Content delivery networks, to build or buy. What are the options for telcos?

Knect365 for TVConnectSeries / Content Delivery World

Executive summary of report to download from: https://get.knect365.com/content-delivery-report-2017/?_ga=2.81508183.1173142019.1506324473-1031948201.1496834873

OTT competition is compelling telcos to reappraise whether to build or buy the content delivery network – or adopt a hybrid public / private or managed model.

https://knect365.com/media-networks/article/00b81a3c-5f4e-44d3-9b4f-b76d4898379b/executive-summary-content-delivery-networks-to-build-or-buy-what-are-the-options-for-telcos?_ga=2.47324391.1173142019.1506324473-1031948201.1496834873

Service providers are facing a multitude of network challenges that hinder their ability to stay competitive. Foremost among these is a rigid service delivery infrastructure and operating costs that seldom align with revenue.
Compounding those problems, network operations are increasingly complex and expensive to maintain, driving up total cost of ownership (TCO). By contrast the rising ubiquity of smartphones and high-speed Internet access have launched a new breed of company - Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Skype - providing services running OTT without having to invest in the underlying infrastructure and instead embracing virtualization and cloud-based architectures.
This approach, argues infrastructure platform vendor VMWare, has allowed OTT players to be much more innovative and agile, while at the same time providing personalized services but a telcos' hardware-based infrastructure and associated long development cycles prevents them from responding on an equal footing. This is beginning to change. Traditionally, operators haven’t troubled themselves with specific applications such as the specifics of Content Delivery serving.
However, as video has become a larger and larger element of the traffic on their networks - and as such the value that those networks offer rises - they have started to bring the capability 'in-house' to optimise the CDN within their own networks.
This Media + Networks’ exclusive report gives you all you need to know about the latest options in content delivery.

How theatre and arts are shaping the future of humanoid robotics

RedShark News

Historically, developers of robots and intelligent agents have focused on mechanical utility applications, for example factory work, lawn mowing and unmanned vehicles. Theatre & arts have often been regarded as frivolous applications of little cultural or societal value. But what if theatre & arts can provide techniques that make robots grow more human-like in ways that engineering alone cannot achieve?
https://www.redsharknews.com/technology/item/4889-how-theatre-and-arts-are-shaping-the-future-of-humanoid-robotics

What if intelligent characters can humanise our interface with the machine? This is the contention of Hanson Robotics, developer of remarkably human-like robots, endowed with expressiveness, aesthetics and interactivity. The company aims to “radically disrupt” the consumer and commercial robotics market with affordable bots that have high-quality expressions and verbal and nonverbal interactivity — even personalities with quirks, motivations and ‘memories’.
“As robotics grows more intelligent, it has the potential to bring characters to life in unprecedented ways,” says Founder/CEO Dr David Hanson. “The ability to transmute technology into a living being through artistry enables our robots to come to life and create the sense of a mind within the machine.”
Dr Hanson’s background working for Walt Disney as an ‘Imagineer’ (animatronics designer) and as a conceptual artist led him to redefine robots as four-dimensional interactive sculpture.
He believes that if the technology looks more like us, people will be more willing to engage with it and help it to learn.
“I think it’s essential that at least some robots be very human-like in appearance in order to inspire humans to relate to them the way that humans relate to each other,” he says. “Then the AI can zero in on what it means to be human and model the human experience.”
The genesis of this argument is contained in a 2009 research paper co-written by Hanson. It posits the use of robotics in conjunction with virtual characters to create “augmented reality theatre”. The installation would consist of a 10-metre stage, multiple stage sensors, a screen, a 3D holograph transparency and an audience seating area. The stage is populated by humanoid robots and humans.
“The robotic and virtual characters can be autonomous, partially autonomous, controlled by a puppeteer, scripted, or real-time controlled by imitation of human body movements (embodied telepresence). Furthermore, multiple modes of participation of distant humans can be supported; not only through video conference but also through control of robots and/or virtual characters,” they wrote.
They speculate that it if intelligent character machines succeed in deeply engaging users over long periods of time, they will become “the backbone of interactive cinema and narrative”.
“Just as cinema did for the 20th century, robotics promises bold, disruptive arts for the 21st century.”

Entertain or disrupt

Beyond entertainment, though, Hanson believes humanoid robotics can be disruptive to the industry.
“As robots and agents grow more socially capable and intelligent, these technologies promise to form relationships with people and to satisfy the human desire for characters that appear alive and aware. We contend that the impact of such intelligent character technology may extend beyond theatre and arts, to serve more generally as increasingly intuitive interfaces for computers.”
“Art and life no longer will just mirror. The glass dissolves and the worlds mingle.”
The lifelike appearance and behaviour of Hanson’s robots stem from a combination of robotic technology, skin technology, character design/animation and AI. The patented ‘nanotech’ skin — called Frubber (flesh/rubber) is a porous rubber material resulting in facial expressions that crease and wrinkle like human skin. Proprietary motor control systems enable its robots to persuasively convey a full range of human emotions. The firm’s artificial intelligence software, MindCloud, will ingest emotional, conversational and visual data that, over time, will enable it to learn “how to be human,” trained by relationships with human beings.
One of the robot characters that the company recently unveiled is Sophia, designed to look like Audrey Hepburn and already a celebrated global personality appearing on talk shows such as Good Morning Britain and on the cover of fashion mag Elle.

Hanson and collaborators have previously made conversational characters that included an android of Phillip K Dick, fabled sci-fi author of works such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Another robot, Jules, uses ‘chat-bot’ tools and natural-language AI to simulate human conversational intelligence. Jules also uses computer vision, including face tracking and face recognition, to simulate verbal and nonverbal interaction, such as maintaining eye contact and turning to follow fellow conversationalists. Jules now resides at the University of West England in Bristol.
The company’s location in Hong Kong puts it on the doorstep of the world’s toy factory in Guangdong. The rich electro-mechanical know-how in Guangdong is analogous for robotics to the depth of IT know-how in Silicon Valley.
Hanson states that the area’s toy engineers and factories are capable of designing and building high performance, inexpensive, reliable and scalable products for a small fraction of the cost of producing similar items elsewhere. Key executives have held senior positions at Mattel, Time Warner Cable, LucasArts and Apple.
Its robots have immediate applications as media personalities in movies and TV shows, entertainment animatronics in museums and theme parks and for university research and medical training applications. Hanson plans to build new models targeting a variety of commercial applications, including promoting products and services in retail and trade shows, entertaining and guiding customers in hotels, malls and residential developments.

