Value-added services for the ultra competitive starts with NFV

No service provider wants to deliver services with shrinking value. Seeking to maintain their edge and move up the value chain, many are looking to expand their market offerings beyond connectivity with new value-added services. A software-defined network with customer and application provisioning takes them in this direction. But to truly move up the value chain, service providers need to add advanced media-specific functions.

Of course, bringing value-added services to current media networks is not that simple. Even basic value-adds like format conversion requires new hardware. The deployment of which is pricy, slow and complicates the network architecture. And who would want their operational costs to swell doing this?

At Net Insight, we believe the best way to deliver value-added services is through Network Function Virtualization (NFV). These value-adds could range from simple format conversions and monitoring, to advanced media services such as encoding and transcoding. But in the future, NFV will also give service providers endless possibilities to add value beyond connectivity services. From the actual acquisition of content from cameras and other sources to things like local video switching, to file-based content procurement from reporters, local ingest from live to file and more.

With NFV, services can be introduced faster, with value-added functions placed into your network, all over or at selected locations. Using a simple, converged infrastructure based on standard hardware and software, NFV allows network services to be adapted to a shifting market and enables you to keep up with your customers’ ever-changing needs. Plus, functionality upgrades can be done without investing in new hardware, doing site visits or complicating your network with various equipment.

We strongly feel that the real power in NFV lies in offering each and every customer personalized services. With a Customer and Application Provisioned Network built on NFV technology, each customer can decide themselves not only what connectivity they need, but also what value-added services each production requires. The media network can now provide connectivity and value-added services that adapts to each customer, on-demand and in real-time, delivered from one single platform. This allows service providers to innovate their services, and hopefully, helps to strengthen the customer/provider relationship.