The Revolution WILL Be Televised

Video 2.0 and New Paradigms for Entertainment Cable Video Consumption and Contribution

2007 SCTE Conference on Emerging Technologies Houston, TX

S.V. Vasudevan Director, Cable Video Architectures

Cisco Systems vasu.vasudevan@cisco.com

David Lively

Sr. Manager, Video/IPTV Systems Test and Architecture Cisco Systems

dlively@cisco.com

Table of Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3 Evolving Consumer Market Needs...................................................................................................3

Competition ..................................................................................................................................4 Technology...................................................................................................................................4 Consumer Demand .......................................................................................................................4

Flexibility .................................................................................................................................5 Personalization .........................................................................................................................5 Community ..............................................................................................................................5

Web 2.0 – A Similar Transformation in a Parallel Universe............................................................6 Core Web 2.0 Concepts................................................................................................................6 Web 2.0 Examples........................................................................................................................7

Video 2.0 – Web 2.0 Concepts Applied to Cable.............................................................................8 Contribution of Content – Not Just For Studios Anymore...........................................................8 Content Discovery and Selection – What to Watch and How to Find It......................................8 Viewing the Content – A Proliferation of Devices ......................................................................9 The Revolution Has Begun ..........................................................................................................9

Evolving the Cable Network to Support Video 2.0 ........................................................................10 Access Network Innovations......................................................................................................10 Effective Metro Networking With Converged Regional Network Transport ............................11 Core Networks – Connecting on a Nationwide Basis ................................................................12 Application Scaling - Developing the Cable Control Network..................................................13

PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) ........................................................................................13 Universal Session Resource Management .............................................................................14

Changes in Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and the Application Environment ..............14 Summary.........................................................................................................................................15

Introduction The innovations we’ve witnessed over the past several years in cable video largely bear their roots in the broadcast television paradigm. Analog television begat digital television, which expanded the channel lineup, enhanced content security, and provided an advanced “digital” video picture. Shortly thereafter, Video on Demand (VoD) systems began to emerge, bringing an interactive, non-linear video viewing experience to the cable subscriber. Both of these services received a boost with the introduction and rapid adoption of HDTV. The introduction of the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) hastened the obsolescence of the VHS videotape and substantially transformed the viewing habits of the television subscriber community. Switched Digital Video (SDV) has also emerged as a technology that architecturally has the potential to supply limitless linear television content. Yet despite these remarkable innovations, the paradigm of video consumption delivered by these technologies largely remains the same – studio-originated television programming, segmented into N*30minute viewing durations, viewed on a television set. 2007 bears witness to a simultaneous explosion of innovation on three fronts – the quantity and variety of video content being generated for subscriber consumption, the end devices capable of consuming broadcast and broadband video content, and the access networks capable of delivering this content. The living room is no longer the sole termination point of entertainment grade video. Satellite is no longer the sole competitor to track. And YouTube and similar broadband video portals have reduced the cost of distributing video content to a worldwide audience to near zero. This rapid growth in the generation and consumption of broadband-delivered video has given some pause for concern about possible “over-the-top” competitive threats, while other service providers see this phenomenon as an opportunity to augment and enhance the video delivery and consumption experience as a whole. Interestingly, the Internet is experiencing a similar metamorphosis. While the world wide web has provided a platform for ubiquitous web content distribution, it is a new wave of technologies, known as “Web 2.0” that is transforming the power of a worldwide-connected community interacting on a standardized data communications platform. Many of these transformations bear promise in the video communications paradigm, giving rise to consider the most recent entertainment video delivery trends to be considered as “Video 2.0”. In order to better appreciate this concept, it is helpful to further understand the market drivers that are shaping the service provider industry, as well as understand the dynamics that drove the Web 2.0 transformation.

Evolving Consumer Market Needs The 1950s, the era that spawned classic television shows such as I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone, is commonly referred to as the “Golden Age of Television.” It was an age of experimentation and incredible change – as a populace that had grown up on radio suddenly saw the endless possibilities offered by this amazing new device, the television. Now we stand on the verge of a new era, one that promises to be the “Platinum Age of Personalized Entertainment.” The new age will result in another huge change in people’s lives and how they use entertainment services. This new platinum age is about much more than television services; it is about offering connected life services to subscribers, giving them many services to many screens. Three primary factors are driving the change: competition, technology, and consumer demand.

