SkyStream, Microsoft join to deliver Internet content to set-top box
Mountain View, Calif.-based SkyStream Networks and software giant Microsoft today announced plans to collaborate on enabling content-rich Internet services to be broadcast to digital set-top-box customers. SkyStream's zBand Internet-content-distribution software will be integrated with the Microsoft TV platform. The firms say this will allow cost-effective broadcasts of high-quality streaming video and Internet content for television set-top boxes, which can also be connected to PCs and other Internet-enabled devices. The integrated product is said to allow service providers to deliver high-performance streaming media and Internet video through fast, broadcast channels, which SkyStream and Microsoft say is the most efficient way to distribute to a large number of viewers rich, large-bandwidth content that can congest traditional cable-modem or Internet-access networks.
SkyStream's technology united with Microsoft TV is said to allow cable operators to create additional Internet-content-delivery services by effectively using the in-band broadband channels to deliver content simultaneously to many users for bottleneck-free viewing or caching applications. As the technology for delivering Internet content has matured over the past few years, cable service providers have typically used the out-of-band, or DOCSIS, channels to deliver Internet data into consumers' homes via PC cable modems. The DOCSIS spectrum represents a finite amount of bandwidth that must be shared between every user on a network and can quickly become bottlenecked by users attempting to access very high quality streaming content, among other things. The integrated solution will leverage the untapped "in-band" broadcast spectrum of a cable network, augmenting the bandwidth-constrained "out-band" channels. By using the in-band portion of the service provider's spectrum to deliver enhanced-TV services, service providers can deliver data to receiving devices, such as digital set-top boxes, that can be viewed instantaneously.
zBand's file-delivery module will be integrated as a feature working with client and server components of the Microsoft TV platform. This module allows service providers to deliver high-bandwidth files, such as software updates, directly to the users' set-top boxes or receiving devices over the in-band spectrum, which adds to the enhanced TV content running on the Microsoft TV platform. Service providers can also add additional SkyStream zBand modules, such as those that enable IP-based streaming-media channels, branded-content portals, packaged Internet content (e.g. Disney movies or Atom Films) and downloadable music services, by purchasing the software upgrade directly from SkyStream Networks. The IP-based content is inserted into the in-band channels using networking equipment, such as SkyStream's Source Media Routers (SMRs), which are installed into the cable operator's head end or hub network. SkyStream's SMRs have been deployed into more than 100 cable, satellite and DTV networks around the world.
Oct 31, 2000
AI
