Ericsson Media Solutions Mark Russell reflects on a seismic year for SDN, cloud and IP.
Author:
ContributorPublish date:
Dec 21, 2017Social count:
1
Ericsson Media Solutions Mark Russell reflects on a seismic year for SDN, cloud and IP.
1
SHARES
As 2017 draws to a close, we can see that the TV and media industry is grappling with a seismic shift towards and around software-defined networks specifically cloud and the role of IP. The topic of cloud and virtualisation is far from new but its presence has grown exponentially over the last five years to represent some of the keystone building blocks of the broadcast industry's future.
The principle of cloud-based services is about embracing the agile nature of internet-led services and combining it with broadcast quality. As a multitude of new entrants drive even greater competition across the media ecosystem, traditional content owners, broadcasters, network owners and TV service providers all must evolve and respond to this new internet era of TV.
We are witnessing an evolution from hardware and proprietary broadcaster specific tools, to a much more open set of technologies that offer smarter, faster and more agile capabilities. The combination of IP and software is helping to transform broadcast workflow, enabling remote production, unprecedented connectivity and deeper reach to the home, while also offering richer and broader experiences to consumers.
This represents a significant juncture in the industry's future and a key opportunity to develop new and innovative technologies that can accelerate this pace of change. We can now reduce complexity, significantly drive down costs and respond to the changing video climate by efficiently delivering personalised and immersive viewing experience to viewers worldwide.
So how will the industry evolve in the next 12 months?
The usage of time-shifted TV or cloud DVR is at an unprecedented high and we can see that consumers are now evolving into the TV Everywhere generation. They are drawing more content and purchasing more services from new OTT players who are providing the personalised content that they looking for at a time of their convenience. Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media research found that teenagers are already spending more than half their time watching on-demand an increase of more than 100 per cent or almost ten hours per week, since 2010.
But not only are consumers watching more video, they are also changing the way they are watching it. On demand content already represents over 40 per cent of total TV and video consumption. However, scheduled linear TV continues to offer the most-watched content, representing over nine and a half hours of TV series, movie and program viewing every week. Furthermore, 34 per cent of all scheduled linear TV viewing is now spent watching live content, a ten per cent increase since 2015.
Yet the challenges to cloud DVR and time-shifted content are numerous ranging from legal issues and storage concerns, through to the all-important performance requirements. As we can see through the enablement of virtualisation and data-driven experiences, the convergence of the internet and media worlds are enabling new possibilities to deliver deeper levels of scale and depth.
In order to tap into these flexible and scalable deployments, many operators are now looking to cloud technology to support their media solutions. As a company, we are addressing this complex subject through our Video Storage & Processing Platform (VSPP) - a multi-network, multi-device, multi-server solution that enables scalable ingest and storage of video content from small origin servers for video-on-demand, through to huge distributed private copy cloud DVR systems, combined with media processing capabilities such as content packaging and encryption.
As multiscreen delivery becomes increasingly important, the challenge of delivering across multiple handsets, formats, and reacting to traffic growth will be extremely challenging. In this regard, cloud based storage of content is just as crucial to final delivery; by 2020, we estimate that half of all TV and video viewing will be on mobile an 85 per cent increase since 2010.
Yet another important aspect of future cloud services will be seen through enabling data driven recommendation. Data is everywhere ranging from content metadata, device data, access data and editorial data however only a fraction is harnessed. Today, the majority of video information is generated via digital spectrum but is often discarded as soon as it's delivered to the screen. The cost of capturing, curating, managing and processing video has been perceived, to date, to be too high to justify the video analytics.
By leveraging smarter analytics and data, service providers can analyse real-time data to provide better content recommendation and search facilities that mirror their behaviors, by time of day, through to favorite genres and locations to watch it from. When you consider that the average time spent searching for content has increased to almost one hour per day, the simplification of content discovery and the importance of more relevant, engaging and accurate recommendations is an area that service providers simply cannot afford to ignore.
The cloud is also playing a fundamental role in the industry's engine room media processing. At a time when demand for ultra-high quality encoding and mobile video delivery is more important than ever, the role of cloud technology is enabling all players to resolve the challenge of performance, scalability, agility and reliability.
The scalability of cloud-based platforms will be particularly important in delivering the necessary streamlined media processing workflows required to make content suitable for increasingly mobile-first audiences. Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Ericsson Media Solutions Mark Russell reflects on a seismic year for SDN, cloud and IP.