Competition Today, competition for video services is more intense than ever before. Just 25 years ago, consumers had a very basic choice: get an average quality picture over the airwaves, or subscribe to cable services with the promise of more programming choice and improved signal integrity. In the 1990s, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) operators entered the fray – pressuring cable operators to upgrade networks and enhance services. Cable operators made the “Triple Play” their rallying cry, knowing the satellite operators could not directly compete with a two-way HFC distribution system. This strategy has borne competitive success, largely at the expense of the telcos, who suffered subscriber losses in their core markets. An artifact of this success was to force the emergence of a new competitor with deeper pockets. Telcos are now preparing to offer bundled services to compete with cable operators like never before. As a result, all competitors are vying to win the hearts and minds of consumers. As a result, the value proposition of a particular service provider’s offer must transcend beyond simple factors such as price and/or number of channels. Success in the new paradigm is achieved by offering a consumer “experience” that is better than that of the competition, by rolling out advanced new services that others do not or cannot provide, and by rolling out services more quickly, increasing “service velocity” that others cannot match. In short, service providers must become experience providers in order to succeed in today’s tough competitive climate.

Technology The rise of the Internet has had an extraordinary impact on many aspects of our lives – in how we work, live, play, and learn. Particularly amongst young people, many now spend more time surfing the Internet than watching television. According to Tracy Akselrud from the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, “Increasingly over the last 10 years, Internet users have ‘bought’ their time to go online from the time they previously spent watching television. And, the more experience users have with the Internet, the less television they watch.” The very same Internet Protocol (IP) technology powering the Internet is also a “convergence” technology that enables service providers to transform themselves into “experience providers” – able to combine the flexibility, personalization, and community of the Internet with the high-quality delivery of voice, video and data traffic that represents the core service revenue of cable operators today. Mobile devices have also advanced tremendously over the last five years. Small handheld devices now come with large, clear screens – and are capable of handling streaming rates that hold great promise for future entertainment services. Consumers are thirsty for new services enabled by these devices, and are demonstrating strong interest in the freedom of access to content from any location.

Consumer Demand It is not enough for cable operators to simply offer new services; they have to be services that people want and are willing to pay for. Consumer demand has stratified into three areas: flexibility, personalization, and community.

Flexibility Consumers today, having grown accustomed to the “what you want, when you want it” nature of the Internet are demanding flexible viewing options. People are no longer willing to schedule their lives around the schedules of their favorite television shows. Instead, they want to view this content according to their own schedule, a concept known as “time-shifting.” The major success of VoD services and Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) are testimony to the value consumers assign to time-shifting. Place-shifting is also becoming increasingly important to consumers. Apple’s iPod video player has been a great success, enabling people to purchase and download episodes from popular shows and watch them on the road. The Slingbox is another example of place-shifting. Slingbox owners can transmit television programming from their homes to any location via an Internet connection – thereby allowing people to watch the same programming they get at home from their hotel rooms, from work, or from a friend’s house.

Personalization In addition to flexibility, consumers are looking for increased personalization of the viewing experience. The Internet is exploding with new and increasingly high quality content. In order to sort through it all, consumers are looking for ways to customize their experience so that they are alerted first and foremost to content options that match their personal interests and preferences. As content choices continue to expand, personalization becomes not an option but a requirement in order to ensure ease-of-use for all consumers. Personalization should extend to the different members of a household. Family members should be greeted with an experience tuned to their own interests. At the same time, targeted advertising based on individual preferences will please the advertisers and increase operator revenues.

Community Tied in with the concept of personalization is that of community. When ordering a movie with a DVD rental service such as Netflix, customers can see the movie titles that their “friends” rated highly – and consider friends’ recommendations in making a decision. In the same way, cable subscribers will expect similar “buddy lists” that allow them to share favorite content. In fact, these “buddy lists” can enable a whole host of new capabilities, such as enabling friends to get together “virtually” to watch a football game and message each other during the game. Communities can also be used as a means of sharing content with family, friends, or like-minded users. The massive popularity of YouTube demonstrates the pent-up demand for a service that enables the easy sharing of home movies and other amateur videos. But why be restricted to watching user-generated content on a PC? How can grandparents without a PC see their grandchildren’s “school play” video? Consumers do not want to be restricted by device, and they need a user-friendly way of sharing all their content and getting access to the content of others.

