Network technology convergence and the drive to offer Triple or Quad-play services have brought Broadcasters, Telcos and ISPs into direct competition. These companies are struggling to simultaneously role out new services and new technologies whilst improving their quality of service, particularly for Digital TV. Without a real-time view of their service delivery they are running blind. MiriMON® provides this view.
MiriMON was conceived as a solution to monitor a broadcast subscriber’s QoE via the set-top box in the home. However, our technology can monitor any digital consumer device or business device connected to a network. It can also be applied to in-network monitoring and to the testing of end user devices.
Mirifice is focused on providing MiriMON as a QoE monitoring solution to the following sectors:
IPTV
IPTV is emerging as a serious contender in the provision of premium content and TV services. It is the obvious broadcast technology choice for ISPs and Telcos looking to offer a triple play package. IPTV may suffer teething problems in the first few years, but this technology has the advantage of leveraging the existing investment in broadband networks. A good return path enables interactive and on-demand services.
IPTV service providers are currently focused on deployment, network optimisation and customer acquisition. MiriMON information relayed from the IPTV STB can help the operator get the service right and keep it right. As IPTV operators become established they will face the same challenges as the large cable and satellite operators: minimising churn, maximising ARPU and reducing their operational costs.
Satellite
Satellite Broadcasters provide premium content and TV services to tens of millions of subscribers across the planet. Historically their only direct competition has been the cable operators. IPTV, Terrestrial Digital and Mobile TV now threaten to disrupt this market.
Competition increases the need for customer service assurance. It is no longer adequate to ‘fire and forget’ the broadcast content, as the subscriber experience also depends on a clear signal reception in the home, the STB health and the usability of the service. Monitoring the STB using MiriMON provides accurate information on the service that has been delivered.
Satellite Broadcasters are starting to offer triple play services, by acquiring or partnering with ISPs and Telcos. We believe they see the potential of interactive TV services and on-demand programming and will offer these over a hybrid network: delivering multicast channels by satellite and interactive services by DSL broadband. A hybrid network increases the need for good service assurance, but also provides a return path that enables real-time reporting of service information for both content delivery mechanisms.
Cable
Cable Networks currently serve tens of millions of subscribers, predominantly in North America and Europe. They also are under threat from emerging technologies, such as IPTV, Terrestrial Digital and Mobile TV, and need to differentiate their services and improve the value they offer their subscribers.
While the content may be ‘king’, the value to the subscriber is significantly reduced if the network suffers outages, the broadcast quality is poor, the set-top box is unreliable or the user interface difficult to use. MiriMON can notify the network operator of these problems and provide diagnostic information to enable root cause analysis and swift resolution.
Digital cable technologies which offer a broadband return path, such as DOCSIS, benefit from reliable bearer capacity and an established technology platform for offering interactive services and true VOD (video-on-demand). This return path allows MiriMON to provide a very comprehensive monitoring solution.
Terrestrial
The UK is currently leading the world in deployment and adoption of terrestrial digital TV. While the content is not scrambled by a conditional access system, it is also not provided ‘free to air’ as it is covered under the terms of the UK TV license. There are also organisations, such as Top-Up TV, that provide additional premium content services. Service level agreements exist between content providers and broadcast network operators. The service is also controlled by an independent regulatory body, creating a requirement to measure the QoE that is delivered.
Mobile
TV is the latest service to ‘go mobile’, with network operators currently trialling or deploying services around the world. Mobile TV has enormous market potential, but only through understanding the QoE delivered to the subscriber, and understanding the service usage, will this potential be realised. MiriMON can provide this information.
Mobile operators now provide their corporate clients with data services, such as email and business applications, in addition to traditional voice and data services. While operators can measure the performance and availability of these application servers from inside the network, this does not provide a view of the experience the real user gets ‘over the air’. MiriMON can measure application usage on a mobile device and report on the QoE provided.
Device Makers
The manufacturers, which we include within a wider device maker ecosystem, need to get to market quickly and reliably, and also need to ensure that there are no expensive re-calls or software updates required once the devices are shipped. The success of their business depends on it.
The device maker ecosystem consists of the:
• manufacturer (possibly different companies branding, designing, assembling, distributing and supporting devices)
• hardware vendors (providing chips, circuit boards, smart cards, electronic components, casing and power supplies)
• software vendors (providing drivers, operating system, middleware, security and applications)
MiriMON can help these parties during development, testing, certification and in field support. De-bug software builds are often unrepresentative of the real target builds, either in footprint or performance, and they rarely have any elegant reporting or analysis support. MiriMON does not have these limitations. It supports automated testing and automatic information gathering during manual testing. As the reporting rules and thresholds are configurable, the information reporting from deployed devices can be tuned retrospectively.
Other Sectors
We are convinced that our patented technology has applications in other industries. We would be delighted to discuss these opportunities with you.