IP&TV World Forum 2011

IP&TV World Forum has been and gone again. As usual I spent some time at the show catching up on what’s new. It seems to be a year of consolidation for the industry: most of what I saw was more polished versions of products or demos that I had already seen. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact, it signals a positive shift in the industry.

In my experience, this kind of consolidation tends to indicate a move from “technology push” to “product pull” – shifting from a set of technologies looking for a problem to solve to an industry that has become more consumer-focused, concentrating on delivering products that customers really want. This is a sign of growing maturity in the market, and given the growth in connected TV services and over-the-top services marks an important step towards the mainstream for both.

HbbTV and iPlayer were well-represented at this year’s show, and these really demonstrate the two trends that we’re seeing here at ANT. The uptake of HbbTV as a standard solution for web-based TV services, and the spread of iPlayer as a service that is hugely popular with consumers, could indicate a turning point for the IPTV industry.

IPTV World Forum comes to a close

The last few days have provided us with a great opportunity to chat with others in the industry.

Speaking to Graham Pomphrey from Digital TV Europe this afternoon, an interesting point was raised about how exhibitors have been more realistic in their approach this year, moving from technologies that look attractive but will take a while before the market is ready for them to concentrating on showcasing technologies that are soon to be released.

This is something we were excited to do with HbbTV this year. As HbbTV has now gone to market in Germany and is used by consumers, we were able to showcase a live demonstration in the UK.

As IPTV World Forum 2010 has come to a close we look forward to seeing what technology innovations IPTV World Forum 2011 will bring.

Ben Lawrence

Marketing Communications Manager

IPTV World Forum - Day 2

The show picked up on Thursday, with evidently more visitors passing by our stand than on Wednesday. Whilst, I didn’t get as much of a chance to walk around yesterday, here’s my take on what was sparking the interest in my industry discussions.

With the general tone of discussions swayed towards the development of open IPTV standards, both operators and manufactures were showing great interest in the sharing of practical specifications on IPTV standards and the development of commercially viable IPTV models. Much of the questions thrown my way were around our open developer platform, the ANT Academy. And, on stand we had firm interest from a several new companies interested in joining the platform to help shape their propositions.

What’s more, our Amazon TV shopping application demo was drawing in the attention on stand. A great example of a practical way to implement and monetise third party content on an IPTV platform, visitors were intrigued by the search capability, which provoked discussions around consumers’ expectations.

All in all, it was nice to see some traction building up for the IPTV industry and it seems the whole eco-system is shaping up nicely for the industry.

IPTV World Forum – Day 1

IPTV World Forum kicked off today with a number of strong brands coming under a one roof to showcase what they’ve been up to in the past year. From looking around the show, it was obvious that market consolidation has shaped the industry in the last year. Most of the exhibitors were recognised brands and the start-ups of last year, had either grown up or were noticeable by their absence. The IPTV market has seemingly matured.

What’s more, from equipment manufacturers to middleware providers, the theme of this year’s event was very much focused on the consumer. The IPTV industry has taken note of who really matters and started to articulate better, with a focus on user-centric multimedia services. It might be making more exhilarating graphics for connected TVs or improving the transitioning between applications, but it is obvious that the industry is thinking about how it can deliver applications that enhance the users’ TV viewing experience, without interrupting them.

If you’re visiting the IPTV World Forum tomorrow, then please do drop by our stand (70). We can talk to you about our newly launched ANT Academy (amongst other things), which has already attracted a number of interested members at today’s show

More from us tomorrow…

ANT Galio is shortlisted for IPTV World Series Awards

We’re all extremely excited over here to have been shortlisted for the IPTV World Series Awards in the Best IPTV Service Delivery Platform or Client Software category.

It’s great to be recognised for ANT Galio which has gone from strength to strength in the worldwide IPTV market. I’ll be attending the awards ceremony (25th March, Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London) to fly the flag for ANT.

If you’re attending feel free to drop by and say ‘hello!’