Web 2.0 – A Similar Transformation in a Parallel Universe The parallels between the development of the consumer television experience and the internet browsing experience warrant closer examination. The early publishing of web content was primarily static. Users went to a website to view content from the owner of that website. The content was chosen, formatted for viewing, and presented to the user. In a way, initial static web page content from the early days of the web can be considered as a parallel to broadcast television of the early days. Modern search technology has emerged as the primary technology for cataloging internet content; the lean-back usage paradigm of entertainment digital television currently favors the browsing of broadcast content through a grid-guide interface. Web 2.0 technologies have emerged to exploit the dynamic nature of a two-way IP information interface to allow fundamental improvements in the way web content is composed and distributed.

Figure 1 – Mind Map of Web 2.0 Concepts

Core Web 2.0 Concepts When the phrase “Web 2.0” was coined by Tim O’Reilly1 (of computer book publishing fame) at an internet industry conference in 2004, key conference principals identified the following characterizing attributes to the new incarnation of the web:

1 “What is Web 2.0”, Tim O’Reilly, http://www.oreilly.com

• The Web as a platform • Data as the driving force • Network effects created by an architecture of participation • Innovation in the assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features

from distributed, independent developers (a kind of "open source" development) • Lightweight business models enabled by content and service syndication • The end of the software adoption cycle ("the perpetual beta") • Software above the level of a single device, leveraging the power of the long tail.

Some fundamental technologies and concepts in Web 2.0 focus on individual and community involvement – individuals contributing their personal expertise and opinions to enhance the experience for everyone else. Reviews, feedback, comments, cross-linking of other content, original content, and even the policing of other users’ content, are emerging as elements that enrich the content access experience as much as the raw content itself. The users’ contributions make the overall system more relevant to others, not just the website owners. Consumers voice their opinions on what is relevant and worth looking at, and form their own opinions at least in part on others’ opinions.

Web 2.0 Examples The Web 2.0 influence on the internet browsing experience can be witnessed in many areas. Examples include: Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia based on the unorthodox notion that an encyclopedia entry can be added by any user and edited by any other user. Podcasting leverages web services technologies to enable the delivery of themed content on a periodic basis. It could be easily considered as an internet form of a DVR “series recording”. Website digg.com generates personalized news pages based on links, articles, and content contributed and voted on by individual users. Web 2.0 online stores like Amazon.com provide recommendations for purchases based on the feedback and purchases of other users with similar tastes. Sites like Netflix and others provide the same value for movies. Website flickr.com allows users to use keywords to label their photos – then allows the search of their (or any community participant’s) photos via any keyword axis. Web 2.0 technologies are enabling access to the experiences and opinions of thousands and even millions of other people. If a user’s preferences are understood, they can be referenced against other users who have similar preferences along with supporting metadata to provide a more relevant or intelligent presentation of that information. The environment that makes all of this possible is built around open standards with well-defined protocols and interfaces, and community participation in content creation. This allows rapid development of new applications and services because anyone has access to the tools and platforms necessary to innovate. It is this open system that is allowing the pace of innovation of new services and applications to move much more rapidly for the Internet than for traditional television.

Figure 2 – Video 2.0 Evolution Paradigm

Video 2.0 – Web 2.0 Concepts Applied to Cable Recognizing the fact that (some forms of) web content and television content can be viewed as different forms of “entertainment information access”, some of the Web 2.0 concepts merit consideration in the realm of digital television. In the new television revolution, we won’t necessarily be “watching television” anymore. We will be viewing rich media content on a multitude of screens, and from a multitude of sources. A cable system can leverage the user community that it already serves to empower the richness of the user-as-contributor in the same model as Web 2.0.

Contribution of Content – Not Just For Studios Anymore It all starts with the creation and contribution of new content. While this has traditionally been accessible only to movie and television studios or reasonably wealthy independent filmmakers, the market is opening up. The launching of The Independent Film Channel or the Sundance Channel can be seen as the “Video 1.0” first steps in the transformation of this distribution model. The rise of podcasts in the audio world and the flash popularity of serial broadband video content can be seen as “Video 2.0”. Content that is created by subscribers, indexed by subscribers, and reviewed by subscribers is proving to be as compelling as traditional Hollywood productions.

