The war of machine 2 machine: Internet of nothing?

A recent Tweet conversation got me thinking about all the hoopla about machine-to-machine / internet of everything.

Many telecom equipment manufacturer hail the trend as the next big thing for wireless networks, both a bounty to be harvested and a great opportunity for new revenue streams.

There is certainly a lot to think about when more and more devices that were not designed for real time connectivity are suddenly able to exchange, report, alarm... All these devices that could have well suited rudimentary logging software or technology, most of the time for manual retrieval (think your home gaz, water  or electricity meters being read by a technician) could in the future be eligible for over the air data transfer.

A similar discussion I had at LTE world Summit where I was chairing the data explosion stream comes to mind. A utility company in Italy, I think, had rolled out these "smart" meters. The implementation in labs was flawless, the utility was going to save millions, with only a handful of employees monitoring the data center instead of hundreds scouring the countryside reading manually meters. What was unexpected was that all meters had the same behavior, sending keep-alive and reporting logs at the same time. This brought the wireless network down, in a signalling and payload storm that was self-inflicted.

When I look at all the companies that have created apps with no knowledge of how a phone or a mobile network behaves, I can't help but think about the consequences of meters, cars, irrigation sensors, gaz turbines, fridges and traffic light trying to send snippets of data and signalling through a wireless network with no understanding of how these signals and streams will affect the infrastructure.

This immediately bring to mind horrific headlines: "Sheep herds monitoring device bring down network in New Zealand!". "Water and electricity meters fighting over bandwidth..."

More seriously, it means all these device manufacturers will need to get some serious programmers who understand wireless not only to put the transmitters on the devices but also to code efficiently so that signalling and payload are optimized. Network operators will also need to publish best practices for M2M traffic in term of frequency, amount, etc... with stringent SLAs since most of this traffic will be discrete (subscription paid with service or device, no usage payment).

Verizon / Redbox: from OTT to IYF, Netflix

I had predicted here  and here that we would soon see OTT offers from traditional MSOs.
Redbox, the DVD and games rental kiosk company with over 28,000 locations had announced, a year ago, that they would be looking for a or several streaming partners.

The search is now over, as Redbox and Verizon partner to deliver movie and TV shows on demand streaming services. Redbox provides the content and rights, while Verizon provides the infrastructure and transport. A neat arrangement, that could put Verizon as a major OTT content distributor in the future.

The OTT part, of course is that the service will be accessible to anyone, Verizon subscriber or not, on multi platforms (smartphones, tablets, PCs, Consoles, connected devices...). Verizon will leverage its VCast and its mobile CDN infrastructure and negotiated rights.

It will be interesting to see how Redbox service complements or competes against VCast and similar offering from Amazon, Hulu +... Of course the fight will really be on with the next Google TV and Apple TV incarnations. In the meantime, Verizon steps boldly in OTT - In Your Face, Netflix

Intel and Samsung partner for open OS in smartphones and connected devices

As you will remember, Intel had decided to leave the connected TV space to ARM back in October, after failing repetitively to gain any significant market share.Its Atom chips failed to convince and deliver a significantly better cost performance ratio to their prospective OEM and ODM.


Samsung told Informa telecoms that they are planning to merge their homegrown operating system BADA with Intel's opensource Tizen. The move will be gradual and will first affect handsets, with low end devices staying on BADA for a while and high end smartphones and tablets moving to Tizen as early as Q2 2012.


Smart TVs should follow shortly there after. 


An interesting move, that allows Samsung to free themselves from the cumbersome Google-Android relationship and to stay clear of the current patent war between OS / app / device vendors.
At the same time, it allows Intel to take a prominent place in one of the fastest growing segments in consumer electronics, connected devices, as we have seen here.

Pay TV vs OTT part IV: clash of the titans

We have reviewed and discussed at length (here, here, and here) the fundamental changes that OTT is causing to the pay TV market. As consumer electronics vendors become content aggregators and as more screens get now directly connected to the internet, there is less and less value in a set top box that is an exclusive managed device from your MSO.

