The times and ways in which media is being consumed are changing toward increased mobility, and Ericsson wants to get a piece of that pie.
As the media industry is still finding its footing in the rapidly evolving ecosystem of network traffic and mobile data, big tech companies are already working to be a notable presence in the upcoming TV services.
Ericsson announced two such deals on its official blog, one with Google and another with Intel.
Inside the Ericsson-Google partnership, Android TV will ensure that the MediaFirst's TV services from Ericsson will get a new pathway to promote themselves. This includes everything from 4K-UHD live TV channels to catch-up TV, and from video-on-demand to cloud DVR.
This type of cooperation should allow operators the chance to tap into Android TV's growing presence in the connected TV operating systems, with zero extra hardware costs. This way, operators will be closer to builders of Android TV devices, enabling them to roll out niche OTT programming as well as new hardware. What is more, the partnership should allow Ericsson to push out multiple, flexible, pre-integrated set-tops that play nice with hybrid configuration TVs.
Every tidbit of the industry, from service providers to broadcasters, is faced with the challenging task of developing content and delivering it to an audience that expects a huge variety of on-demand content, and on multiple platforms, no less.
Ericsson and Intel are ready to tackle these challenges together, aim to bolster their existing 5G partnership with a cooperative effort targeted at the media industry.
The two companies kept mum on the financial details of the collaboration but made a common announcement at the recent IBC conference, saying that they are pooling resources and teaming up to create a streamlined process, from content creation to delivery.
Jim Blakley, GM of Intel's visual cloud division and Elisabetta Romano, VP and head of TV and media for Ericsson, underlined in a blog post which key aspects of each company will secure the success of the common project.
Ericsson will deliver "leadership in video processing, mobility and cloud infrastructure," while Intel will chip in with its cutting edge technology in "compute, storage, and networking technologies."
Blakley notes that one big challenge comes from the size of video data, as such files have to be stored and swapped around data centers. He goes on to say that delivering the content with little to no delay is another task that media providers strive to accomplish.
"[The importance of speed is obvious] in cases of livestreaming when you have to deliver content globally around the world in virtually real time," he affirms.
Both companies come packing high degree of know-how when it comes to video processing.
In 2015, Ericsson purchased Envivio, a venture that specialized in software-based video processing and delivery solutions. Meanwhile, Intel made its first step into real-time video processing via its FPGA business.
The enterprises are also determined to change the way in which we think about media data centers.
For example, Ericsson used a Rack Scale Design from Intel to craft the HDS 8000 Hyperscale data center system. This allows media entities to have a more disaggregated hardware approach. This is only one step, but the example could lead to the media industry developing a cloud infrastructure that attacks complicated processes such as media processing and cloud DVR in a more efficient manner.
