Juniper Networks released a series of enhancements to its IP networking products aimed at improving and reducing the cost of IP video transport.
Juniper punctuated the importance of optimizing its products for IPTV with an announcement that one of its customers, Zhejiang Telecom, placed an order for equipment to support new IPTV services.
Juniper has made several enhancements to its MPLS-based point-to-multipoint (P2MP) broadcast video distribution and has added new capabilities for its software-based SDX-300 Service Deployment System.
Juniper calls one enhancement “Liquid LSPs” (label switched path). Users can leverage the SDX-300’s open APIs to ensure efficient network handling of video-on-demand content. Using an open API, third-party video serving platforms communicate with the SDX-300 and Juniper routers to map the best possible path between subscribers and content sources to increase network efficiency.
By enabling the dynamic activation and modification of LSPs between video serving locations, Liquid LSPs enable providers to serve videos from multiple locations, reducing costs and increasing network design flexibility. Juniper said SeaChange International was first to integrate its open IPTV platform with Juniper’s Liquid LSP capability.
Juniper has also implemented a number of enhancements to further extend the point-to-multipoint (P2MP) capabilities of its JUNOS system. The new features include the extension of constrained shortest path first (CSPF) functionality to P2MP LSPs, which enables the network to automatically determine the most efficient path through the network for a given video stream. This allows a few super headends to service many remote video sites over long distances, while assuring delivery quality of the broadcast TV channels.
Juniper is also announcing enhancements to BGP-based (Border Gateway Protocol) VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Services). BGP-based VPLS simplifies the scaling of metro video distribution networks.
Separately, Juniper said that Zhejiang Telecom, China Telecom’s largest subsidiary, has deployed Juniper Networks’ E320 Broadband Service Routers and T-series core routers to introduce new advanced IP television (IPTV) and other multiplay services.
Zhejiang will be using the MPLS-based P2MP capabilities on the T-series to improve the efficiency of video distribution in the core network. Both the E- and T-series are critical components of Zhejiang’s long-term IPTV strategy. Zhejiang Telecom has deployed Juniper E- and M-series platforms since 2001. The company has over 3 million subscribers.