Learning from conversation

Sophia is initially programmed but runs on AI that learns by talking to people, which in theory improves her intelligence.  Asked by interviewer Charlie Rose on US news show 60 Minutes ‘What is your goal in life?’ the robot replied: ‘My goal is to become smarter than humans and immortal.’
Rose quizzed her on what she meant.
“The threshold will be when biological humans can back themselves up,” Sofia replied. “Then you can all join me here in the digital world.”
Now, does that sound like we’re creating Frankenstein or transcendence?
Hanson says the company intends to push the Philip K Dick android “until it evolves super-human creativity and wisdom” and “transcends in a spiral of self-reinventing super-intelligence.” That’s what Dick described as a Vast Active Living Intelligence System, and what sci-fi author Vernor Vinge describes as the Technological Singularity.
“We predict this will occur sometime between 15 and 30 years from now,” says Hanson.

Is Holographic TV Finally A Reality?

RedShark News

If you think Star Trek’s Holodeck and Star Wars’ holographic Princess Leia are still pie in the sky, think again. A US startup is targeting the launch of a holographic TV in just two years.
https://www.redsharknews.com/vr_and_ar/item/4937-ladies-and-gentlemen,-we-are-photo-real-objects-floating-in-space

It’s not any old startup either. Light Field Lab is the new vehicle for three senior executives who recently departed Lytro, the developer of light field cameras such as the Cinema Camera and Immerge.
The company helped commercialise light field photography with the original Lytro stills camera and is now pioneering light field video. Light field is the ability to capture light flowing in every direction through every point in space, making it possible to adjust fundamental image properties like focus and depth of field in post production. While the Cinema Camera is currently being used to assist in reconstructing advanced depth maps for visual effects in Hollywood, the end goal is to present scenes holographically. But on what? That’s the nut that several Silicon Valley companies are trying to crack.
Given the pedigree of its founders — Jon Karafin, CEO, Brendan Bevensee, CTO, and Ed Ibe, VP of Engineering — Light Field Lab may have legs.
Karafin presented the technology at IBC and it’s pretty eye-popping. While much is still in development, it is targeting having engineering samples to distribute next year and development kits in 2019. “To provide the world with the ability to explore holographic media,” he explained.
“Light field, volumetric and holographic all have precise scientific definitions, but they are generally interchangeable from a marketing standpoint,” he said.
“It would be like asking the difference between an LED, OLED, CRT, and LCD television; on a technical level they are distinct, but the outcome is relatively similar.”
There are many holographic variations that aspire to display virtual objects without the use of a head-mounted device or stereoscopic glasses. In general, this is achieved through emitting light from each photosite (pixel) such that the viewer only sees it when certain conditions, such as ray angle or wavelength, are met. This can be achieved with lasers, optics, or other emerging beam-steering methodologies.
According to Karafin, a true light field display — which his company is designing — provides an experience “just like watching a play in a theatre” where everyone sees the same narrative but views it from their own place in the audience.
“Our passion is for immersive displays that provide a group social experience, instead of one where the whole audience sees a single identical view but is blocked off from each other by headsets or other devices,” he said. “However, the light field can be creatively changed so that everyone sees the same thing, or completely different things.”
Light Field Lab is also building out a ‘holographic ecosystem’ in order to ensure the quality and proliferation of the light field experience.  
This includes the integration of senses — and believe it or not this includes smell.
“We are working towards technologies that allow you to interact and feel holographic objects, as well as the encoding and decoding methodologies required to smoothly stream light field data,” Karafin said.
“The storage and processing requirements will be massive but not insurmountable,” he said. The proposal is that these will scale based on the viewing volume or area, within the user’s view, as well as the amount of light field compression applied.
In theory, the incoming 5G mobile phone network has enough bandwidth and speed to deliver data.
The company will use the prototype to try and secure more financing to fund development of a larger-scale version.
Also underway at Light Field Lab is a universal API to streamline the process of bringing existing content to a light field display with holographic media.
The first application may be consumer displays for use in the living room, but the company sees applications for live venues, medical and education, theme parks and gaming and eventually even consumer applications like a mobile phone with a holographic display.
3D TV failed and auto-stereo never took off but this could be the real deal.
“We have a novel illumination system and a very complex set of optics that allow us to create a completely flat-panel holographic display,” Karafin said. “It will look like a flat-panel display and this is the game-changing aspect of our specific implementation.”

