IPTV Delivery Networks

The definitive guide to developing robust content delivery networks This book examines the real-world engineering challenges of developing robust content delivery networks (CDNs) and provides the tools required to overcome those challenges and to ensure high-quality content delivery that fully satisfies operators’ and consumers' commercial objectives. It is informed by the author’s two decades of experience building and delivering large, mission-critical live video, webcasts, and radio streaming, online and over private IP networks. Following an overview of the field, the book cuts to the chase with in-depth discussions—laced with good-natured humor—of a wide range of design considerations for different network topologies. It begins with a description of the author's own requirement filtration processes. From there it moves on to initial sketches, through considerations of stakeholder roles and responsibilities, to the complex challenges of managing change in established teams. Agile versus waterfall considerations within large blue chip companies, security, commercial models, and value chain alignment are explored in detail. Featured throughout the book are numerous «what if» scenarios that help provide a clear picture of the wide spectrum of practical contexts for which readers may be tasked with building and implementing a CDN. In addition, the book: Discusses delivery of live, catch-up, scheduled on-demand, TVOD and SVOD Offers insights into the decisions that can to be made when architecting a content distribution system over IP-based networks Covers CDN topologies, including Edge-Caching, Streaming-Splitting, Pure-Play, Operator, Satellite, and Hybrid Examines computer hosting and orchestration for dedicated appliances and virtualization Includes real-world cases covering everything from IETF, regulatory considerations, and policy formation, to coding, hardware vendors, and network operators Considers the future of CDN technologies and the market forces driving its evolution Written by a back-room engineer for back-room engineers, Content Delivery Networks gets readers up to speed on the real-world challenges they can face as well as tried-and-true strategies for addressing those challenges in order to ensure the delivery of the high-quality content delivery networks that clients demand and users expect.

The field of Home Area Networks (HAN), a dedicated residential subset of LAN technologies for home-based use, is fast becoming the next frontier for the communications industry. This book describes the various technologies involved in the implementation of a HAN: high-speed Internet connections, indoor implementations, services, software, and management packages. It also reviews multimedia applications (which are increasingly the most important and complex aspects of most HANs) with a detailed description of IPTV technology. It highlights the main technologies used for HANs: information transmission by means of copper pairs, coaxial cables, fiber optics, and Wi-Fi radio systems, as well as the software systems necessary for the processing and management of these data communications. These technologies – examples of which include the well-known 802.11 family of standards, and less widespread applications such as the HomePlug powerline standard – are highly relevant to multimedia, remote healthcare, remote working, energy, and device management in the home. The book is written for engineers working in the field, or who are interested in high-speed communication technologies and their actual or potential use in the home or in the small – medium size enterprise (SME) commercial environment.

Find out how modern IPTV technologies will change your experience of television. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is rapidly being deployed as a compliment service to existing distribution technologies. Why IPTV? traces the changes in Internet Protocol Television since the mid-1990s and examines what IPTV means today. The author analyzes what delivery of TV over an IP network means, both in terms of possibilities for new services, and in terms of the impact on the network and how it has to be managed. In addition, Why IPTV? helps you understand how introducing IPTV into the Web 2.0 world will impact the new services. It looks at the current trends in the consumer electronics industry as well as the network industry, and describes how the new technology can enhance and extend the existing business models in the TV industry, particularly in advertising; and also how it creates new possibilities, for instance, through personalization. Why IPTV? Interactivity, Technologies, Services: Provides an accessible introduction to IPTV. Covers the technology to build IPTV systems, and shows what lies beyond traditional business models and existing distribution technologies. Considers how IPTV technologies can exploit and change the current trends in consumer electronics and network industry. Explores how the merging of Web 2.0 and IPTV will open new opportunities for services. Addresses hot topics such as IPTV Interaction and Channel Switching, Networking and Streaming with Information Management Systems, Advertising and Personalization of IPTV. Why IPTV? will provide engineers in networking, TV broadcast companies, technology specialists in content creation companies and people in the IPTV industry (including management) with an engaging and insightful reference into Internet Protocol Television.

