Juniper Adds IPTV Features To Routers

Juniper Networks announced new software capabilities for its router families that could give telecom service providers an easier way to roll out video-on-demand services over IP-based broadband connections.

Called the Network Resource Manager (NRM), the latest addition to Juniper's router-management wares lets users of the company's E-, M- and T-series routers dynamically construct Label Switched Paths (LSPs) from video sources to routers at the edge of a network. The implementation gives administrators the ability to dynamically allocate bandwidth for each LSP, ensuring better quality of video delivery, Juniper said.

Juniper senior manager David Boland said that the new management capabilities are designed to help service providers more easily roll out video on demand services, which Juniper sees as a growing part of future telco revenues.

"Though there's a lot of excitement about broadcast [channels] over IP, that's just a portion of the overall video solution [for telecom service providers]," Boland said. While video on demand is currently a small part of the overall TV market, Boland said that revenues from custom content -- like sports programming, movie libraries or old sitcoms -- will likely increase rapidly as consumers become more familiar with new ways of downloading and viewing content.

Boland said the new router management software can be paired with an existing capability in the company's E-series routers that lets service provider dynamically allocate bandwidth from the edge router to the customer premise, allowing customers better use of their broadband pipes. Boland said some current deployments of so-called triple play offerings of voice, video and data require static allocation of bandwidth for each service. A dynamic allocation method, he said, could decrease a data or voice bandwidth stream while a video is downloading to ensure better quality of service.The NRM software is scheduled to ship with the next version of Juniper's router operating system software, due later this year.