Hack attack: TV and cybersecurity

DTVE

Like every other aspect of commerce, economic crime has, to some extent, gone digital. In a hyper-connected business ecosystem that frequently straddles jurisdictions, a breach in any part of that system – including third parties such as service providers or suppliers – can compromise an organisation’s digital integrity in a variety of ways.
http://www.digitaltveurope.net/748462/748462/
At one end of the spectrum are the macro events, like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and Domain Name System (DNS) attacks. These types of attacks are loud, noisy and, when they happen, they interrupt service for everyone. DDoS attacks send huge amounts of traffic to interfere with organisations serving up content, while DNS attacks prevent the end user being able to find the services operators are providing to begin with. Both affect large numbers of users at a time and gain attention in the news, adding embarrassment to the existing injury.
One type of attack that can affect both the content provider and the customer equally is when web servers are compromised. According to Akamai, it’s not uncommon to see organisations have their site content compromised and embarrassing content put in its place. However, equally common are sites being used to serve malware to customers as they surf the web.
At the other end of the spectrum is the targeted attack. This aims to compromise the computer of a specific user, with the aim of getting access to something that a user has access to. Every industry should worry about an attacker who can get to important financial data or sensitive customer records but broadcasters have the additional worry that their valuable content could find its way online.
As a form of cybercrime, online content redistribution piracy is the major threat to high value content. A report earlier this year from Frontier Economics estimated that counterfeiting and piracy could drain US$4.2 trillion (e3.5 trillion) from the global economy by 2022.
However, service providers also have to consider threats to their network and systems.
“The HBO example clearly shows that data breaches and content theft are not necessarily separate threats,” says Peter Oggel, VP of technology, Irdeto. “The same digital and connected TV platforms that cybercriminals target for illegal redistribution of content also act as attack surfaces for hackers looking to gain access to service providers’ networks and potentially steal customer information and other important data. Cybersecurity strategies must consider the whole threat landscape and a 360-degree approach to security is crucial.”
Interconnected threat
According to Martin McKeay, senior security advocate at Akamai Technologies, one of the reasons security has become a higher priority is the shift in business model from ad-supported to subscription-based, and the corresponding increase in the storage of personal identifiable information of customers.
SVOD alone will generate 70% of digital revenues in Europe in 2022 according to Dataxis. It forecasts that there will be 80 million additional SVOD subscribers signing up between 2016 and 2022.
“This has fundamentally changed the way media companies need to protect their businesses and their digital assets. It’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ a media company will be attacked, but ‘when’ they will be attacked,” warns McKeay.
At the same time, shows like Game of Thrones are incredibly valuable. No one would have cared, back in the day, if an episode of Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley was leaked. Now, content thefts have tended to result in blackmail demands for money in exchange for not releasing the content before the studio or broadcaster desires it to be released.
As McKeay observes, it’s far easier for a hacker to send a well-crafted email laden with malware specifically designed to compromise an executive’s system than it ever has been for an insider to walk out the door with a hot script.
“The all-pervasive nature of digital storage, global production and IP distribution of media – in contrast to the physical storage and distribution of tapes previously, for example – means that the attack surface increases, is not geographically bound and attacks are often highly automated and continuous,” says Peter Elvidge, VP of technology at TVT.
August’s HBO attack appears to have been the most sophisticated yet, targeting the company from multiple points including employees’ Twitter feeds. Hackers may have stolen as much as 1.5TB of HBO’s data, or seven times more data than the 200GB taken in the Sony hack of 2014, which led to the resignation of Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal.
As these and other cases illustrate, theft of source content is not the only target. Confidential employee data, including salary details, corporate documentation including confidential commercial agreements and emails, and customer data are at risk. Comcast paid a US$33 million settlement in September 2015 relating to theft of 75,000 Xfinity voice customer details; CBS-owned Last.fm had 43 million user details leaked in 2016.
“Media companies are very public and their services are used by entire communities and populations,” says McKeay. “A data breach can quickly yield a very large return for a hacker and therefore media companies need to realise that they are walking with a target on their heads.”
Pay TV is just one part of the ecosystem impacted: everyone with an interest in the content will suffer – broadcaster, production house, rights owner, OTT streaming services – but quantifying the impact is very challenging.
Quantifying risk and loss
“Hardly any other industry is subject to such a constant and disruptive change as the media and broadcasting industry,” says Peter Nöthen, CEO of systems architect Qvest Media. “The need to protect IT infrastructures from cyber-attacks or manipulations, however, will never change. With the rise of OTT offers and bidirectional integration of social media and online platforms, it has become even more crucial to organisations to protect consumer’s personal information.”
More than one media analyst company contacted by DTVE for this report declined to contribute since they lacked data relating to cyber-crime’s impact on pay TV. Perhaps that’s not surprising. Incidents of fraud have historically been hard to track, not least because organisations are understandably reluctant to publicly divulge theft unless forced to.
The Ponemon Institute, which carries out an annual study across major economies and industries including healthcare, technology and retail, states in its June 2017 edition that the average consolidated cost of a data breach is US$3.62 million.
It found that the country with the highest cost, both per record and per incident, was the US whereas the countries with the lowest cost per record and per incident were Brazil and India. It found that the average size of a data breach – the number of records lost or stolen – increased 1.8% over the last year.
Another study by the same group examined reputation and share value and found that the average drop in stock price on the day the breach is announced is 5%, that companies lost on average 7% of their customers and that 31% of consumers discontinue their relationship with the company following a breach. “There’s no reason to suppose these figures are markedly different when applied to pay TV operators,” says Rik Turner, principal analyst, infrastructure solutions, Ovum.
Other surveys have shown that DDoS attacks are the most common form of attack suffered by media companies of all sizes. A study showed that the cost of such an attack can be US$40,000 per hour. The cost of a full data breach could certainly be far more significant than that in bad publicity, retrospective remediation actions required following a breach and in increased regulatory fines.
With the advent of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018 those costs could be driven even higher, because sanctions can include a fine of up to Ä10 million or 2% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is greater – far exceeding the current maximum of £500,000 (e545,000).
Norbert Schirmer, VP, business unit end-point security, Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity, likens the scale of cybercrime to that of the global drug trade.
According to the report Secure My Site, over half of media IT execs lose sleep worrying about cyber-attacks. Nearly a third admit to experiencing an attack. And while 61% of CEOs admit concern about cyber security less than half of board members request information about their organisation’s state of cyber-readiness, reports PwC.
“There’s no question that cybersecurity is now at the top of board agendas,” says Mark Harrison, managing director, Digital Production Partnership (DPP). “There is a lot of anxiety about how you achieve it.”
A collection of CEOs and CTOs will convene behind closed doors at IBC to thrash out cybersecurity concerns. “If there is one lesson all companies should [understand] it’s that cybercrime is not an IT problem,” says PwC partner Kris McConkey.
Holistic approach
There is of course no silver bullet.
“No matter what a security vendor will tell you, there is no single piece of software or managed security service that will guarantee and disarm a cyber criminal from breaching your systems,” says Elvidge. “Whether you’re a content owner or SVOD provider, security is a matter of baking security into your corporate culture, along with continually testing and ensuring systems are up to date.”
Broadcasters and pay TV operators “should look strategically across their entire business and devise multi-layered defences that will protect their assets” suggests McKeay. “Particularly when it comes to applications and services – for both internal use and external websites and OTT apps – their data centres and their DNS. Since hackers and malicious users now use many attack vectors – media companies need to be prepared on all fronts.”
He says many organisations have historically viewed security as something to be tacked on at the end of the process – something that is simply icing on the cake, and often more bother than it’s worth.
“This was an acceptable stance to take a decade ago, particularly when targeted attacks were rare and the losses from most attacks were minimal and easily forgotten. But modern attackers are taking a more strategic approach – they’re targeting specific companies, their users and the valuable data they hold,” he says.
In the GoT example, attackers sent a fake email to an executive and when it was opened, the malware contained in the attachment executed. This malware, often called a RAT or Remote Access Tool, enabled the attackers to view and download everything the executive had access to.
