CHINACOMIPTV

The so-called voice-data-video Triple Play is gaining increasing interest from content providers, carrier networks and application developers alike, and is rapidly developing into a major global industry. As is common when such major changes are happening on a global scale across existing industries, it is hard to gain an appreciation of what the new developments are and what remains to be done. Conversely, there is also a need among the researchers and engineers developing these technologies for a better understanding of the needs of the end users and of the content providers. In addition, the Multicast protocols themselves need improvements, both because the new video delivery deployments typically use the older technology of IGMPv2, and more fundamentally because the current practice does not match the assumptions made during the first wave of Multicast development and deployment in the mid to late 1990s. These protocol improvements obviously need input from the people developing and deploying the new video technology. The ChinaCom 2006 meeting and the proposed workshop will bring together leaders in this new technology from both within China and abroad to facilitate a greater understanding of these developments.