Building a Switched Broadcast Network: Several Ways to Skin the Proverbial Cat

摘要

Although there are three distinct deployment models for switched broadcast, the future belongs to the technology that can provide all forms of interactive content seamlessly and on a large scale. Consumers will insist on integrated voice, video, gaming and high-speed data, and for the foreseeable future, IPTV provides the most effective answer. IPTV bridges the video and IP network boundary while hiding the system's complexity from the user. In the meantime, cable operators can reap significant bandwidth and capacity savings through the efficient deployment of either or both the local and central switch models. While nobody can predict the future, we can fairly accurately decode future trends, and in the authors' opinions, it all points in the direction of IPTV.