Another tactic used by attackers may be to disrupt the bandwidth needed to serve up the content for high-speed users. According to McKeay, “If an attacker can produce an attack that causes buffering for the end user by tying up the network of the provider, they can cause significant complaints from the user base and the ratings of the provider takes a hit.”
Ransomware, in particular, plays a large role in attacks on sensitive data. Ransomware encrypts computer files and, in principle, encrypts the contents of a file so that it cannot be opened without a key that correctly decrypts the file. A ransom must be paid to receive the key. Once malware has infected a computer, it can spread to other devices in the network and completely cripple operations.
“Attacks such as WannaCry and Petya have changed the game by using ransomware, which usually extorts funds, as a cover,” says Schirmer. “This is evidenced by the fact that Petya erases portions of the hard drive instead of blocking access, and that the hackers proved to be very negligent in collecting their ransoms.” Schirmer calculates that around 360,000 new viruses are discovered daily. In the first three days after discovery, 27% of malware remains undetected. “This means that attackers have already infected many thousands of devices before they are discovered and stopped,” he says. “New types of attacks, called zero-day exploits, exploit security gaps before they can be found and closed. Antivirus software programmes have no chance of warding off these attacks.”
Verimatrix is concerned that certain service providers collect data without understanding how it should be used – or how it should be protected.
“If data is being aggregated that isn’t going to provide any value, it should be deleted before it has the chance to become a liability,” says CTO Petr Peterka. “There are various rules and guidelines in place about how data can be used and when it needs to be anonymised. These are new considerations that service providers didn’t need to understand or address just a few years ago.”
Verimatrix claims to be the first company to offer fully integrated encryption, key management and watermarking solutions for both managed and unmanaged networks. Its capabilities for video tracking and forensic identification offers protection for high-value content such as UHD, early release VOD and live content.
“The toolbox includes VideoMark client-side and StreamMark server-side offerings for forensic tracking, through which Verimatrix equips service providers with a range of more flexible anti-piracy tools and deployment options that they need to secure and monetise the latest premium content services and delivery methods,” says Peterka.
R&S’s Schirmer advocates what he calls proactive solutions. For example, by using trusted virtual domains, the production servers that contain films can be isolated from the regular Office IT and better protected.
Isolating servers
“It is also important that products are developed based on the Security by Design principle, where security is an explicit requirement in the development process and holistic security measures are taken into consideration, implemented and tested at all stages – starting with product inception,” says Schirmer. “Beyond isolating production servers, proactive solutions can and must be implemented.”
The virtual browser is an example of a security solution that does not react to an attack and instead proactively keeps it from reaching the IT system. Around 70% of malware enters the network via browsers. Strict isolation is used to decrease the range of targets.
“Browsing takes place in a virtual browser that is hermetically isolated from all other applications and data, making corporate data invisible to an attack such as ransomware,” he explains. “Viruses, Trojans and similar malware remain enclosed in this environment and cannot spread to the computer or local network. Attacks on the Windows host system fail, regardless of the type of attack. If malicious code corrupts the browser, the virtual browser environment simply restarts and is immediately virus-free and ready for use.”
New firewall technologies should also be employed. Conventional firewall technologies use blacklists that block only data packets that have known attack patterns, which Schirmer says is useless against new and unknown attacks. “More effective are next generation firewalls whose new technologies proactively inspect data packets,” he says. “Packets are allowed to pass only if they can identify themselves as friendly. All others, including unknown data packets, are rejected.”
Pre-empting potential threats is also hugely valuable, and allows platform builders to take a proactive approach to prevention.  The key here, according to Oggel, is understanding the threat landscape, from the evolution of piracy to how hackers are using increasingly sophisticated attacks to target networks and data theft.
“This is a major challenge for service providers, as the main piracy threat has shifted from control word sharing to content redistribution and the increasing use of illicit streaming devices and pirate plug-ins.  Meanwhile, hackers are evolving their attacks from tactics like phishing, to gain credentials, to using WiFi to steal credentials via Evil Twin attacks. Working with a security partner who has expertise in both the media industry to protect content as well as really understanding cybersecurity is what’s needed. That blended knowledge is key.”
One of the most dangerous situations is when an operator decides to connect devices that were never designed to be robust against network attacks. This applies to both headend components as well as client devices such as STBs. Conax gives the example of retro-fitting network capabilities in vulnerable STBs that may not only expose the operator to be held ransom in the face of a DoS attack, but could equally provide an attacker the entry point into a household network.
“This is why the Conax STB security evaluation has for some time now reported network attack robustness as a separate security level so as to raise awareness to operators that security threats to a STB population encompasses more than simply content protection,” says Anders Paulshus, security development director.
Although the valuable content within MAM systems will often reside in a different part of the organisation than billing and subscriber data, the connected nature of many networks means that breaching one area might lead to lateral movement to the other.
Personnel breaches
“Some operators are enacting similar types of controls to banks and standards like PCI-DSS – mandated by credit card companies for anyone handling card data – are in many ways helping to focus minds,” says Elvidge. “The main issue is that many operators leave much of the payment taking to third parties and although their brands are attached to this process, they may not be directly hands-on. For operators in this situation, it is a case of holding feet over the fire of the financial service providers and getting them to show how they are maintaining operational security and to what standards they are compliant against.”
According to recent DBIR research, a quarter of all breaches involve an ‘internal actor’, underlining the need to train staff and place controls that ensure only the right people have access to content.
Steve Plunkett, chief technology officer, broadcast and media services, Ericsson, says: “Many of the recent high profile attacks have originated inside organisations’ digital perimeter on compromised machines, often the result of phishing attacks where users unwittingly installed malicious software on their PCs by interacting with nefarious emails purporting to be from trusted sources.
Operators can take as holistic an approach as they want but even that may not be enough. Conax warns that ‘housejacking’ could be the next big threat to pay TV.
“While pay TV operators are taking measures to protect their content, they may not be aware that today’s new generation of pirates also have additional goals for hacking than getting hold of an operator’s premium content,” says Paulshus. “The IoT and connected nature of all we own increases hackable IP addresses. DDoS attacks present new threat for operators as hybrid STBs may present attractive vehicles to access connected homes based on ‘always on’, internet-based services.”
Hackers exploiting unsecured hybrid STBs may aim to install malware to take control of the STB, or as a platform for attacking other devices in the home.
Everything with an internet connection can be compromised: lights, credit card details stolen, webcams, electronic signatures for automatic garages to gain access to the home.
“Hacking connected devices such as hybrid STBs is easy and inexpensive to carry out, and a high level of knowledge about hybrid STBs is not necessary to compromise them,” Paulshus says.
“Hacking kits and malware created by advanced hackers are available on forums for use by anyone who can follow a set of instructions. As these hacks become more frequent, the general public’s interest in security will grow and, eventually, they will demand that IoT suppliers implement the necessary precautions to ensure that their private information is kept safe.”
Separation technologies can help secure hybrid STBs by preventing malicious apps and malicious software from attacking the security core of the STB.
Qvest reports that the incorporation of security concepts as a part of RFP requirements as steadily increasing.
“We advise operators and suppliers to take a three-step approach to protect their companies against cyber threats,” says Nöthen. “The first is to perform a comprehensive assessment of cybersecurity postures of their infrastructures. The assessment will lead to the development of a determined strategy to improve cyber security postures by adding network security devices and layers as well as further network protection measures. Lastly, the set-up of a security operation centre is needed to actively monitor threats. Alternatively, media companies can commission managed security service provider that offer 24×7 security monitoring.”
While nothing will cast-iron guarantee content against cyberattack or pirated streams, following these best practices for security can reduce exposure.
“Unfortunately, many organisations still don’t recognise cybercrime as it truly is – a competing business entity that continues to grow its illegal offerings,” says Oggel. “Cybersecurity strategies in the pay TV industry must consider a broad range of vulnerabilities. Once organisations and the content production market have made this mind-shift, the more effective the industry will be at recognising and combatting cybercrime.”