Content Discovery and Selection – What to Watch and How to Find It How do consumers determine what shows to watch in today’s environment? In the Video 1.0 model, it is through slot-based advertising, expert reviews, “word-of-mouth” and by placing new

content in timeslots with known demographics. Timeslots are a significant factor in determining the selection of content to be broadcast. New shows are often debuted immediately before or after very popular existing shows, or as a timeslot replacement for another popular show. But what happens when the concept of a timeslot goes away as it already has in on-demand and web access? Or when there are so many channels of linear content that it’s impossible to keep track? With the proliferation of traditional and non-traditional content becoming available, the paradigm of program guide navigation will have to fundamentally change. Switched digital video technology will enable the same explosion of content in the linear realm, and we already have hundreds of channels to choose from. VoD title navigation is already becoming challenging with the thousands of hours of content offered by many operators. Video 2.0 interfaces will need to evolve to incorporate many of the same dynamic generation concepts as found with Web 2.0 sites – the residual value of adding “channels” to existing guide formats will diminish as the number of channels gets large. Leveraging technological metaphors popular on the web, one can conceive of concepts such as a “content inbox” where users within a controlled subscriber community could send entire video clips, pointers to video clips, pointers to a specific segment within a piece of content, etc. Imagine being able to see a list of the top 10 VoD titles accessed by subscribers within the same local cable system. Imagine seeing a list of the top 10 programs stored on the DVR of a local community of cable subscribers. This “guide” information is generated dynamically as a function of aggregated metadata, and provides a self-generated form of content rating from a group of (geographically) peer reviewers.

Viewing the Content – A Proliferation of Devices A number of devices beyond the set-top box are capable of manipulating MPEG video, from PCs to Slingboxes to Sony PSPs to cell phones. Certain content is also better suited for certain types of end devices – a 2-hour VoD movie is probably not best suited for the 128x160 screen resolution of a clamshell-style mobile phone. Similarly, the quality (or lack thereof) of low-resolution SD content can me made readily apparent when upscaled and displayed on a 1080p HD monitor. It may not necessarily be the content itself but the control interface that is portable amongst devices. While the viewing of a 2-hour movie on a cell phone may not be seen as very appetizing, the ability to use a cell phone interface to control the home DVR and record that forgotten problem could serve to be quite valuable.

The Revolution Has Begun The Video 2.0 revolution has already begun online with sites like Google Video, Yahoo! Video, AOL, YouTube, and others. Thousands, even millions of video clips are added to these sites by consumers and studios alike. Content is rated and commented on by other consumers, tagged for easier searching, and the most popular content bubbles up to the top to even wider audiences. However, while the revolution may seem to be a logical progression due to the convergence and integration of what have historically been completely separate infrastructures – the Internet and the television network – much will need to change and evolve in today’s cable networks to support these new ways of enriching the user experience.

Applying Video 2.0 concepts to the cable network requires looking at the cable network at all levels – in its fundamental ability to robustly move data in either direction, to the ability to control this data movement in predictable ways, to the identification of core network services elements that are employed by applications across service types.

Figure 3 – Reference Cable Architecture

Evolving the Cable Network to Support Video 2.0 The evolution of the technology platform used by cable service providers has acted as both a stimulus and response to the evolution of the cable industry itself. As new technologies have been developed to provide enhancements in capacity, cost-effectiveness, or network intelligence, the industry has been able to leverage these capabilities to launch a new service or more efficiently operate an existing service. Similarly, competitive threats and other business motivators place a perennial challenge on technological innovation within the network itself. Starting at the transport layer and moving up the information access chain, technological contributions at all levels of the service architecture will contribute to support a Video 2.0 migration. Practical modifications to traditional and known digital cable network subsystems are considered to help support a Video 2.0 environment.

Access Network Innovations Raw, unimpeded access to a variety and quantity of content forms the base layer of a service infrastructure capable of supporting Video 2.0. For example, the iTunes music store would never have had the fundamental ability to come into existence without the technological advances that enable data access speeds to evolve from dialup to broadband.