Service providers themselves are ambivalent about the box. It used to be the main tangible asset that MSOs marketed to "own" a subscriber relationship, with a safe environment allowing transactions, access control and digital rights management to monetize live and on demand programs.
Lately, it has looked increasingly like a ball and chain that MSOs have dragged, a costly installed base, slow to evolve and adapt to the latest technologies, incapable of competing against better services and cost structures evolved from OTT.

Microsoft, in the latest incarnation of its XBox Live service, has brokered deals with several dozens of content providers beyond existing Hulu and Netlix and  is launching today. More interestingly, Verizon FiOS, Comcast Xfinity and HBO are also part of the package... as OTT apps. The XBox is already a high-density, high-performance gaming and multimedia environment to play online games and stream video. Adding live TV and VOD makes sense and makes the set top box completely redundant. Microsoft innovates by integrating Bing, its search engine, the Kinect, its haptic motion recognition device and voice, with the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) of the programmer. You can literally search y voice for a show, an actor, a director and see the results aggregated on your screen from various sources.

While you still have to be a Comcast or Verizon cable subscriber to avail of the services in the states, the writing (or rather the screen) is on the wall.

This experiment will no doubt cast a new light on the 35 million XBox live accounts, putting Microsoft firmly shoulder to shoulder with Google's TV efforts (and Motorola's set top boxes) and the next generation of Apple TV.


Soon will be a time when subscribers will buy access from their ISP independently from aggregation and content. Channels and MSOs will compete across new geographies on unmanaged devices, across unmanaged networks. New generation of apps will enable you to discover, access and curate content from your local media servers, the cloud and your traditional providers and present the result on the screen you elect. There is no technological or logistical barrier any longer. The business model of pay TV, subscription, advertising is undergoing changes of seismic proportions.

OTT wave hits Canada: BBC iPlayer launches

BBC iPlayer is a popular VOD platform from UK's BBC. It is based on subscription and features long form original and archive TV and radio content. iPAD users can download the free app from the app store and browse limited free content or have access to over 1,500 hours of content on day one with an additional 100 hours every month, updated regularly for $8.99 a month.

Canada is the 16th country invaded by the  iPlayer but the first one where Netflix is present. It is going to be interesting to see how both giants are going to react to each other's strategy, no doubt in a rehearsal of a BBC launch in the US. While Netflix is predominantly about films, BBC iPlayer is a TV content aggregator, spanning radio and TV shows, news , concerts, documentary, comedies and more undefinable British genres like Little Britain.

While the launch is currently limited to iPAD, it should not be longh before it spans iPhones, Android, Wii, PS3 and laptop, as in other markets. BBC iPlayer global is a subset of the UK selection, and will propose only TV content at the start. The genres proposed are Contemporary drama, classic comedy, family & kids, classic &period drama, entertainment, modern comedy, Science & Nature, Sci-Fi, Music & Culture, Crime &Thriler, Lifestyle and News Specials & Documentaries.

BBC does not see itself competing against Hulu or Netflix, arguing that they are specialist, providing carefully curated content, to reflect the "voice of BBC", while other aggregators are more generalist in nature. Netflix tends to agree, citing different demographic target for their users. In September this year, BBC iPlayer served 153 million requests in the UK only, with an average 1.7 million viewer a day and a monthly viewing average of 69 minutes for TV (excl. radio). Numbers for outside the UK are not yet available. Most of iPlayer usage is during TV viewing hours, hinting at strong companion screen trends.


I think it is a strong sign, to start and see niche offers transcend their geographical boundaries to go truly OTT. BBC has found a huge following and not only with Brit expats for its acclaimed shows such as Top gear, Little Britain, etc... The walled gardens are crumbling and consumers are the winners. This tidal wave has a tremendous impact on mobile networks (capacity to accommodate video traffic surge), MSOs and PayTV (where traditional service providers need to find a way to protect VOD revenues and remain relevant), and Consumer Electronics (where CE vendors see themselves becoming content aggregators through app stores and native apps enhancing content discovery and access).

