More and more Internet and media service providers launched mobile service, which transfers their abundant contents to cell phones as well as other intelligent fixed or mobile terminals. These examples clearly illustrate that in order to provide users with Multi-Screen experiences, mutual penetration and integration must occur among players in the industrial chain, while at the same time maintaining an actively competitive spirit in this type of background.
As IP technologies are becoming more mature and gaining popularity, an IP-centric industry chain is being formed. At a time when players in the industry chain are engaged in a greater degree of mutual cooperation and penetration, telecom carriers that offer traditional communication services are facing more and more threats and challenges to their once very lucrative and dominant services, and are gradually being degraded in terms of status, so that now they have become nothing more than merely channel providers.
However, IP should be seen as a double-edged sword. On one hand it offers carriers huge imagination spaces, but on the other hand, many players can easily become lost in the IP jungle. Therefore, the biggest challenge that carriers face now is to figure out more and more ways in which to explore new spaces for Multi-Screen experiences, while at the same time protecting their traditionally dominant and advantageous field, and becoming winners in the IP jungle.
Current analysis shows that the development of the Internet can be directly attributed to its rich service provision ability, meaning the business mode that takes content operations as its center is the basic core ability of the Internet. Telecom carriers have been providing pure voice, broadband access and data services, and their operations are largely based on a business mode that is centered on communication connections. So the first phase of the business mode for telecom carriers is broadband.
We believe that IP will spur and drive integration between the Internet and telecom networks. In other words, “The Internet is now becoming the carrier’s CORE NETWORK”. So, in order to become winners, carriers must first combine advantages of both networks, to enable Internet services in their operating networks. This is called content-oriented operations.
Now the question arises: How can carriers best fulfill this objective? If a carrier neglects or ignores its existing business and all of the sudden “dives” head first into content operations, this carrier would most likely encounter a "very hard landing in terms of transformation". This is because telecom carriers are still relative newcomers in the content operation field, although they undoubtedly have apparent strengths as far as communication connections are concerned. Without any kind of condition that would tend to guarantee their growth, telecom carriers
could quite feasibly be totally defeated by content magnates. Therefore, during the transformation process to content operations, each carrier needs a transition period in order to ensure a "soft landing".
By operating the Multi-Play service, carriers can make full use of their existing carrier-class network advantages, while at the same time aggregate content partners so that they can provide users with Multi-Screen experiences. In addition, while gradually accumulating content operation experiences, carriers can realize All-IP operations. Thus, this introduces the second phase of the business mode for telecom carriers, Multi-Play.
Huawei is not only a whole-lifecycle consulting service provider, but also a Multi-Play supplier. In the Multi-Play field, Huawei has thus far provided services to 28 of the Top 50 telecom carriers in the world, which includes such carriers as, KPN, BT, FT, Telecom Italia, and Belgacom. Huawei’ Multi-Play solution is currently serving over 1 billion users in more than 100 countries and regions around the globe. It is also worth mentioning that in the CNGI (China Next Generation Internet) project, Huawei’s Multi-Play bearer network occupied an 80% share of the market, and represents the first and largest IPv6 backbone network in the world.
In regards to the Multi-Play solution roadmap, Huawei has already formulated a series of plans that include four different phases. In the first phase, Huawei will provide the “IPTV ready” Multi-Play solution. In the second phase, which will be implemented in 2008, Huawei will provide the IMS-based Multi-Play solution. In the third phase, starting in 2009, Huawei will provide the FMC-based Multi-Play solution. In the fourth phase, which is expected to begin in 2011, Huawei will provide the P2P&ICT application-based Multi-Play solution.
In terms of product combinations, Huawei is able to provide a whole series of products, which include: management system, service system, backbone layer, service POP, convergence layer, access layer, and family gateway. Such products can guarantee successful commercial applications of end-to-end Multi-Play solutions.