The two-way cable access network has undoubtedly produced the greatest advances in the richness of services offered by the cable operator. The hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) infrastructure and the mass standardization of DOCSIS® have produced a two-way data access network that has enabled all digital cable services of significance in the last 10 years. The digitization and QAM modulation of the classic 6 MHz analog broadcast channel has enabled the multiplication of downstream capacity. As many as 12 digital television channels now occupy the spectrum required by a single analog broadcast channel. This innovation by itself has single-handedly enabled the capacity for a 500-channel broadcast network, with 125 analog channels giving way to nearly 5 Gbps of digital downstream transmission capacity using today’s channel modulation schemes. Narrowcast transmission represents the next major capacity multiplier for the cable network. Narrowcasting leverages the hierarchical tree-and-branch topology of the HFC outside plant to further increase downstream capacity by dedicating a portion of the downstream spectrum. As a residential cable network is typically subdivided into fiber-coax segments serving up to 500 passed homes, the opportunity arises to deliver unique downstream traffic to each group of 500 homes. This is the principle in which modern broadband data access networks and VOD delivery systems are built, though currently these systems consume only a fraction of the capacity increase that is afforded by narrowcasting. A hypothetical system passing 100,000 homes, delivered via 200 HFC nodes, represents a staggering capacity of 1000 Gbps or 1 Tbps of digital capacity from the existing outside plant – most of which has yet to be fully mined. The DOCSIS 3.0 standards recently published by CableLabs® will play a significant role in further unleashing this data capacity. DOCSIS 3.0 specifies methods for bonding downstream channels to increase the capacity of downstream information that can be instantaneously delivered to an individual subscriber. DOCSIS also specifies methods for bonding upstream data channels, presenting the potential for upstream data rates of 120 Mbps and higher. In a Video 2.0 environment where consumer contribution of upstream content transitions from “mouse clicks” to segments of uploaded personal media, the expected demands for a robust upstream network cannot be overlooked. A final key feature of the DOCSIS 3.0 specifications is the use of IPv6 addressing, which expands the host (device) address space to a comfortable level to cope with the explosion of IP-connected media-enabled CPE devices which can be expected to be found in the modern connected home.

Effective Metro Networking with Converged Regional Network Transport Rapid innovation has occurred in the development of carrier Ethernet networks for metropolitan transport of voice, video and data. These networks serve to aggregate voice and data traffic from the DOCSIS access networks, as well as distribute broadcast, VoD, and switched digital video. The economies of scale of IP routing and switching and the rapid decline in the cost of optical transport has enabled the consolidation of dozens of headends into one or (more commonly) two master headends, connected to “digital hubs” via IP optical transport. While the consolidation of headends has proven to be operationally prudent, the fact that hundreds of thousands of subscribers can now be served from one or two headends underscores the importance of highly available and resilient transport between physical locations. Understanding the nature and capacity of traffic flow in a regional network, adaptations to

network architecture can be made to allow IP routing of voice, video and data, with mechanisms for service separation to allow the robust transport of all traffic types on the same physical interface. The use of IP technologies in modern cable headend/hub networks begins within the master headend, and ends at the QAM modulator within the hub. Some of the mechanisms in place to meet the special needs of triple-play networking at the metro level include: Source Diversity – The ability for the network to accept traffic sourced from two different master headends. Dual-illumination (where two copies of the same video program are present on the network) redundancy schemes exist, where the receiving device can accept a primary and backup stream, and choose the “best” stream to accept based on video stream integrity parameters measured by the receiver. Single-illumination (where only one copy of a program is on the network at any given time) redundancy schemes can also be constructed by leveraging anycast networking, whereby network routers will forward data from the “closest” available source, and discard duplicate traffic from other sources. Path Resiliency – Many regional distribution networks will include methods of delivering traffic from headend to hub using two (or more) diverse physical routes, to protect against the dreaded backhoe-induced fiber cut. A popular configuration is to support point-to-point connections between routers to form a bidirectional ring. By implementing independent instances of an Internal Gateway Protocol (such as OSPF), duplicate traffic can be “trained” to flow around each side of a bidirectional ring, ensuring maximum stream availability. For multiple physical links traversing the same path, techniques such as Etherchannel port groups (load balancing among multiple layer 2 links as a single forwarding instance) and equal-cost multipath (load balancing across multiple layer 3 links between routing peers) can further assure the timely and robust delivery of network traffic from source to receiver. Prioritized Traffic Queuing – Network architectures can be configured to expedite the forwarding of traffic, based on the traffic type and/or the inbound/outbound interface. In order to support proper service separation, a queue priority scheme can be implemented to heavily favor time-critical traffic types such as voice, significantly favor traffic types such as video, and relegate less critical traffic with a best-effort forwarding service. This mechanism (known as Differentiated Services or DiffServ) is a simple mechanism to properly prioritize traffic when temporally congestive environments are encountered. Advanced methods to explicitly dedicate network bandwidth on a per-session level (known as Intergrated Services or IntServ) can also be used to specifically guarantee network bandwidth for a particular service such as a VoD movie playout.

