The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has announced the formation of the IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF) to develop an open standard for IP-based television.
The forum also will cover related technical and operational concerns surrounding the interoperability, interconnection and implementation of IPTV systems and services, including video-on-demand and interactive TV.
IPTV will enable consumers to use television as never before, says Bill Smith, CTO of BellSouth Corp. and ATIS chairman. “Video on demand and interactive services are among the exciting killer apps that IPTV will make possible,” he says. “The ATIS IIF will provide the neutral ground for carriers, service providers, application developers, content providers and equipment manufacturers to work together and make the wide-scale deployment of standardized IPTV a reality.”
ATIS also will create an overall reference architecture supporting deployment of IPTV, while working with other standards groups to establish end-to-end IPTV interoperability.
Other initial objectives of the IIF will include: content security; interoperability standards and testing requirements for components; restoration after outages; quality of service; path establishment; reliability and robustness of service components; and the establishment of user expectations.
“Developing industry consensus and standards is key to IPTV’s long-term success,” says Bill DeMuth, vice president and CTO of SureWest Communications and ATIS member.
