer,” says Steve Hawley, MRG Analyst and author. “It addresses the main pressure-points and data hand-offs that make up the majority of QoS and QoE problems.”
Based on analysis of best practices of over 30 vendors and Service Providers, the report illustrates how Operators are actually using TM&M to improve customer retention and scale quickly to new subscriber bases. “Even a small TM&M budget of $3-$6 per sub per year is likely to return many times that investment in customer retention,” states Gary Schultz, MRG’s President.
Other key findings include:
- Pre-deployment testing is one of the best investments an IPTV Operator can make at any time, because it helps anticipate new pressure-points due to added services and subscriber usage.
- It’s best to design your testing system architecture on one of four levels of service covered in this report—Basic, Intermediate, Advanced or Converged, keeping in mind how the system will change over the next 3-5 years.
- QoS and QoE measurements roughly match the OSI Layers; for example, QoE actually is achieved both through objective and subjective measurements, with objective measurements done in OSI Layers 4-7.
Included are best-practices profiles of France Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and Consolidated-Communications; and vendor profiles of Agilent, Ineoquest, Ixia, Shenick, Spirent, Symmetricom, Tektronix and many others; products are broken into Pre-deployment and Post-deployment stages, and into (location) categories of Headend, Network, Home/CPE, and Portable/Handheld.
The 252-page report, Monitoring & Managing QoS/QoE for IPTV-January 2008, is available for $2,995.00 USD (printed); or $3995.00 USD (PDF single-departmental license); or is available free as part of MRG’s IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report or a Corporate License contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
Executive Overview
Table of Contents
Lists of Figures and Tables
Index of Companies
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Control of IPTV Home Network Improves OpEx & Future Revenue Opportunities
MRG's Report Describes Next Battlefield for Dominance
San Jose, CA—March 3, 2008— A new report from MRG, IPTV Home Networking Strategies, 2008, explores the strategic importance of the Home Network for IPTV Operators. It reveals how effective Home Networking (HN) strategies can improve the competitiveness of an IPTV Operator against Cable and Satellite, reposition the IPTV Operator in the growing battle against the PC and CE (consumer electronics) industries, and can reduce operational expenses (OpEx) through use of best-practices for installing and managing the Home Network. By improving their monitoring and management of the Home Network, IPTV Operators can position themselves for future converged services while reducing OpEx today.
“Winning at the IPTV Home Network game requires a three-prong strategy,” states Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst at MRG. “Operators need a flexible approach to the physical network in the home along with strong commitment to managing the Home Network and using it as a platform for delivering a rich set of services.”
By examining the HN standards used by the top Operators, the report suggests various strategies and architectures for interconnecting both AV (Audio-Visual) and PC devices in the home, while reducing OpEx and improving opportunities for each strategy.
The report also reviews the results of a survey sent to the top 60 (global) IPTV Operators about home installation best-practices and methods for driving down OpEx. Survey results show that installation times for single- and multiple-TV set households vary significantly across various networking technologies, and across various geographical locations. Also, described are best-practices for cost-cutting, effective training, effective staffing, equipping and management of home installation teams that can have major impact on OpEx.
While there is strong interest in the IEEE 802.11n wireless standard and powerline, no single approach has become dominant; but trends are beginning to emerge. Organizations interviewed include major IPTV Operators, CEA, Cisco/SA, CopperGate, DLNA, DSL Forum, DS2, DVB, Entropic, HANA, HomePlug Powerline Alliance, HomePNA, Intel, MoCA, Ruckus, Siemens, Texas Instruments, UPnP and others.
The 67-page IPTV Home Networking Strategies Report, February 2008 is available in a printed version for $1,995US, as a PDF departmental license for $2995US, and is free as part of the IPTV Tracking Service. To order this report or for more information, contact Rob Smith at rsmith@mrgco.com (1-408-453-5553).
Executive Overview
Table of Contents
Lists of Figures and Tables
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IPTV Test & Measurement Report Demystifies
Global IPTV Quality Operations
San Jose, CA—January 7, 2008— MRG’s new IPTV Test, Measurement & Monitoring (TM&M) Report helps simplify the pursuit of Video Quality, Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) as they relate to the design and operation of IPTV services. Created primarily for IPTV Operators, Technical Specialists and TM&M Vendors, this report goes far beyond what has been traditionally covered in Video Quality Control, Quality Assurance and Quality of Experience.
“This report offers smart and thoughtful methods to exploit the natural advantages of IP in ways that can be seen and appreciated by the customer,” says Steve Hawley, MRG Analyst and author. “It addresses the main pressure-points and data hand-offs that make up the majority of QoS and QoE problems.”
Based on analysis of best practices of over 30 vendors and service providers, the report illustrates how Operators are actually using TM&M to improve customer retention and scale quickly to new subscriber bases. “Even a small TM&M budget of $3-$6 per sub per year is likely to return many times that investment in customer retention or added revenues,” states Gary Schultz, MRG’s CEO.
Other key findings include:
- Pre-deployment testing is one of the best investments an IPTV Operator can make at any time, because it helps anticipate new pressure-points due to added services and subscriber usage.
- It’s best to design your testing system architecture on one of four levels of service covered in this report—Basic, Intermediate, Advanced or Converged, keeping in mind how the system will change over the next 3-5 years.
- QoS and QoE measurements roughly match the OSI Layers; for example, QoE actually is achieved both through objective and subjective measurements, with objective measurements done in OSI Layers 4-7.
Included are best-practices profiles of France Telecom, Deutsche Telecom and Consolidated-Communications; and vendor profiles of Agilent, Ineoquest, Ixia, Shenick, Spirent, Symmetricom, Tektronix and many others; products are broken into Pre-deployment and Post-deployment stages, and into (location) categories of Headend, Network, Home/CPE, and Portable/Handheld.
The (252-page) IPTV Test, Measurement & Monitoring—January 2008 report is available in printed format for $3,995.00 US; as a Single-Departmental PDF license for $5,200.00 US; and is available free as part of MRG’s IPTV Tracking Service. For more information or to order the report or a Corporate License contact Rob Smith at 1-408-453-5553 or rsmith@mrgco.com.
Executive Overview
Table of Contents
Lists of Figures and Tables
Index of Companies
Order Form
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