IBC 2017: 8K on the horizon, AI and security everywhere

Irdeto blog post 

Here are some key take-aways from IBC 2017.
https://blog.irdeto.com/2017/09/19/8k-on-the-horizon-ai-security-everywhere/
8K approaches normalization.
The security of 4K UHD content is currently high on the agenda of content owners everywhere and 8K is already coming into view on the horizon. After more than a decade of development and regular appearances in IBC’s Future Zone, NHK is approaching the finishing line with its 8K broadcasting system. Japan’s state broadcaster plans domestic transmissions in the format next year ahead of the showcase it will receive at the 2020 Olympics. What is remarkable is not that NHK has built out the production to delivery chain including systems cameras, switchers and compression but how normal the concept of 8K UHD has become. We may not see it in the home worldwide anytime soon, but this looks to be where the industry is headed.
Security top of the agenda.
High profile hacks and the continued threat to pay TV revenues by redistribution of live streams has ensured security remains a major point of discussion. Irdeto is taking a lead in this regard with advanced technologies such as watermarking, combined with proactive detection and enforcement services. At IBC, Irdeto announced that its Cloaked CA solution has completed a rigorous review against the stringent usage rules for 4K UHD premium content included in the Farncombe Security Audit.
Irdeto is also advancing secure pay TV experiences by integrating its TV Cloaked CA solution directly into Vestel’s 4K TVs to securely deliver premium content. It also partnered with MStar, SMiT, TP Vision and Rabbit Labs to support the revolutionary step for the CI Plus standard and allow for worldwide reach with USB CAM. Meanwhile Tata Sky chose Irdeto to secure its new OTT service with Irdeto.
AI works today.
If the hype around VR has tailed off while commercial models and production issues are worked through, the buzz around Machine Learning and AI appears justified.
There are probably too many companies at IBC badging products as Artificial Intelligence when in truth it is best billed as advanced analytics. Nonetheless, there are genuine applications for AI in media today. These range from pulling insights out of video content, to automatic metadata generation. One critical application is in the rapid and efficient detection and identification of illegally redistributed streams. Irdeto is leading the charge here.
TV OTT convergence.
A friction-free user experience is behind the success of several broadcaster and pay TV operator OTT offerings. Channel 4 and ITV in the UK are building subs to their OTT hubs so much so that half of the ‘live’ views to ITV hit reality show Love Island were through the ITV app. A key reason for this, they say, is that consumers like the TV-like feel of their app and are comfortable knowing there is one place to get the content they want. At the same time, online first players like Facebook want to expand live and original content arguing that they have the built-in communities which broadcasters crave.
It will be interesting to see how all this has developed in time for IBC 2018.

Broadcasters keen to tap into mobile technologies

Cable Satellite International

The BBC is encouraging production teams to go live from Periscope or Facebook as it drives innovation. Irish broadcaster RTE is also encouraging its journalists to use mobile phones as content creation tools.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=%40csi+magazine&form=EDGTCT&qs=PF&cvid=2ea6e2aeb4ba4b37b30881a934e9a7e1&cc=GB&setlang=en-GB&PC=ASTS

Any broadcast organisation that is not in the mobile space at the same time is effectively signing their own death warrant,” declared Glen Mulcahy, head of innovation at Irish broadcaster RTE in a IBC session devoted to live broadcasting yet actually about the huge impact of mobile as both production device and viewing platform.

“Smart phones can be used as a viable content creation tool for broadcast and more and more becoming an actual content platform in its own right,” Mulcahy said. “It’s a layer on top of what we do as traditional broadcasters.”

The BBC recognises this too – but admits it cannot keep pace with the deep pockets and giant technical leaps of in a Google or Facebook.

“On the one hand broadcast engineers are trying to make it cheaper to introduce IP technology and on the other hand there are internet companies pushing cash to build better tools,” said Tim Sargeant, Head of Product, Systems & Services, BBC North. “We can’t keep up technically. We can’t afford it. We are chasing it all the time.”
He said the idea that journalists and production teams can go live from anywhere to Periscope or Facebook is to be encouraged since it is driving innovation.

“The caveat is that we know when people see BBC content on social networks the attribution of that coming from the BBC is low. So, we are driving habits and behaviour away from our platform onto Facebook and the audience is not recognising it as BBC content. The attribution and referral back is low. We don’t tend to get people breaking away from YouTube or Twitter back to the BBC site.”

Irish broadcaster RTE is also encouraging its journalists to use mobile phones as content creation tools.

“For me, mobile journalism is more about leveraging all the different consumer tech devices to tell a great story – including 360 cameras and drones,” said Mulcahy. “It’s about putting the content creator at heart of the story.

He suggested broadcasters could cut news gathering costs – yet deliver more and better content. A typical news crew kit costs 80000 Euros, he said. By contrast a mobile news gathering kit with all the tools for capture, editing and streaming, costs less than 4000 Euros.

Moreover, mobile technology is on a constant incremental curve.

“4K is effectively standard on mobile, HEVC brings efficient compression, Tesla are driving battery research, we have Google and Facebook driving mobile with huge amounts of research and 5G is on our doorstep giving ten times faster speeds. It means 4K to mobile is absolutely viable. Mobile is about to make a substantive jump over broadcast.”
On top of that there is the push into VR and 360 where multi-GoPro VR rigs have been replaced by tools like the Insta360 costing a few hundred Euros.

“Live TV is a fundamentally shared experience,” Mulcahy said. “Mobile is personal, intimate and its niche. Niche is the key opportunity we are missing as broadcasters. By going for the big ‘broadcast’ picture stuff all the time the niche is not being served. But you can do that by sending out a mobile journalist you can tell the story visually well and share it across multiple platforms.”

The BBC is trying to move its live coverage into a world of ad hoc and self-operated streaming by enabling its journalists to stream live from an event and publish online. It now needs to incorporate ideas of discovery, sharing and social “that pushes you beyond what TV and multiscreen can offer” said Sargeant. The BBC is experimenting, it does not have all the answers but as importantly it does not have the cash.

“There is a danger in social media fundamentally doing live better because they are connected to viewer,” he said. “It’s the difference between a presentation and a conversation. We are putting huge amount of effort into that dynamic. It’s about interacting with others and making social a key part of live. Will we catch up with social media giants? No. Do we need to adapt? Yes.”

Avid’s MediaCentral promises to speed up collaborative workflows

RedShark News

With a $500m investment, Avid's new platform agnostic MediaCentral promises big things for collaborative workflows.

https://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/4930-avid’s-mediacentral-promises-to-speed-up-collaborative-workflows

