Alcatel-Lucent has formed a strategic partnership with Comcast’s thePlatform to make it easier for pay TV operators to deploy authenticated IP video services. The partnership will integrate thePlatform’s video distribution platform with Alcatel-Lucent’s Velocix content delivery network, ensuring that ISPs can more easily and efficiently deliver IP video over their pre-existing networks.
Cable, IPTV and satellite TV providers are working hard to enable new TV Everywhere services that will allow them to serve up authenticated streams on new devices. The goal for Alcatel-Lucent and thePlatform is to take traditional linear TV services into the cloud and make them available to consumers everywhere and on any device.
Alcatel-Lucent already provides networking equipment to a number of operators, and claims 60 IPTV and 45 mobile entertainment deployments with ISPs worldwide. And thePlatform provides cloud-based video distribution to a number of media and entertainment companies, including five of the top service providers in North America.
Together the partnership has three main components: the multiscreen cloud management system, provided by thePlatform for distribution, metadata and digital rights management; the multiscreen CDN element, made possible through Alcatel-Lucent’s Velocix technology; and multiscreen clients to provide applications on multiple connected devices and integrate with the operator’s interactive programming guide.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Velocix technology enables content providers to manage IP video streams delivered over their networks. It includes advanced content protection, as well as state awareness of streams to provide a seamless experience across devices. It also lets ISPs originate and cache their content at the edge of the network, so that it’s served closer to where the end user is, which both improves delivery speeds and quality as well as network efficiency by avoiding delivery over the broader Internet.
ThePlatform’s cloud-based publishing solution is designed for delivery of video online to mobile phones and tablets, and to a growing number of connected TVs, Blu-ray players and broadband and hybrid set-top boxes. The system has ingest, transcoding, metadata management, content protection and authentication for delivering content to any device.
ThePlatform will get a big boost from the partnership, as Alcatel-Lucent will lead sales of the joint solution to its customers. Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent benefits by being to offer additional features to clients that are trying to figure out how to monetize exploding growth in online and mobile video. And for customers, the combination will simplify and potentially lower the cost of deploying their own universal video services.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
- The Ultimate Guide To TV Everywhere
- Got a Cable Subscription? There’ll Be an App for That
- Report: Monetizing Digital Content
