Experts predict that online consumption of video content will likely increase during a recession, as consumers seek more cost-effective entertainment such as watching a sporting event live at home vs attending the stadium in person. Demand of IPTV may also increase as businesses continue with remote work models to reduce overhead costs.
As the corporate market focuses on keeping costs down, the money saving benefits of IPTV have become even more important. We now see a growing number of applications in which video is far more engaging and interactive. Leverage your IT network to harness engaging new IPTV distribution experiences for your audience anytime, anywhere.
Here are some key financial incentives corporate enterprises across many sectors use IPTV platforms to help reduce costs:
An IPTV head end can offer lower power consumption figures than a PC based solution. VITEC module and chassis based IPTV products use only a fraction of the 300-400 watts required by a less reliable PC based head end solution, while still delivering the same functionality.
When it comes to the user end, the fact that AV content can be played on existing client PC’s by using the VITEC client software saves resources. There is no need to invest in additional viewing screens or TVs for the AV content, nor the need to power up these separate units.
VITEC set top boxes support Power over Ethernet (PoE), so there is no need for additional power points, which allows a further saving on both cabling and power consumption.
When it comes to cabling materials there is a significant saving to be made by using an IPTV solution instead of installing a separate co-ax cable network, which in extreme cases can mean almost double the cable required, consuming increasingly rare and expensive materials such as copper and polycarbonate plastics, and by extension oil.
As VITEC set top boxes can be controlled over the IP infrastructure they can be configured to automatically turn on/off, as well as any connected TV sets by various methods including serial control. This further reduces power consumption dramatically as they need only be on during business working hours if required.
An IPTV installation can be financially more efficient than a co-axial cable based solution, as it uses the existing IP network infrastructure. This means you can avoid the cost and interruption of installing new or additional co-axial cabling, whilst labour costs are also kept to a minimum by utilising the existing IP network. An IPTV system is also scalable, so it can grow in line with a business without a major financial commitment up front.
Corporate training is a good example and illustrates how video joins written and audio media as a mainstream medium for enhancing the productivity of employees. There is also evidence that video is improving the employee workplace experience.
IPTV solutions capitalise on the organisation’s existing bandwidth. Bandwidth – potentially a very costly resource – is necessary to receive data to and from the rest of the world. However, because enterprise IPTV is operating within your LAN, Campus or IP network it utilises the almost limitless capacity here via multicast technology to distribute TV and Video in both SD and HD to a limitless number of users.
For example – if 1,000 employees logged on to watch BBC News using the BBC iPlayer simultaneously this would put a strain on the costly external bandwidth, whereas 1000 employees viewing BBC News on an IPTV solution would not make any difference as they would be viewing via the LAN network.
VITEC IPTV platforms offer very robust video streaming capability with minimal maintenance costs versus PC-based solutions where the PC can potentially fail and need time and skilled labour to repair. A module based solution such as VITEC’s only requires a chassis – which often come with redundant power supply for back up. The modules are also configured to be hot-swapped should the system need upgrading/modifying.
An IPTV installation has less impact on the environment as the module and chassis-based IPTV products use fewer hard-to-recycle materials than PC-based solutions. With cooler operation due to the lower power consumption, IPTV platforms require less air-conditioning in the server racks – something which is becoming increasingly important within server rooms and data centres alike. Less equipment also means less rack space usage. For example, distributing the same number of TV channels by using TV gateways requires less IPTV devices and less power than if using other traditional distribution methods.
Find out more about VITEC’s GreenPEG initiative and VITEC IPTV Solutions.