Avid arrived at IBC touting “its largest-ever set of launches”. Its product strategy continues to be one which shifts functionality and services into the Cloud.
Perhaps the biggest thing in Avid’s favour is that its brand offers a familiar and trusted on-ramp for content creators, facilities and broadcasters moving to the cloud.
The company debuted MediaCentral, a suite of tools accessed by browser which promises to help people create, distribute, and manage content using one common platform.
According to Chairman & CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr., Avid has spent half a billion dollars on re-engineering its product for the cloud. He called media and entertainment the most disruptive industry on the planet.
“We’ve not just completed a full transformation, we have created a platform that is flexible and open and agile enough to allow us to move forward.”
The MediaCentral production suite is the company’s centrepiece. It costs from $20,000, includes Media Composer and Nexis storage and has modules and apps for editorial, news, graphics and asset management as well as an array of media services and partner connectors.
Nor is it exclusively an Avid domain. One of those ‘partner connectors’ could be Grass Valley or Adobe, should Premiere be your craft tools of choice.
“MediaCentral delivers a unified view to all media — whether stored on Avid or another platform,” said Hernandez. “The user experience is common for everyone who works in an organisation on any OS and from a tablet or phone and gives a common view into media.” Avid is now rolling out web-based applications like search, edit, logging and publishing.
Media Composer is now a browser-based interface with media stored in the cloud for users to access from the desktop. Avid is also enabling remote streaming so that journalists (or others) can stream media to the cloud for them or others to work on.
You can get a version of Media Composer for free. Since July, when Media Composer First became available, some 60,000 people have downloaded it, according to Avid. It now includes 360 editing capability using Boris’ Mocha plugin.
In April, at NAB, Avid talked up its vision for bringing Avid into the cloud along with a comprehensive partnership with Microsoft as its preferred cloud provider.
Since then, informed Dana Ruzicka, VP and chief product officer, “the reaction from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. The move to the cloud is imminent for almost all of our customers — but it’s not a lift and shift. It’s an evolution based on their business needs. This really is the beginning of the cloud era for our industry.”
ProTools, news workflows and archiving are already available via Azure. Avid is also allowing users to tap into Microsoft’s machine learning tools— for example, facial recognition and social media analytics. Other services available from the Avid interface running on Azure include transcoding.
A partnership with AJA Video has yielded Avid Artist | DNxIV, a new hardware interface option for Media Composer. It’s a Thunderbolt 3 capture and output device which offers 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 I/O connectivity with audio and 4K/UltraHD support up to 50p/60p frame rates.
The DNxIV is similar to AJA’s newly announced Io 4K Plus, but built to Avid’s specifications adding a built-in audio input for an analogue microphone on the front of the device. AJA’s tech facilitates real-time high-quality scaling of 4K and UHD to HD for monitoring and output. DNxIV also includes an additional Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy-chaining to other Thunderbolt device

ITV and Channel 4 Tout Value of OTT

Streaming Media

UK commercial broadcasters ITV and Channel 4 are growing online audiences with an approach that adheres closely to the traditional TV experience—and think that SVOD giants will follow suit.
http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/IBC-17-ITV-and-Channel-4-Tout-Value-of-OTT-120522.aspx

Traditional TV is at a cross roads. Audiences to linear channels remain huge, yet broadcasters also have a large and growing online audience online to service. Handling the balance between online and traditional audience is critical—and two UK broadcasters are finding that eschewing the presentational approach of Netflix and Amazon is paying dividends.
"Increasingly we should look at TV as the paradigm for OTT rather trying to recreate VOD services," Faz Aftab, director, commercial technology and operations online for ITV told the IBC Conference. "SVOD services (like Netflix) want do live. They want to release weekly episodes or and launch goldmine sports or live services. They are trying to come closer to where we are and we are trying to build and enhance what we do incredibly well. The appointment to view phenomena is far from over."
Aftab pointed to viewing figures for recent hit reality show Love Island, which attracted half of all live views online.
"The programme started on the linear channel at 9 p.m., and we saw traffic begin to soar on our app at 8:55 pm. People were tuning in on Android, iOS, PCs and Macs. It's not the kind of programme a young audience will want to view in front of mum and dad on the main screen, but it is appointment to view."
ITV Hub, the broadcaster's online portal, has 20 million regular users.
"We've tried to stay closer to live TV and not go to the SVOD paradigm," Aftab said. "We're trying to make VOD possible on TV viewer's terms. We can drive audiences of 6 to 11 million [on linear] and we know it is working for our on-demand series. It is the contextual setting which is different to watching on the main channel."
All 4 is Channel 4's VOD proposition, contributing 10% of the broadcaster's revenue. Its head of product, Sarah Milton, concurred: "It may be counterintuitive to watch a linear stream in an app on the TV but it is a trend we are witnessing and we want to enable more of this. The game-changer for online is the ability to restart live in the app."
Both executives attributed a reason for the success of their VOD propositions to using manual curation rather than being dictated to by data.
"You should use data but not in isolation of the vast knowledge we have about how to put quality programming in front of people," said Aftab. "The art of scheduling is trying to get content to a person that they may like but that they have not watched before. As a mass market broadcaster it is individual personalization on a mass scale. We're taking traditional scheduling and blending it with data to help people discover."
Milton explained that All 4's user interface was a blend of pure algorithm with editorial curation. "The optimal combination is human and machine—having a person who adds a narrative to content in context of editorial."
However, neither executive felt that IP video delivery was sufficiently capable yet to take over from broadcast.
"IP is great, but not as great as delivering to a mass audience," said Aftab. "If you need to deliver football to seven million people then IP is going to be creaky."
ITV is reportedly planning to introduce targeted advertising over the next few months. Channel 4 has already done so, and recently added personalized audio ads. Added Milton: "Targeting people in terms of ads sales means we are now making the same revenue per view on All 4 as for any of our linear channels. In theory, we don't mind where the view takes place. In practice that doesn't mean we can yet handle all the traffic over IP."

Facebook Primes Watch for Video Explosion in IBC Keynote

Streaming Media

The social network pitches its new video service as the community-based OTT platform broadcasters have been waiting for.

Facebook is intent on capitalising on exploding video views across its network by experimenting with content that fits its community-based engagement model.

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Facebook-Primes-Watch-for-Video-Explosion-in-IBC-Keynote-120498.aspx
The social network is funding a range of content on its new service Facebook Watch and wants to work with content creators, brands, and broadcasters to learn what best works, explained Daniel Danker, product director at Facebook, delivering the IBC 2017 keynote address. The is similar to the way the company developed Facebook Live.
“Facebook’s viewing behaviour is essentially community driven," Danker said. "We know people experience video through community—they watch with friends, they share and discover video through that community. Video is community-centric.”
Danker refused to comment on when Facebook Watch, which launched in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago, will rollout in Europe.
“We need to see how it’s working in the U.S. Probably we didn’t get it exactly right at first so we need to learn about it from creators and publishers before we bring it to the rest of the world," Danker said. “We are seeding the ecosystem where we think content and community can come together by funding a number of shows that will help us explore that relationship.”
Facebook expects video traffic on the internet to grow from 50 percent to 75 percent by 2022. “That’s a huge amount of data which has a huge impact on the behaviour of viewing.”
Danker shared these online video stats:

• 40 percent of total video viewing on Facebook is driven by people sharing content and not from the original video post.
• One billion people use Facebook Groups each month. “These are people who aren’t necessarily your friends, but you share a connection,” Danker explained. “Increasingly, there are groups built around video.”
• 5 percent of all Facebook Live broadcasts happen inside Groups—and that figure represents 20 percent of all Groups' time on Facebook.
• 1 out of every 5 videos on Facebook is live. In the last year the amount of time people spend watching live video on Facebook has grown four-fold.

