Communications and Technology Industry Research

Market research firm Infonetics Research is predicting a huge surge in demand for the Video on-demand server revenue, according to a new report. In addition, telco service providers are expected to derive about $56 billion worldwide from Internet protocol television services by 2013.

 

Video on-demand in is demand these days as the users get to view videos in real-time. VOD systems usually stream content through a set-top box to the users. The video can be downloaded to a device such as a computer, digital video recorder, personal video recorder or portable media player for viewing at any time.

 

According to the 1Q09 edition of its “IPTV (News - Alert) and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers” report, Infonetics Research said service providers and cable operators paused spending on IPTV and switched digital video equipment in 1Q09. This has pushed the worldwide sales down 11 percent sequentially to $1 billion. But the worldwide vendor revenue for all IPTV and SDV equipment segments are in positive territory, the report said.

 

“All eyes are focused on video on-demand and streaming content servers as more and more programming moves to on-demand,” said Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research's (News - Alert) directing analyst, in a statement.”VOD is rapidly becoming EoD (everything on-demand) as operators beef up their streaming server capacity to support not only HD VoD, but network and RS-DVR services, targeted advertising, and start-over services, all of which will become standard features for video providers."

 

As service providers roll out new IPTV networks or expand existing networks and cable MSOs introduce switched video capabilities into their digital TV networks, the report predicts the overall market to grow at a pace over the next four quarters.

 

In another report published last June, the company predicted that worldwide mobile video phone sales neared $99 billion in 2007 and are expected to grow strongly over the next five years, despite the challenge service providers face in making mobile video services profitable. According to the report, mobile video subscribers were expected to nearly triple by the end of 2008.