Core Networks – Connecting on a Nationwide Basis Until recently, little attention has been given to issues related to networking of triple play traffic on a large nationwide (or even an international) scale. This situation is quickly changing as the plummeting cost of long-haul IP networking is enabling the possibility of connecting regional networks to form a nationwide mesh. With such a network, the universe of Video 2.0 applications gets a little larger. Cable operators can now originate and terminate telephony traffic entirely within their network without having to involve (and pay) a traditional voice carrier. Satellite delivery of both linear and non-linear (pitcher-catcher VoD assets) can be migrated to a terrestrial network, allowing greater control over the content delivery. Regional television content can be made available in other regions (subject to content rights negotiations), allowing homesick subscribers to access video content from their hometowns. When combined with a technology

that can efficiently distribute quantities of television programming, the 500-channel lineup can scale to be a 5000-channel lineup, offering users a variety of content that will be difficult to match from competitive service providers. Finally, the hierarchical asset distribution schemes in VoD can be extended to a national scale. It is quite conceivable to imagine a national VoD asset center with a library vault of every single title accessible to a cable operator – both short and long tail. With a nationwide network and a clever asset distribution structure, massive amounts of content can be made available to the entire subscriber population that only place modest incremental network traffic demands on the core network as a whole.

Application Scaling - Developing the Cable Control Network The ability to launch a variety of evolutionary services with speed and scale benefits from these new services being able to leverage a common set of application and network resources. Much of the initial work that went into building the first IP networks for cable was focused on efficient and abundant data transport. Upon that transport, services were built. From DOCSIS access and transport came cable data service, and more recently cable telephony service. From MPEG/QAM in-band and QPSK out-of-band transport came digital television service, and more recently VoD service. As these services were being developed, some quite independently from others, it became apparent that many common ancillary operations were being developed in parallel – registration of an end device onto the network, authentication of a subscriber, association of a subscriber’s end device to a billing and management database, and the allocation of network resources to support a subscriber’s service, be it on a quasi-static (e.g. provisioning cable modem service) or dynamic (e.g. provisioning bandwidth for a phone call, VoD movie playback) service. Often was the case where the proper integration of these “back office” functions became the gating item to the launching or scaling of a service. In the next few years a wave of innovation can be expected in the control network. To enable a faster and more scalable application service velocity, transport networks are being married with intelligent cross-application control protocols to form a service exchange framework. This framework allows control over the underlying data network to enforce quality of service and quality of experience for all services. The framework also exposes a variety of services to a network application developer, to allow a consistent structure to application support services, and to allow application developers to focus on the application rather than the accompanying “back office overhead”. Two control plane technologies will play a large role in the Video 2.0 control network:

PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) PacketCable™ 1.0 and 2.0 play a large role in the signaling framework for cable telephony. PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) extends the specification to enable the control of bandwidth in the access network on a per-application or even a per-session basis. Having this level of bandwidth control brings the tools to enrich the capabilities of all cable services. For example, a cable data service can offer different speed tiers, and use PCMM to throttle bandwidth to enforce bandwidth policy on each tier. PacketCable-based voice telephony assures QoS for phone calls by allocating access network bandwidth to enforce congestion-free transport for voice packets. Deep packet inspection can be combined with PCMM to recognize and prioritize traffic on a dynamic basis. For example, delay-sensitive traffic such as gaming (e.g. Xbox Live) can be expedited in the network, and undesired traffic such as excessive peer-to-peer traffic or

virus/worm Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) traffic can be suppressed to acceptable levels. PCMM can also be used to provision bandwidth for streaming services to set-top boxes and other devices in the home, giving cable operators a tool to distinguish streaming traffic from affiliated sources to provide an enhanced quality of experience.

