Cost Effective, Yet Transparent
In a global market where the vast majority of customers no longer care about technologies, data broadcasting needs to be a cost effective, powerful and transparent component of a highly flexible content delivery solution. Legacy data is out there, but when you are talking about new business, almost all the arrows point to the realm of IP data, where edge servers and Gigabit Ethernet routers purr quietly in the corner and where integration into the Web is not an option, but a necessity.
Offering Customers More Control
The data broadcasting world is being transformed by the lowering of prices in the broadband sector, as well as the rapid advances in the digital broadcasting arena. Both are converging quickly, and one change that is very evident at both ends of the pipe is the amount of control that the customer now has on the distribution of content, including data broadcasting.
"If we are talking toolsets, take a close look at what companies are offering today like Skystream Networks with its zBand file delivery module, Helius with its Mediawrite product or Mainstream Data, to name just three," says Jonathan Feldman, senior vice president of broadcast services at Globecast America in Los Angeles. "The customer now has the ability to control the scheduling of the delivery process--what gets delivered when and to whom. Much of this control is Web-enabled through secure Internet access and can therefore be controlled remotely."
These equipment advancements are also changing the cost structure. "Pricing models are changing as well. With IP distribution, we are migrating to a pricing structure built around how much content or data is flowing on a cost per MB basis," he adds.
While the older total time used model is not yet obsolete, Feldman seems to imply that companies that quickly adapt to this new way of doing business are more likely to survive in the long run. "As we bring more IP-enabled edge devices into the mix as opposed to the standard IRDs, the whole process of taking in DVB video and pushing out IP- encoded signals to the desktop is becoming more commonplace," Feldman says. "This is enabling a new BTV paradigm whereby the customer can easily layer many different applications onto an IP-based training network."
Some readers may find it difficult to envision an integrated approach, for example, including distance learning as a single component in a unified, multi-purpose datastream, but this is all part of the convergence we mentioned earlier. "We are looking at solutions as part of a two-way model where we can offer both the standard push or data broadcasting type of service in a star/TDMA configuration along with a switched DAMA suite of services with full mesh capabilities from a single box," says Feldman.
"Among other things, it can dynamically recognize and prioritize a videoconference session in progress, for example, and then it will automatically dump circuits back into the frequency pool for use by other end users at the appropriate time."
Embracing a single or IP datastream approach when it comes to all of the information needs of a specific company across multiple sites may seem like a pipe dream. All the necessary pieces, however, are rapidly falling into place to make this a reality.
"It is just increasingly difficult today to differentiate between the different types of data being broadcast. Besides, the old system that sustained the one-way push model of content distribution in broadcasting can be easily upgraded in a cost efficient manner," says Feldman. "We are adding a new layer of flexibility here. Can we make additional subtle changes to the push model based on a growing role for requested data which can be beamed out even on an opportunistic basis, for example? Thanks to new feature-rich IP applications such as remote scheduling control through secure Web access, this is an attractive outcome which is becoming more feasible."
Peter J. Brown is Via Satellite's Senior Multimedia & Homeland Security Editor. He lives on Mount Desert Island, ME.
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