Television was one of the inventions that shaped the way society and culture evolved over the second half of the twentieth century. It had the powerful effect of shrinking the world which creating a unified view of how things were. There continues to be an evolution of television and a migration towards a fully interactive and ubiquitous IPTV. IPTV Security describes the science and history behind TV as well as detailed descriptions of all the architectural components that comprise an IPTV environment. It covers subjects logically from the Head End passing through the aggregation network and concluding with the Home End environment. The countermeasures required to ensure the safe operation of the IPTV environment are also examined, including Digital Rights Management technologies, network level security and application level security. IPTV Security defines the security model for an IPTV environment, ensuring that all critical elements are covered and a layered approach to security is implemented. One of the only books available on IPTV Security Provides a comprehensive view of IPTV components along with the associated threats and required countermeasures Detailed descriptions allow readers to understand the technology even if new to the field A complete reference guide to the security aspects of IPTV. This book is ideal for anyone responsible for IPTV security such as security officers and auditors working with internet services and telecommunications providers, phone and cable companies, content owners and security consultants and architects. It will also be of interest to networking and security engineers, software developers, network operators and university lectures and students involved in media, IT and security.

As a result of its widespread implementation in economic and social structures, the network concept appears to be a paradigm of the contemporary world. The need for various services – transport, energy, consumption of manufacturing goods, provision of care, information and communication, etc. – draws users into interwoven networks which are meshes of material and immaterial flows. In this context, the user is a consumer of goods and services from industries and administrations, or they themselves are part of the organization (digital social networks).

This book examines the invariants that unify networks in their diversity, as well as the specificities that differentiate them. It provides a reading grid that distinguishes a generic level where these systems find a common interpretation, and a specific level where appropriate analytical methods are used. Three case studies from different fields are presented to illustrate the purpose of the book in detail.

Cognitive networks can dynamically adapt their operational parameters in response to user needs or changing environmental conditions. They can learn from these adaptations and exploit knowledge to make future decisions. Cognitive networks are the future, and they are needed simply because they enable users to focus on things other than configuring and managing networks. Without cognitive networks, the pervasive computing vision calls for every consumer to be a network technician. The applications of cognitive networks enable the vision of pervasive computing, seamless mobility, ad-hoc networks, and dynamic spectrum allocation, among others. In detail, the authors describe the main features of cognitive networks clearly indicating that cognitive network design can be applied to any type of network, being fixed or wireless. They explain why cognitive networks promise better protection against security attacks and network intruders and how such networks will benefit the service operator as well as the consumer. Cognitive Networks Explores the state-of-the-art in cognitive networks, compiling a roadmap to future research. Covers the topic of cognitive radio including semantic aspects. Presents hot topics such as biologically-inspired networking, autonomic networking, and adaptive networking. Introduces the applications of machine learning and distributed reasoning to cognitive networks. Addresses cross-layer design and optimization. Discusses security and intrusion detection in cognitive networks. Cognitive Networks is essential reading for advanced students, researchers, as well as practitioners interested in cognitive & wireless networks, pervasive computing, distributed learning, seamless mobility, and self-governed networks. With forewords by Joseph Mitola III as well as Sudhir Dixit.

Alternative techniques and tools for analyzing biomolecular networks With the recent rapid advances in molecular biology, high-throughput experimental methods have resulted in enormous amounts of data that can be used to study biomolecular networks in living organisms. With this development has come recognition of the fact that a complicated living organism cannot be fully understood by merely analyzing individual components. Rather, it is the interactions of components or biomolecular networks that are ultimately responsible for an organism's form and function. This book addresses the important need for a new set of computational tools to reveal essential biological mechanisms from a systems biology approach. Readers will get comprehensive coverage of analyzing biomolecular networks in cellular systems based on available experimental data with an emphasis on the aspects of network, system, integration, and engineering. Each topic is treated in depth with specific biological problems and novel computational methods: GENE NETWORKS—Transcriptional regulation; reconstruction of gene regulatory networks; and inference of transcriptional regulatory networks PROTEIN INTERACTION NETWORKS—Prediction of protein-protein interactions; topological structure of biomolecular networks; alignment of biomolecular networks; and network-based prediction of protein function METABOLIC NETWORKS AND SIGNALING NETWORKS—Analysis, reconstruction, and applications of metabolic networks; modeling and inference of signaling networks; and other topics and new trends In addition to theoretical results and methods, many computational software tools are referenced and available from the authors' Web sites. Biomolecular Networks is an indispensable reference for researchers and graduate students in bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, computer science, and applied mathematics.

