Digital Lifescapes

International Data Corporation Canada ( IDC Canada ) released key highlights from its latest market study of online video entertainment, and provided details from IDC Canada's Online Video Index. At present, the Canadian online video market remains very complex: each service has a different approach and is at a different stage of development. As a result, there are no accepted or proven business models to pave the way. "Innovation will continue to drive this market," said Emily Taylor, Consumer Technology & Services analyst at IDC Canada. "The introduction of new devices and new platforms -- including consumer cloud services -- will strengthen services as well." Competition will only get more intense, given that major brands like Walmart are active in the U.S with online video services -- with its VUDU offering -- and it is only a matter of time before they enter the Canadian market. In the Index, IDC evaluates Canadian online video services across...

There are people in developed nations who simply don't want broadband access to the Internet -- clearly, they're now in the minority. Increasingly the most significant barrier to further broadband adoption around the world is affordability -- or the lack thereof. Now leaders across the telecom sector are working together to bring broadband services into the reach of the digitally deprived, according to the latest market study by Point Topic . With superfast broadband solutions finally reaching the marketplace, it is more important that infrastructure suppliers are able to align their network offerings -- and service providers implement delivery solutions -- that are cost effective. Standards are core to the effort says Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson. "The next wave of broadband, commonly entitled Superfast, is gathering momentum." With more than half a billion fixed lines already in use and many markets extending the reach of fixed broadband across thei...

Consumers are now viewing video entertainment at a variety of different locations -- each having unique connectivity and display characteristics. Moreover, various new consumer electronics devices -- and a growing list of video formats -- will increase the number of profiles required to be generated by multiformat transcoders. While processor and product improvements will enable more from each transcoder, they will not be enough to keep up with the demand, requiring purchases of more processing capability by streaming video service providers. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, the file multiformat transcoder market grew at a rate of 72 percent in 2010 -- due mostly to the growth in multiscreen services from online video content providers and traditional pay-TV service providers. In-Stat also forecasts that worldwide revenue for both live and file multiformat transcoders will continue strong growth over the forecast period. “Pay-TV service providers an...

Wireline telecommunications data services is a growing business communications category that includes expenditures on wide area network (WAN) data transport services. These enterprise communication services include dedicated cable, DSL, network-based IP VPN, T1, frame relay, ATM, and Ethernet services. MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) service is also part of this group. It's a high-performance telecom network offering that directs and carries data from one network node to the next with the help of labels -- making it easy to create virtual links between distant nodes. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , MPLS network services are becoming more popular and business spending will reach $2.4 billion in 2015. “MPLS is communication protocol agnostic and highly scalable,” says Greg Potter, Analyst at In-Stat. It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients. A number of different technolo...

  Why do so many of today's service providers still cling to legacy mass-media marketing practices, when they know that there's an alternative? It's puzzling, especially to those who track current marketing trends. eMarketer reports that service providers in several industries are not meeting customer needs for personalized offerings, or even fulfilling relevant communication needs, according to a recent U.S. market study. Customers are increasingly frustrated a lack of basic personalization or targeting and believe that many businesses simply don't care about their preferences. In fact, despite the wealth of options enabled by digital media channels, most internet users are dissatisfied. Research from customer engagement firm Thunderhead found that the banking industry was most likely to use a customer's preferred digital channels -- with 54 percent of respondents reporting positive experiences. But just 27 percent of internet users said gas companies com...

The residential gateway opportunity continues to rise in the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) market. The upside is primarily due to telco service providers favoring gateways over modems, since they fulfill consumer demand and promise greater future revenue possibilities. As a result of the latest market study by In-Stat , they now forecast that residential gateway revenues will surpass $10 billion in 2015. "We define residential gateways as essentially any type of broadband modem that also includes routing and/or wireless access point capabilities, says Vahid Dejwakh, Analyst at In-Stat. More and more different types of modems now also come with embedded Wi-Fi, which qualifies them as residential gateways, and many more telco service providers are supplying residential gateways instead of just DSL broadband modems. This is not only because customers request gateway features, but also to present possible future service add-ons and to increase the broadband servi...