As IPTV deployments grow in number and maturity, operators are beginning to understand the complexities and inherent challenges of their networks. With this understanding has come an increased awareness that packet loss, on any IP network, is a reality and the resulting quality of experience (QoE) cannot be ignored. Quality of experience (QoE) problems caused by packet loss are the leading cause of service calls and customer churn for IPTV service providers. With the proliferation of bundled, triple/quadruple play services, the loss of a single customer can often have an incremental impact on a Telco’s bottom line. 

 

Digital Fountain’s ToughStream^TM is an application layer solution that makes IPTV networks highly resilient to common impairments by proactively protecting the network from packet loss. As a result, customer QoE increases, while customer service calls and churn rates decrease. ToughStream can also increase the number of qualified access lines, enabling IPTV providers to increase their service area, and improve their bottom line by offering more services to more customers.

 

ToughStream is a highly flexible solution agnostic to video encoding formats (SD, HD, MPEG2, MPEG4), encryption vendors, middleware providers, or set top box manufacturers.  It also doesn’t require RTP within the network, avoiding costly network infrastructure changes.  Unlike retransmission solutions, the ToughStream solution scales based on bandwidth throughput at the head-end, not the number of set top boxes in the network. This makes ToughStream far more scalable than retransmission solutions, while providing a much lower total cost of ownership. 

 

ToughStream can be deployed for broadcast, VOD, and nPVR applications. The ToughStream solution employs Digital Fountain’s DF Raptor^TM technology, which has been adopted as the enhanced application layer FEC standard for the Digital Video Broadcasting’s (DVB) global IPTV standard.