Ambient Networks defines a new kind of network architecture, which embeds support for co operation and competition between diverse network types within a common control layer. This unified networking concept can adapt to the heterogeneous environments of different radio technologies and service and network environments. Special focus is placed on facilitating both competition and co-operation of various market players, by defining interfaces which allow the instant negotiation of cooperation agreements. The Ambient Networking concept has been developed in the framework of the Ambient Networks project, which is co-sponsored by the European Union under the Information Society Technology (IST) priority of the 6th Framework Programme. The Ambient Networks project mobilised the work of researchers from over forty different organisations, both major industrial corporations and leading academic institutions, from Europe and worldwide. This book offers a complete and detailed overview of the Ambient Networking concept and its core technologies. The authors explain the problems with current mobile IP networks and the need for a new mobility-aware IP-based control architecture, before presenting the Ambient Networking concept itself and the business opportunities that it offers. The architecture, components, features and challenges of Ambient Networking are covered in depth, with comprehensive discussions of multi-radio access, generic Ambient Network signalling, mobility support, context and network management and built-in media delivery overlay control. Ambient Networks: Co-operative Mobile Networking for the Wireless World Explains the need for Ambient Networking, discussing the limitations of today’s proposed architectures, and explaining the business potential of edge networks and network co-operation. Describes Ambient Networking technology in detail, and addresses the technical challenges for implementation. Includes practical user scenarios which are fully analysed and assessed through simulation studies. Including a complete examination of the research and technologies arising from the Ambient Networks concept, Ambient Networks will be invaluable for research and development teams in networking and communications technology, as well as advanced students in electrical engineering and computer science faculties. Standardisation specialists, research departments, and telecommunications analysts will also find this a helpful resource.

This book explores the creation of 'learning networks' and sheds light on how they function:– real versus virtual forms of interaction, collaboration versus competition in the learning process, and joint value creation versus individual value appropriation in networks. Written by international experts in the field of global strategy. Contributions have been selected for their insights and interdependence between organizational learning and networks. Looks at topics such as real versus virtual forms of interaction, collaboration versus competition in the learning process, and joint value creation versus individual value appropriation in networks.

A unified treatment of the vulnerabilities that exist in real-world network systems—with tools to identify synergies for mergers and acquisitions Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World presents a comprehensive study of network systems and the roles these systems play in our everyday lives. This book successfully conceptualizes, defines, and constructs mathematically rigorous, computer-based tools for the assessment of network performance and efficiency, along with robustness and vulnerability analysis. The result is a thorough exploration that promotes an understanding of the critical infrastructure of today's network systems, from congested urban transportation networks and supply chain networks under disruption to financial networks and the Internet. The authors approach the analyses by abstracting not only topological structures of networks, but also the behavior of network users, the demand for resources, the resulting flows, and the associated costs. Following an introduction to the fundamental methodologies and tools required for network analysis and network vulnerability, the book is organized into three self-contained parts: Part I—Network Fundamentals, Efficiency Measurement, and Vulnerability Analysis explores the theoretical and practical foundations for a new network efficiency measure in order to assess the importance of network components in various network systems. Methodologies for distinct decision-making behaviors are outlined, along with the tools for qualitative analysis, the algorithms for the computation of solutions, and a thorough discussion of the unified network efficient measure and network robustness with the unified measure. Part II—Applications and Extensions examines the efficiency changes and the associated cost increments after network components are eliminated or partially damaged. A discussion of the recently established connections between transportation networks and different critical networks is provided, which demonstrates how the new network measures and robustness indices can be applied to different supply chain, financial, and dynamic networks, including the Internet and electronic power networks. Part III—Mergers and Acquisitions, Network Integration, and Synergies reveals the connections between transportation networks and different network systems and quantifies the synergies associated with the network systems, from total cost reduction to environmental impact assessment. In the case of mergers and acquisitions, the focus is on supply chain networks. The authors outline a system-optimization perspective for supply chain networks and also formalize coalition formation using game theory with insights into the merger paradox. With its numerous network examples and real-world applications, Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World is an excellent book for courses in network science, transportation science, operations management, and financial networks at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the areas of applied mathematics, computer science, operations research, management science, finance, and economics, as well as industrial, systems, and civil engineering. Listen to Dr. Nagurney's podcast Supernetworks: Building Better Real and Virtual Highways at http://www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/ .