The technical obstacles confronting mobile video are significant, but with all that gold in sight, the hurdles are worth scaling. For mobile video in the home to enter the mainstream, we'll need more speed, more coverage and enhanced traffic prioritization. Higher speed and coverage are coming soon, thanks to the emerging 802.11n standard. Look for 11n to find its way into computers, televisions, and set-top boxes in time for the 2007 Christmas shopping season. Although that prospect is exciting, it will take a while longer to optimize products for multistream video content and to provide certified interoperability between vendor offerings.
Mobile video on the road faces more significant challenges. System-capacity constraints make it extremely difficult to scale mobile video services in a cellular environment, where large cells and limited spectrum are the norm. With as few as half a dozen simultaneous users streaming video content using the unicast technologies that will be popular in the home, a cell's capacity will be saturated. That's leading carriers to consider alternative forms of off-channel broadcast-oriented mobile media services based on DVB-H and MediaFLO technologies.
Mobile video technologies will be driven by consumer entertainment services, but the technical advances required to make this happen will also pay dividends for enterprise users, through enhanced interoperability and lower prices. We'll be ready for some football--and a boost in productivity as well.
Dave Molta is a Network Computing senior technology editor. He is also assistant dean for technology at the School of Information Studies and director of the Center for Emerging Network Technologies at Syracuse University. Write to him at [email protected]
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