Universal Session Resource Management Session Resource Management (SRM) refers to a control system dedicated to the per-session allocation and de-allocation of resources for a particular service. SRM has its roots in the VoD service enablement. When a subscriber purchases a movie from her set-top box, a number of resources must be identified, assembled and provisioned. This can include streaming server resources for movie playout, encryption resources for scrambling the asset, network resources for transport of the asset from streaming server to the Edge QAM, and HFC spectral resources for delivery to the set-top box. When the movie or session has completed, these same resources must be de-allocated so that they may be repurposed for another session. Universal Session Resource Management (USRM) extends this concept beyond the confines of a particular service or CPE device. With USRM, a variety of session managers – VoD, Switched Digital Video, and others yet to be invented – can arbitrate for access to a common set of pooled resources for fulfilling a particular service. Any device can connect into a USRM framework – it need not be a set-top box alone. Future extensions of USRM will expand the boundaries even further. It is not inconceivable to consider a USRM system that administers resource allocation for QAM as well as DOCSIS resources. And, as the cable service delivery framework extends beyond cable itself (as evidenced by the cable-Sprint joint venture), it is quite possible to imagine cohesive resource allocation crossing networks to assure a consistent quality of experience across devices and locations, just as we enjoy a consistent cellular telephone service that in fact can be served by a number of carriers.

Changes in Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and the Application Environment A further enrichment in the information exchange between content sources and receivers is needed in a Video 2.0 environment. First, it is important to recognize that the set-top box may not necessarily be the terminating point of a video program. The content protection technologies that have been successfully deployed for set-top boxes need to be extended into a similarly secure and authorized transport domain that extends into the connected home. This suggests a possible porting of secure content delivery technologies to devices beyond the set-top box. Or, it could signal the evolutionary transformation of the set-top box to a “set-top gateway”, which acts a secure portal interface into the connected home. Information exchange between home and headend will also evolve beyond a simple request-response model. As contributed data from CPE devices feeds back and influences the broadcast presentation of metadata to a subscriber community (e.g. displaying the top 10 DVR titles stored in a cable system), standards for information classification and exchange will be needed to connect data with applications. The OpenCable™ Applications Platform (OCAP) is a great start to standardize on a cross-STB application environment. The proliferation of OCAP devices and applications, coupled with a strong set of core network services provided at the control plane, should serve as fertile ground for Video 2.0 innovation.

Summary It is said that Google aims to launch at least one new service a month on their platform. How can they accomplish this? Part of their service velocity is based on a common application development environment, in this case a multi-tiered web infrastructure. Other web service components provide linkages to ancillary capabilities such as shopping carts/billing, mapping resources, and security to name a few. This framework serves as the foundation for Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Launching a new application is as easy (to the end user) as selecting a different URL. This is the challenge of the Video 2.0 era – the potential services have been identified, but the infrastructure must be able to accommodate these services rapidly and scalably. Service velocity and scale begin with robust and abundant transport, but the story does not end there. A service delivery framework for Video 2.0 must also be constructed to allow rapid application integration. Fortunately, the raw materials are there – standardization within the industry across all components of the network is providing the base layer of this framework. Analyzing the competitive landscape from an even higher scale, the fundamental components exist to allow the cable industry to sustain and enhance its competitive positioning. The raw capacity is there, network control “hooks” are there, the application environment is emerging, the incumbent relationship with the customer has always been there, the novel services are there, and the intelligent networking reach is now worldwide and also spans well beyond the living room.

Abbreviations and Acronyms CMTS Cable Modem Termination System CPE Customer Premises Equipment DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite DDoS Distributed Denial of Service DiffServ Differentiated Services DOCSIS Datat over Cable Service Interface Specifications DVD Digital Versatile Disk DVR Digital Video Recorder HD High Definition HDTV High Definition Television HFC Hybrid Fiber Coax IntServ Integrated Services IP Internet Protocol IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group OCAP OpenCable Application Platform OSPF Open Shortest Path First PC Personal Computer PCMM PacketCable Multimedia PVR Personal Video Recorder QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying SD Standard Definition SDV Switched Digital Video SRM Session Resource Managment STB Set-Top Box USRM Universal Session Resource Management VoD Video on Demand