In this post, I want to quickly introduce my audience to the term ‘Media Aware IP Network’. In addition to this, I will define the terms relating to Media Aware IP Network.
1. What is a Media-Aware IP Network??
Legacy Network built for data and voice is inadequate to deliver rich media. A robust network is required to deliver more interactive performance for media. This network should be able to make intelligent decisions on where the video packet needs to be routed to maximize picture quality and minimize bandwidth requirements.
Media-Aware OR Video-Aware Networks identify and qualify content based on user’s intent.
There are different names for Media-Aware Network -> Content Aware Network, Video Aware Network
2. Why is there a need to have a Media- Aware IP Network today??
According to most surveys, we already know Video-on-demand, IPTV and Internet TV will constitute nearly 90% of all consumer traffic by 2012. Therefore there is a need to address this challenge by building a Video Aware Network that will deliver all types of media with a single end-to-end architecture. There is a lot of demand for more interactive content sharing on the internet along with increasing trend of rich media social networking.
3. Normal IP Network Vs. Media-Aware Network - Overview
4. Who are Content Providers, Content Service Providers & Content Customers??
Content Providers are all News & Entertainment Companies including Studios.
For example -> NBC, ABC News and 20th Century Fox are Content Providers.
Content Service Providers are all infrastructure providers for delivering Videos to the end-customers. For example -> Video on Demand Companies like Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand.
Content Service Providers collaborate with Hardware Manufacturers to deploy their Video on Demand Infrastructure.
Content Customers are subscribers of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video on Demand Services.
5. What is Content Aware Routing??
Content Routing is the mechanism of routing the request to the closer Server using the intelligence of the Network.
6. What is a Media Aware network element??
A Network Element parses RTP payload headers or the RTP payload and based on the content react routes the IP Packet. A Network element can be a Hardware OR a Software component.
7. What is MediaNet ?? Can you provide an example of a Company offering this kind of infrastructure solutions to Service Providers??
A MediaNet is a media-aware Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (NGN), which deliver all types of media with a single end-to-end architecture. With Medianet, the Service Providers can offer wide range of multimedia services like IPTV, VOD etc. with improved quality of experience.
Cisco is already working today to deliver MediaNet Infrastructure for the Service Providers. Here are unique advantages of Cisco offerings in this space.
• Improve scalability by virtualizing content, infrastructure, and services, allowing operators to efficiently deliver more content to more subscribers
• Increase service velocity by allowing the launch of new services simultaneously in multiple markets or to national or transnational audiences
*Source Cisco.com
Conclusion: Media Aware Networking is very different from voice and data networking. A Media Aware Network can provide key advantages like service-aware switching, support for digital advertising, de-jittering and transcoding capabilities.