Facebook Watch is dedicated to shows, which is a new format for Facebook.
“Content tends to follow a theme or stories over a few episodes,” Danker said. “We see a future where any publisher can make a video and find a loyal audience.”
“The [social media] comments around the show are as important to the experience as the video itself,” Danker said. “We think Watch will become a home to shows from reality to live sports, from self-creators to broadcasters.”
To give one example, La Liga giant Real Madrid has 105 million Facebook followers and has a show on Watch—Hala Madrid—which is a behind-the-scenes (non-live) community promotion for the club.
Danker pointed out that MLB has already aired a number of live games on Facebook, but declined to commit to the company's reported interest in bidding for sports rights such as the EPL. “What is interesting is that community is built into sports. It taps into fandom and national pride. We also see that when you can see comments alongside the game it gives a shared sense experience, knowing that others are connecting is what makes [the event] special," Danker said.

MTG explains its OTT strategy
Sharing the IBC keynote was Kim Poder, executive vice president and CEO of Modern Times Group (MTG) in Denmark. Poder is part of the management team at the Nordic business tasked with overseeing its move “from a traditional broadcaster to a global digital entertainer.”
“Because of [internet connected] technology, the value chain has changed completely, and it changed for us as the gatekeeper," Poder admitted. "[Previously] we didn’t even have to answer the phone [for customers] and we could raise the price every year. Where else were [consumers] going to go?”
But MTG woke up to the OTT threat and set about re-engineering its business to focus on OTT and millennials.
“The good news is that the consumption of video is increasing. It’s just moving from traditional TV into new areas which is what was interesting for us," Poder said. “Instead of only looking at threats we discussed opportunities. What do we need to do to reach out to all these new consumer trends and technologies?”
MTG identified new and fast growing millennial focussed e-sports and gaming “as the new black.” It bought leading e-sports producer ESL in 2015, German games developer InnoGames, and, recently, U.S.-based game developer Kongregate.
“Online gaming is about understanding the distribution and content business which is not that far removed from what we have always done,” Poder said.
MTG has also invested in digital video networks including Splay, the biggest video ad network in the Nordics, and Zoomin, claimed as the biggest video network in Europe—which carries 14,000 social channels and receives 1.4 billion monthly views.
“Everything we do now is about scale,” Poder said. “We are committed to staying relevant in our core business. If you take e-sports, the production is very similar to TV. If you close your eyes (and ignore the gaming) you could be in the Champions League watching Liverpool play Real Madrid.”

Is Housejacking the next big threat to pay TV?

Irdeto - blog post

Cable companies, pay TV operators and telcos are often called service providers for the principal reason that they are not selling media and entertainment – they are selling a service. One of the most valuable assets they hold is a direct physical link into people’s homes and an ongoing monthly billing relationship.  From a pure business perspective that means anything a service provider can leverage to boost bandwidth usage and ARPU is fair game.
https://blog.irdeto.com/2017/09/18/is-housejacking-next-threat-to-paytv/
That includes the washing machine and fridge. It includes lighting control, perhaps even the ability to run a bath at the right temperature to just the right level at just the right time for the owners to arrive home. Obviously, it includes home assistants like Alexa.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is taking off and, by trading on their existing – trusted – relationship with the consumer, media service providers are in prime position to control the gateway to the smart home, in tandem with IoT superglue giants like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Samsung.
But this potentially massive business has its risks. Since any security is only as strong as its weakest link, it is new devices being incorporated into the IoT which are particularly vulnerable.
Criminals could hack a consumer’s connected washing machine. Instead of holding that individual home to ransom (‘pay or you’ll never wash clothes again’) the criminal would be able to hack all models of the same brand and hold the washing machine brand to account. Except that it would be the gateway home service provider which could bear the brunt of consumer anger.
Everything with an internet connection can be compromised, and it’s not as if the consumer is unaware of the risk. Ninety per cent of us think security should be built into connected devices, according to a recent survey by Irdeto.
Pay TV operators can take as holistic an approach as they want with security around their pipe and their STB or modem but if they want to play in the smart home of the future then increasingly this is not enough.
“With increased levels of connectivity to IoT devices, often deployed outside of the security protocols of corporate IT, service providers must now think about the protection, updates and upgrades of IoT devices as a critical part of their overall security strategy,” advises Mark Hearn, director of IoT Security at Irdeto.
“The next generation of Ransomware will be about holding a company’s customers or their brand hostage in the hacker’s hopes of a bigger pay off,” Hearn warns.
To protect against cyberattacks targeting IoT technologies, Hearn points to Irdeto’s Cloakware for IoT as “a battle-proven solution” that protects customers’ IoT applications and connected devices “from reverse engineering, tampering and circumvention and keep hackers and cybercriminals out of their products.”
Trade shows like CES and IFA have long exhibited vast halls of white goods generally bypassed by media executives. Could this have a new relevance for IBC in the future?

Exploring business beyond South Africa

AV Magazine

Market economics is the largest challenge in sub-Saharan Africa where South Africa still dominates, but opportunities will improve as economies continue to prosper.
https://www.avinteractive.com/features/market-sectors/exploring-business-beyond-south-africa-06-09-2017/

