Open Source IPTV middleware
To my knowledge, there is no such thing out there yet. But there will be. A couple of companies are doing it at the client level (for Web TV) but the only source I came across that is doing it at server side middleware level is this thing called Toroid. There are not many details on the site.
There are several Internet TV companies coming up all over the world. I am sure they would want to get their hands on something like this. An Open Source IPTV middleware will help evolve and scale online video/TV to new heights.
There are a few drivers for Open Source IPTV middleware already. Several service providers are unhappy about the integration problems they face in putting together various IPTV components. Open Source will only compound those problems initially but those IPTV vendors looking to sell to Internet TV (as opposed to telco centric IPTV) companies will put interfaces into such a system. IPTV service providers are usually stuck with a small number of ecosystems that come pre-integrated with other IPTV network elements such as VoD servers and Encoders etc.
On the other hand IPTV set up is still a legacy set up even though there is the IP element in it. You are dealing with some legacy interfaces. In comparison Internet TV does not have much to worry about, which is why I think an Open Source IPTV middleware would perhaps suit them more.
Right now there are not many TV application developers out there because the interfaces into the middleware solutions available are not friendly enough. TV 2.0 will only take off if there are easier APIs. An Open Source IPTV middleware has to facilitate that in order to be successful. There are lesser number of TV 2.0 developers for another reason. They cannot afford to spend time writing an application and then find their middleware partner sitting on it. An Open Source m’ware will let such developers go direct to the end user and offer TV 2.0. So in short Open Source m’ware will result in a better online video/TV experience providing lots of choices.
