Networking this Week: IPTV Is Hot, IPv6 Is Not

If you ever needed evidence that the future of networking is in multimedia, just take a look at this week.

Start off with our roundup article about IPTV, which surveyed the startups and technologies that will deliver broadcasts (or narrowcasts) to your TV set via good old, reliable IP. Given all the hope, promises, and hype, you'd think it was time to party like it was 1999.

The technology, despite the hype, is a real one, though, and there's big money to be made in it. Who will reap the benefits? You can't tell the startups without a scorecard, so you'll want to read who's who in the TV-over-Internet race. The players include companies with names like DaveTV. Not reassuring, is it? Then again, who ever thought a company with an odd name like Google would ever go anywhere?

While IPTV may be hot, IPv6 is not. A survey by Juniper Networks found that interest in the next-generation Internet protocol IPv6 has been lagging big-time. How's this for a statistic: Less than 7% of respondents to the survey consider IPv6 "very important to achieving their IT goals," despite the fact that the protocol is designed to address, among other things, many of the quality of service, security, and network management issues that concern them.

If you don't like the initials "IP" in your news, there were other stories of interest this week. The biggie was the decision by the FCC to require that VoIP providers offer customers the same emergency 911 capabilities as callers with traditional services. The feds gave VoIP providers four months to get the job done.Finally, security is always in the news, and Yahoo and SBC made a bit of a splash with their giveaway of a free security suite for their DSL subscribers, which includes anti-virus and anti-spyware defenses, a pop-up ad blocker, parental controls, and anti-spam and other tools for members' e-mail inboxes.

There's more, as well, and much more coming up. To keep up with the latest, check out Networking Pipeline's News section.

Links in This Story

Internet TV and IPTV Seen As The Next Big Thing

Who's Who In The TV-Over-Internet Race Interest In IPv6 Found To Be Lagging

FCC Gives VoIP Providers Four Months For 911 Link

Yahoo, SBC Give Away Security Suite

Networking Pipeline's News section