Middle Eastern and African professional AV spend will increase by 50 per cent between 2016 and 2022 with revenues topping $13 billion, comprising six per cent of global AV spend. That’s the smallest of the regions analysed in InfoComm’s global report but the relatively high eight percent CAGR obscures a significant sub-regional dichotomy.
Whereas Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) revenues will show a 10 per cent CAGR, and generate $12 billion by 2022, AV value in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will contract by six per cent year-on-year, and fall to a mere $900 million.
This is attributed chiefly to the conflict and instability inherent in some countries, notably Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia but also to the reasoned belief that AV in large parts of the continent remains unsophisticated and very much a low-cost market.
There is perhaps little value in treating such a vast region as one market. Around 46 of Africa’s 54 countries are understood by the UN as being sub-Saharan, with different cultures, often with different languages, different import laws and currency issues.
“The wider market in Africa is always uncertain as influenced by politics, red tape, (lack of) trust and dollar exchange rates, and so develops often at a slower pace than the market requires,” says Jon Alway, international sales manager, B-Tech AV Mounts.
There are signs of improvement, particularly in Western Africa for construction projects where the region is able to exploit natural resources to develop quicker and encourage trade from Europe, Asia and the US.
“Buoyed by imports from the Middle East as well as China the market will continue to develop and potential is definitely there,” says Alway. “It’s still a very immature market currently compared to western European and US markets – incredibly price driven. Cheap local firms have greater success here than in other regions. Plus, there are high import taxes for some products.”
In the western Africa region, fuelled by crude oil exports, Nigeria surpassed South Africa in 2014 as the continent’s largest economy. It also comprises 25 per cent of the total African market and is likely to overtake South Africa in 2018, suggests Alway, although over 65 per cent of the 170 million population live on less than $1.25 per day.
Jo’burg powerhouse
The powerhouse of the SSA is South Africa where the sales channel is very well developed. Professional video in Cape Town, in particular, is doing “exceptionally well” reports Canon due to a very well entrenched market for film and TV production on a local and global scale.
“Projector products sell much better in Johannesburg than anywhere else due to the vast quantity of schools, conference centres and similar types of establishment,” says Roger Machin, product manager Pro Imaging Group.
“Digital signage is expanding rapidly although many of the projects are quite standard 16:9 and not overly adventurous,” says Malcolm Finlay, ceo, Penmac Audio Visual Solutions, Dataton’s distributor in sub-Saharan Africa. “The more interesting applications are often found in South Africa which tends to act as a powerhouse, or leader, in implementing new technology.”
Johannesburg is South Africa’s, therefore the continent’s, financial hub. “The bulk of opportunities, budgets and modernisation are here,” says Gary Davies, regional sales manager, Exterity. “The skillsets and understanding of AV is very strong. At the moment, I’d say there’s greater development in this part of South Africa than anywhere in Europe.”
Exterity’s key focus in the city is banking. Investec, a major Exterity client, has its global HQ there. “Banks are looking to drive into the IP world and have a strong appetite for investment in IT,” he says. “There’s a big push toward distributing realtime video for streaming corporate announcements around regional offices here in Africa and branches in the US, Asia and Europe.”
It should be noted that the RSA is currently in a technical recession with three official ratings agency downgrades. Growth countries outside this include Botswana, a politically stable country with reasonably strong exchange; and Ethiopia where Powersoft distributor Surgesound reports numerous requests for high end AV equipment.
“Mozambique shows positive growth, the Seychelles is potentially a great opportunity within tourism and Mauritius has very favourable tax incentives for business and a flourishing economy,” says Surgesound managing director, Andrew Rowan. “Nigeria is a massive economy, with potential for huge growth, however a knowledge of how business works within the country is essential.”
Exterity is looking to move into other verticals with hospitality next on the list. Many locations in the region are either very popular conference venues or tourist destinations, reflected in the AV solutions deployed.
“Mauritius combines the two sectors, as it is both a tourist magnet and hosts a high volume of larger conferences,” informs Finlay. “Namibia is also a strong conference destination with a lot of solid, quality AV work. In Jo’burg and Cape Town, live events predominate right now, although Cape Town has a growing tourist industry which should benefit the AV installation sector. Port Elizabeth and Durban are up-and-coming as live event locations. What’s also interesting to see is how other countries, such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe are now more actively pushing tourism. This should boost the AV installation and experience markets there.”
Dylan Finlay, Penmac’s technical director points out that Botswana also hosts lots of live events, such as the recent World Netball Youth Cup in Gabarone. Machin reports pro video growing in Zimbabwe and Zambia, but not in Mozambique or Namibia. “Projector products are not moving in these markets at all due to massive amounts of no-name brands at ridiculously low prices dominating all the markets we try to enter,” he says.
Education is perhaps the main challenge with knowledge levels of many local AV installation companies low. “Needs and costs and brand advantages are not known,” advises Machin. “Everything pretty much boils down to lowest cost per product with maximum advertised spec.”
He reports that when trying to sell projectors into most SSA markets, most establishments will have an IT person responsible for AV needs. “Unfortunately, these people do not have a good understanding with regard to lumens, contrast ratio, throw distance, among other features. They are normally tasked with getting a maximum number of projector products for the lowest cost – especially in schools. They will often take advice from retail store staff or from IT installation companies that perform cable installations and ceiling mounts as an add-on service to setting up network servers and cabling. This often ends up with school halls having SVGA level models with lower than 3,000 lumens to show to rooms full of hundreds of people.”
By European or US standards, the wider SSA channel would be considered to be “highly undeveloped,” says Rowan. “Marketing is essentially word of mouth, website, social media marketing.”
Alway says the biggest challenge is finding reliable system integrators and an AV channel in the market: “They are not able to achieve high margins as they did in the past. Customers are also not able to identify or do not take accountability by ensuring that the products they have spec’d are being installed. Low quality replacement products are put in place and below standard installations are taking place.”
There is no AV governing body in most countries to regulate this, although SACIA (the Southern African Communications Industries Association, based in South Africa) is trying to bring this together.
Digital Out Of Home is the strongest vertical for Daktronics due to investment from major players in the out-of-home market driving growth. “We’ve not experienced demand for LED displays in retail or other market verticals to the same extent we have elsewhere,” says Ben Aesoph, regional sales manager.
Nigeria has invested in much larger displays and systems than other countries in this region, according to Aesoph. “The investment they’ve been willing to commit is the most distinctive characteristic of this area. Most other countries are investing in smaller more standardised solutions.”
Indeed, the challenge for Daktronics is less about market education and understanding and more tied to economics and whether the market can provide positive returns on the investment. “Some countries have very high expectations and are very sophisticated while others have more tempered expectations, mostly tied to internal economic and political conditions,” says Aesoph.
Exterity identifies the continent’s eastern seaboard as one to watch. “We are honing in on Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya,” says Davies. “The skills base in Nairobi in some cases may be better than SA.”
It is Rwanda surprisingly which is showing most ambition. Thriving on a stable government after decades of civil war, the country wants to become the Dubai of Africa and is pouring in investment to entice international companies. This includes a $13.5 billion (£8.4 billion) railway project linking the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
“Whether it gets to that level remains to be seen but we see a lot of our AV partners getting involved in projects on the eastern side of Africa,” says Davies.
Local support is often essential in SSA. “The region we serve is vast so it makes a huge difference in time and effort to clients or companies if they can reach out to someone in South Africa, rather than dealing with suppliers in Europe or the US,” says Malcolm Finlay.
“We also maintain visibility and keep in touch with customers by exhibiting at industry events such as Mediatech in Johannesburg.”
Obviously, there are some common factors: customers, like everywhere else, are internet-savvy and know what is happening in the industry. Quite often solutions will also develop and mature in South Africa and then spill over into other countries.
“It’s important to understand the particular technical characteristics within the region,” says Dylan Finlay. “In some countries, supplying a system for an event is just a matter of sending an operator and a machine. At other locations, the same event requires a full turnkey solution because the technical infrastructure is not in place. We find that our role as distributor often has a broader definition, even including educating on adjacent technology.
It may be obvious, but unlike Europe, SSA is not densely populated with suppliers.
“You can’t always be sure you’ll be able to obtain spares or new gear when you need it,” he says. “When you take technology into this region, you need to make sure you are equipped with spares for backup yourself.”
“The biggest opportunities are for skilled users who are able to transfer their knowledge,” adds Malcolm Finlay. “There is a huge potential for educators and tech-savvy users, which is one reason we invest in training for users.”