Convergence and its Impact on Users, Providers, and Users as Providers of Interactive Multimedia...

Convergence and its Impact on Users, Providers, and Users as Providers of Interactive Multimedia Services

Dr. Eric W. BurgerDeputy CTO, BEA Systems, Inc.Member of the Board, SIP ForumVP, IMS Forum15 January 2007

ITU Future of Voice 2007

Copyright © 2007, BEA Systems, Inc. | 2ITU Future of Voice 2007

Agenda

Points from other work

Fundamental technical enablers

Impact on traditional voice and video services

Regulatory implications


Points From Other Work (Today and Tomorrow)

Natural monopoly disappearing, yet ever-present Excellent economic analysis of last mile and core network sunk cost

issues

Difference between telco, cableco, and mobileco?Access Network ONLY!

Many examples of fall in price of communications due to IP enabling new businesses and dramatic economic growth

It is hard to educate consumers about nature of VoIP,Especially if framed as “Cheap Voice”

Voice IP traffic indistinguishable from other IP traffic Barring port blocking or deep packet inspection Both defeatable (cf. Skype), but no defense against deliberate stream

damage


First-Generation VoIP

Is convergence simply IP interfaces on TDM equipment? Approach through 1990’s Embodied by H.323, H.248 Many examples of equipment and architectures: e.g., SoftSwitch

Makes sense, coming from telco environment

Q.1248.2

PRI

Q.931 MG MGCH.248 H.248

Parlay

FS

MS

H.248

Q.1248.3

SSP

SCP

IP


Problems With First Generation VoIP

Same applications: simple voice calling More equipment More vendors Initially higher cost, but promises of “data center economics”

Worse yet, proprietary systems improved in performance 10% every 18 months, not promised 100% Identical to performance improvements of traditional TDM equipment

“Data center economics” is not about IP interfaces or Intel Cost to develop new hardware (€250,000 - €2,000,000/board) Volume to amortize hardware development cost Competitive pressure to use latest silicon


Next Generation VoIP: Is SIP the Only Difference?

Key point is not that we trade API’s for SIP everywhere

SIP everywhere means session establishment and processing is transparent to client and server

MG

MGC

H.248

SIP

AS

MRB

P-CSCF I-CSCF S-CSCFSCIM

I-CSCF

SIP SIP SIP SIP

SIP

SIP

SIP

MG

MGCH.248

SIP

SIP Phone

AS

MRF

RTP

RTP RTP

Full 3GPP IMS Architecture

Leverage SIPRouting Cloud

SIP

SIP

SIP

MRF

SIP Phone

Get benefits today of Applications and Services infrastructure; deploy IMS when ready


Physics of Media ProcessingConferencing Example

Many have welcomed or bemoaned the migration of intelligence to the edge

Some things are best done “in network”

ProviderNetwork


Physics of Media Processing:All Intelligence at Edge



SL

SL

SL

SL

ProviderNetwork

Each node receives at least three times more traffic

Complex service logic coordination and topology

All traffic going through thin access pipe to provider network


Physics of Media Processing:All Processing Centralized at ASP


Some things are best done “in network” SL

Media

Processor

ProviderNetwork

Each node receives single stream

Straightforward service logic and media processing

Lots of bandwidth required at ASP

ASP


ASP

Physics of Media Processing:All Intelligence at ASP, Media in Network



ServiceLogic

ProviderNetwork

Each node receives single stream

Straightforward service logic and media processing

Only signaling (low bandwidth) needed at ASP

Customer data stays at ASP; heavy mediaprocessing done by network

MRF


Is Next Generation VoIP Really Different than First Generation VoIP?

First Generation

Use IP versions of SS7 H.248 JAIN Parlay Parlay-X

Developer pool Java (or Web Services) developers

who are experts in SS7, CS-2 (Apologies to Zygmunt)

Impact unquestionably huge for captive / TEM development

Second Generation

Use real-time multimedia extensions of Web SIP VoiceXML CCXML MSCML

Developer pool Minimal training over HTTP (SIP) Minimal training over HTML (XML)

Impact huge for enterprise, user, and new entrant development

Key is how applications developed and deployed


Why is This Distinction Important?

Dramatically lowers barrier of entry for users to create applications and content

Protocols built from ground-up to survive hostile environments (Internet) enable disaggregation of functions, such as MRF

Creates new opportunities for service providers

Creates environment for wealth generation

Flattens marketplace 1990: “In America, you open your garage door, and you see a market of

250 000 000 people; in Sweden, you open your garage door, and you see 2 meters of snow.”

2007: “You open your garage door anywhere in the world, put up a server, and see a market of a few hundred million people.”


Distinction Lost: The Voice Call

Innovative applications may use person-to-person, real-time, audio communication Teamspeak for World of Warcraft Vivox for Second Life

Is this a phone call, or part of the game? Truly indistinguishable: recalling other presentations today and

tomorrow Defeating VoIP defeats new, wealth-creating applications (often worth

much more than displaced voice revenues)


Distinction Lost: The Video Value Chain

Is BitTorrent a cable provider? Provide access to movies But also provide access to many other kinds of multimedia

Is YouTube a cable provider? Provide access to movies Most are not studio productions, but user productions

Anyone who has tried to create municipal networks understands negotiating for content is hard But when content comes from users, with implicit right-to-view, not an

issue Still role for content aggregators


Issues for Regulators

Universal services now mean IP access, not an analog voice line or basic cable video service

Revenue from voice calling falling precipitously, but IP end-user access is nowhere near free

Technically difficult if not impossible to determine what is a voice call (for tariff and tax purposes) Expect to give up that source of revenue Look for alternatives for universal IP access Alternative: Lose national wealth potential, innovation, and competitive

advantage

Thank You

Dr. Eric W. Burger15 January 2007

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Convergence and its Impact on Users, Providers, and Users as Providers of Interactive Multimedia...

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