Enterprise Video Networks Need to Optimize for Increased IPTV Traffic
The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns created a huge increase in the consumption of video content in enterprises across industries around the world. While video conferencing meetings have certainly contributed to this phenomenon, video in general—and IPTV in particular—has been a vital part of daily operations within organizations. It has been an essential tool for communicating key enterprise messages within facilities and across multiple locations for years.
Research has shown that video is the top-performing and most effective tool for training, educating, informing, and shaping corporate culture. In addition, many organizations utilize IPTV to live stream content—like newsfeeds—to stay informed of global breaking news. For industries such as finance, broadcast, and even governmental agencies like the Center for Disease Control, being on top of breaking news isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity.
Harnessing the Power of Video
Today people have adapted to—and are very comfortable with—streaming video content at home. Content providers like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ have clearly shown that content consumption during the pandemic has skyrocketed.
This appetite for streaming content in the home has extended to the enterprise. In a recent BTR-100 survey commissioned by VITEC, survey respondents reported a significant rise in video traffic, led by the growing reliance on video conferencing to facilitate collaboration in support of today’s work-from-home (WFH) environment. Other video applications are also rising, including streaming video, in-house multimedia content creation, digital signage, and security camera feeds. 89% of respondents stated that COVID-19 has elevated the need to support IPTV traffic on corporate networks.
This has had an impact on enterprise networks that executive decision-makers need to understand. That is why it is so important to have solid analytics about enterprise video. Analytics are key to understanding and creating engaging video content. They provide insight into target audience preferences and provide information that can be used to tailor new content for different constituencies across organizations.
Analytics provide insight into what content is popular with people who are viewing it—a very important aspect of ensuring the effective utilization of enterprise video and the metrics key stakeholders need to inform how, when, and why organizations create new assets.
While large corporate organizations have been creating video content for many years, there has been a growing trend for custom-built content that is expressly designed for employees with the goal of more effectively communicating, educating, and conveying intentful corporate culture—which is extremely important for HR and management.
IPTV Plays Key Role for Large Organizations
Organizations are becoming more aware of the implications of increasing video to meet their business objectives. As video traffic rises, technology executives are keen to understand how this category of workload affects the use of key IT resources. Successful organizations have become very strategic and sophisticated about how video traffic is delivered to their employees. IPTV, for instance, has played a critical role in driving efficient use of network resources as demand for video for employees has risen.
This is especially true of IPTV that makes use of multicast-to-the-edge, which is a key technology for effective and efficient video distribution. IPTV gateway devices can provide live television feeds across enterprise networks, delivering very high-quality content without significantly impacting the general IT network.
Another important benefit of IPTV is its ability to support digital signage. For years digital signage required its own separate infrastructure. IPTV-enabled digital signage can be used to cost-effectively remind folks of organizational protocols, meeting locations, and activities at the location—without overburdening network resources.
Today, most organizations realize that as long as their video strategy is multicast-capable, their enterprise network will be able to handle large volumes of traffic very effectively. This has transformed IPTV into an elegant solution for distributing video content to companies that are on corporate campuses as well as to the growing number of employees who are working from home in the wake of COVID-19 crisis.
Editor's Note: This is a contributed article from VITEC and Exterity. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.
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