Need an IT manager for my connected home!

I am not really an early adopter. I tend to integrate new products and technologies when my needs change.
Until recently, my electronic devices were dumb and mute, just performing what I wanted to, either working or not.

In this new era of hyper connected homes though, everything becomes exponentially more complex as you add more connected devices. Since I have started my business, I had also to use cloud-based apps and services to expand my brick-and-mortar tools.
Now, with two desktops, a laptop, a tablet, two smartphones, a connected PVR, a PS3 and countless accounts and services from Dropbox, Youtube, Netflix, Google apps, Tweeter, Blogger... it does not take much to see how how these devices, interacting with all these apps and data points can quickly start conflicting with each other.
Especially when you layer that these devices communicate over LAN, Wifi, Bluetooth, RF, IR...
Add as well surveillance camera and energy management modules in the future and complex becomes complicated.

UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) usually do a good job of device discovery. Service and content discovery and priority setting is where it starts to get tricky.
Here are a few of the problems I had to face or am still facing in this hyper connected world.

Authentication and handover:
I use Rogers as a service provider for one of my smartphones. I use their self-help app to manage my bill, my subscription and travel packages. One of the things that is truly a problem is that it works only on a cellular network. Most of the times I need to use it is when I am travelling to add or remove a travel pack for voice, data or text. Because of the expensive roaming data rates, it does not make sense to connect while roaming just to enable a feature that saves me the roaming costs. Obviously, Rogers has not enabled Wifi - cellular authentication and credentials handover.

Authorization and software version control:
I am a Bell subscriber for TV and internet at home. I was excited when I received an email showing off Bell's new mobile TV and companion screen apps for my iPhone / iPad. I was less excited when my iPhone, on rogers network could not use Bell's content, even though I am a Bell customer. Too bad, but I thought at least I could use the PVR remote control with my iPad on Bell's network. Does not work either, because I would have to upgrade my PVR. A PVR, I am renting from Bell. You would think it would be possible for them to know what PVR I am using and therefore allow me to re flash the software to avail of new capabilities or try to up sell me to the latest new PVR and features...

Credentials management
At some point, security relents before complexity. When you want to run a secure network across several interfaces and devices, managing credentials with associated permissions becomes tricky. You have to find a way to have credentials that can easily be shared, remaining secure while managing what device has access to what dataset under which conditions.

Connectivity, content discovery  and sharing:
Inevitably, users buy new devices and add up capabilities along the way. The flip side of that coin, though is that it makes for a very heterogeneous environment. When you start having several devices with similar capabilities or overlaps, you want them to function with each other seamlessly. For instance, my old desktop running XP cannot easily join the workgroup of my new desktop and laptop running windows 7.
There are solutions, but none of them straightforward enough for a regular user. A last example is the fact that my laptop, my iPad, my iPhone, my PVR, my 2 desktops and my PS3 to some extend all act as media servers. They all have local content and they all access content from the cloud, the internet or local content stored in other devices. Again, I haven't found a solution yet that would allow me to manage and share content across devices with clear permission management. Additionally, there is no search or recommendation engine that would allow me to perform meta search across 1) my local content on several devices 2) the internet and OTT content providers and apps I am using 3) the electronic programming guide of my set top box and present me a choice like: do you want to watch boardwalk empire Sunday at 9 pm on HBO, now on HBO Go, buy the entire season on Amazon or play the episodes from my PVR or media servers.

Compatibility:
Too often, i have to transcode videos or change content format to ensure that I can see them on all my screens. This leads to multiple versions of the same content, with associated discoverability and version control issues. Another example is around contact management. It is incredible that Apple still does not get contact management right. If you enable iCloud and have your contacts synchronized with anything that is not apple (Google contacts or linked in) you end up with endless duplicates contacts with no hope to merge and delete without adding on new expensive apps.

