Disassociative Identity Disorder Good for IPTV

OK. Let’s get our Freud on and play free association. Don’t worry, there is nothing phallic or incestuous in telecom — except perhaps for those awesome microwave towers. No, we’re not getting that much of our Freud on. I’ll give you a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind.

Here is your first word: TelcoTV

I bet you’re thinking of FiOS or maybe U-verse or Snooki. But I bet you’re not thinking of BSS or OSS. 

Don’t worry. You’re not alone. One look at the exhibitor list confirms that the back office doesn’t get much of a shake there. But it does get some.

CHR Solutions, for instance, announced a new integration platform for Microsoft Mediaroom at the TelcoTV event this week. (We actually wrote about it in a report that came out last week called “The Back Office Takes Its Turn in the IPTV Life Cycle.") IPTV isn’t new technology, but announcements like this tell you that it is mature enough that operators are beginning to look past the reach and the features and functionality to begin concentrating on the overall IPTV experience. And this experience will include the smooth, error-free fulfillment of customizable services.

A lot of work has gone into integrating Microsoft Mediaroom into the network. CHR is taking steps to ensure it can be as easily integrated into the back office. Media(n) is CHR’s IPTV interface solution that synchronizes the IPTV ecosystem, including Mediaroom, to back-office operations. It is an order-to-cash solution that leverages automated provisioning, device management, service order management, subscriber management, event management and credit-limit management.

Freud would call this transference, but like he was about so many things, he would be wrong. To him, transference is the unconscious transfer of feelings about someone or something in the past to something or someone in the present — often an inappropriate transfer. This transference from a network focus to an enablement and monetization focus is both appropriate and conscious.

Here is our second word: longevity.

A Freudish word if I ever heard one, this may conjure thoughts of Freud himself who lived to the ripe old age of 83. No big deal today, but 150 years ago the prospects weren’t that good. What you might not think of is TelcoTV itself. The show is already in its 10^th year. Happy Anniversary.

Our final word is: television.

Real Freud fans might first think of the boob tube. But more people would think of “living room," “couch," “antenna," “big screens" and “wall-mounted units." Well not for long. Much of the talk at TelcoTV this week was on the disassociation of television with such words. Television, or TV, may become an irrelevant term soon anyway, but in the meantime it is the best we have. However, it is no longer a home-bound system. The TV content we are familiar with has gone rogue. Consumers are demanding it on all platforms, many of which are mobile: smartphones, tablets, laptops.

This will require some sophisticated magic on the technology side, but it will require equally magical solutions from the back office. In years 11 and 12 of TelcoTV, I expect CHR Solutions will feel less lonely at the conference as more and more discussion turns to software solutions.

E-mail me at tmcelligott@vpico.com or click on the comment button below.