Control and management:
It strikes me that with that many connected devices and apps, I have not found yet a single dashboard giving me visibility, control and management of all my devices, allowing me to allocate bandwidth, and permissions for sharing data and content across platforms.

I think at the end of the day, this field is still emerging and while it is possible to have a good implementation when purchasing a solution from scratch from a single vendor or service provider, assembling a solution organically as you add new devices is likely to have you spend hours deciphering DNS and DHCP configurations. I think what is needed in the short term is a gateway platform, acting as middle-ware, indexing and aggregating devices and content, providing a clear dashboard for permissions management and authorization. That gateway could be the set-top-box if it is powerful enough. It would give back to MSO the control they are loosing to OTT if they are willing to integrate and provide a cohesive environment.

Cisco to deliver "Wireless TV" to AT&T

In a press release dated Oct. 25, Cisco announced the newest addition to Videoscape product line:
the wireless TV solution, composed of a Cisco access point and wi-fi enabled receivers.

The solution is being rolled out first at AT&T Uverse customers and allows basically a centralized HD DVR operation distributed wirelessly to as many receivers and TVs in the house.

This launch is advertised as the industry's first wireless IPTV deployment. While the innovation is minor (adding wifi to a DVR is hardly exceptional), the in-home close network deployed by Cisco with the dedicated access point can have interesting developments.

Surely, as connected TVs start appearing and accessing OTT content, whoever is going to control the home gateway, including the wifi access is going to be able to manage and in some cases enforce access within a walled garden.

I might be cynical here, but i would not be surprised if the access point and the home network delivered by AT&T was somewhat restrictive in term of the content it delivers. It is probably dedicated only to the broadcasting managed services offered by AT&T and does not offer OTT access.

In that case, it would mean another box to manage in your home (the access point), and potentially interesting issues when it comes to you selecting which wifi network to connect to with your connected TV, Bluray, net box or unmanaged DVR.
It will be interesting to see how this new offering fares with AT&T customers.

Pay TV vs. OTT part III: CE vendors and companion screens

CE vendors
It is not just the content owners that are going direct to customers, now connected devices vendors offer content directly on their platforms, over the internet.Game platforms have long offered OTT content and are the single major contributors to Hulu's success. Now CE vendors offer OTT apps on their connected TVs, blue ray players, projectors...Samsung, the market leader in TV shipments has created a complete ecosystem, with an app store, a catalogue of pre-integrated OTT apps, some complementary some competitive with service providers. This is offered on their Connected TVs, Blu Ray players, projectors, smart phones, tablets... LG, Panasonic, Philips, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio have now a similar offering.
It will not be long before Google TV's second attempt brings a complete soup to nuts ecosystem as well with set top boxes and  connected TVs running android and a complete TV app store.
I am willing to bet as well that the next Apple TV will actually be a connected TV, not a net box that will be fully integrated with iCloud and iTunes store and Air.

Companion screens

Lastly, on the device front, there is a new trend developing that I will call companion screens. More and more people, while watching TV are  doing something on their tablet, smartphone or laptop that is related to what they are watching. Whether it is chatting, playing, texting, blogging, twitting or posting, these interactions have emerged spontaneously and  are still very much in a separate silo from the TV experience. Most vendors, and service providers are trying to figure out how social media, connected devices and OTT fit together.
I have seen many cross-screen applications and services at IBC last month and I will present a few in my next post about innovations in the Pay TV / OTT space.



In conclusion, the industry is transitioning from a model where Pay TV content was predominantly accessed through managed devices on managed networks, to a model where content and services will predominantly be accessed through unmanaged or hybrid devices, on unmanaged or hybrid networks. This, as you can imagine creates many threats and opportunities for content owners, service providers and device vendors that we will examine in the next post.