August 6, 2007
Volume 18, Issue 9
Music Sharing Hits All-Time High
Excerpted from PC Pro Report by Simon Aughton
Unauthorized music downloading is at an all-time high and set to rise further, according to a report out this week.
In its annual Digital Music Survey, research firm Entertainment Media Research found that unlicensed music file sharing remains widespread, despite concerted attempts to curb it. Of the 1,700 people questioned, 43% said that they are downloading music using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, up from 36% last year.
The rise coincides with declining growth in digital music sales and the failure of legal threats to act as a deterrent to sharing. Only 33% said that the risk of prosecution was a deterrent, down from 42% in 2006.
The survey also revealed that 18% of respondents intended to download more unauthorized tracks, up from 8% in 2006.
Digital Rights Management (DRM), on the other hand, does not appear to have a significant effect. Of those surveyed, 37% had never heard of it and only 12% said they know exactly what it means. Nonetheless 39% said that they would be happy to pay "a little extra" for DRM-free tracks.
The report concludes that to increase demand for commercial downloading, the music industry needs to consider introducing differential pricing. It said 84% of consumers agreed that older digital downloads should be cheaper and 48% claimed they would be prepared to pay more for newly-released tracks.
Social Networking Plays Increasing Role
Excerpted from Telegraph Report by Ben Bland
Unauthorized music downloads have reached an all-time high just as the growth of online social networking has shifted the epicenter of the music industry away from the major record labels, according to a new study.
The 2007 Digital Media Survey revealed that the popularity of social networking websites such as MySpace and Bebo is helping to "democratize" the music industry as more young people discover new music online instead of via the radio or music television.
Of the 1,700 13-60 year-olds questioned, 86% have used a social networking site this year, up from 74% in 2006. Four out of every ten social network users have music embedded in their personal profiles, rising to 65% among teenagers.
Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research, described this phenomenon as "the democratization of the music industry."
"Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover, purchase, and use music," he said. "The dynamics of democratization, word-of-mouth recommendation, and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward-thinking businesses."
At the same time, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the growth of authorized downloads, with the number of downloaders of licensed music growing by just 15% this year, compared to 40% in 2006.
"There has been a significant increase in the preparedness to download unauthorized music by teenagers and people in their 20s," he added.
With margins on CDs declining while the growth of licensed downloads slows and copyright infringement rises again, the music industry is under pressure to find better ways to distribute its content.
John Enser, head of music at Olswang, said, "The music industry needs to embrace new opportunities being generated by the increasing popularity of music on social networking sites. Surfing these sites and discovering new music is widespread with the latest generation of online consumers, but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier to encourage sales and develop this new market."
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 We renew our call to leaders of the music industry to collaborate with members of the distributed computing industry on commercial solutions that take full advantage of the potential of P2P and social networking distribution.
According to comScore, MySpace now attracts more than 114 million visitors each month, representing a 72% increase from a year ago, while Bebo has grown 172% to more than 18 million monthly visitors.Facebook has experienced the strongest category growth during the past year: 270% to 52 million global visitors.
As a result, eMarketer has increased its estimate of US ad spending on social networks to $900 million in 2007, up from its previous estimate of $865 million.
And, as previously reported, according to the NPD Group, the number of music files downloaded using P2P software – 5 billion – grew 47% during the past year, dwarfing that from paid download sites by an order of magnitude. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) puts the ratio at 20-to-60 times more music being redistributed via P2P than by all other online methods combined.
It has become increasingly evident during the year that total P2P and social networking music revenue could increase enormously, with content still by-and-large free to consumers, if major and independent labels would license a critical mass of popular and emerging music for ad-supported P2P and social networking distribution industry-wide and support a displacement initiative such as the one outlined below.
This would not foreclose the possibility of then layering premium subscription offerings and paid downloads as tiered services on top of ad-supported offerings to further increase revenue, but would satisfy consumer demand and expectation for choice and convenience of a broad selection of free digital music options, and therefore have a greater likelihood of success than many alternatives, including the much less popular offerings to date that are not based on P2P or social networking.
Reducing infringement clearly remains a priority, with the most promising approach one that would accompany an industry-wide initiative to displace unauthorized versions of copyrighted music with licensed ad-supported versions of such works massively seeded into the channel at the head of search results across all P2P networks and similarly infused into social networks. This can be readily accomplished now using available and affordable technology.
This approach would involve the optimization of protection technologies at the file level, filtering at the client level, and forensics at the network level – the three "Fs" that are needed to operate in tandem in order to secure the P2P and social networking distribution channel.
For new content, the greatest promise lies in digital watermarking, and for legacy content, acoustical fingerprinting should play a parallel role.
In the analog world, the record industry makes payments for shipping costs to entities which transport CDs from manufacturers to retail outlets, and pays shelf-stocking fees to retailers for in-store placement-and-promotion. In short, in the highly mature CD distribution channel, each participant in the value chain is compensated for its contribution to the secure delivery of product to the end user.
In the P2P and social networking distribution channel, that is not yet the case. While P2P software developers and distributors are finally emerging in consumer-facing roles comparable to that of CD retailers, ISPs are also clearly part of the digital conduit of music to the consumer, but have neither clearly defined commercial responsibilities nor compensation mechanisms such as CD transporters do in the physical realm.
ISPs are uniquely qualified to perform an infrastructure role in the three "Fs" of P2P content security (file protection, client filtering, and network forensics) with their combination of ubiquitous data delivery systems and off-premises facilities.
Working with router manufacturers, for example, ISPs could install and maintain P2P protocol traffic-metering services at each point-of-presence (POP) to help ensure the integrity of copyrighted music files and their usage rules. For this they would be compensated with a percentage of each consumption transaction whether monetization takes place through advertising, subscription, paid download, or other means of revenue generation.
The DCIA, which has examined additional alternatives for potential ISP participation in what promises to be a very robust commercial marketplace for content delivery via P2P and social network file sharing, is willing to serve as a forum to further explore such private sector conflict resolution.
We encourage qualified music industry leaders and ISPs to work with us to help complete the work to define missing parts of this, the most productive and efficient channel available for distributing copyrighted music. We will continue to reach out to these entities and urge all interested and qualified parties to reciprocate by contacting us for more information.
There is the real possibility for exponential growth in commercial development of the P2P and social networking distribution channel, with revenue finally approaching the pace of this medium’s continually expanding consumer adoption, advertiser acceptance, and technological advancement.
Key to continued progress will be practical recognition by major music companies of the realities of both the online consumer marketplace and file-sharing technologies, and the potential advantages available to rights holders based on fully embracing and harnessing this most widely accepted and uniquely efficient distribution channel. Share wisely, and take care.
Facebook Blinks on Music App
Excerpted from NY Post Report by Brian Garrity
Red-hot social networking service Facebook has pulled the plug on a popular music application in a bid to avoid legal problems with the recording industry.
The third-party feature, called Audio, allowed users to upload music playlists that other users could listen to on a streaming basis, but not download. It wasn’t licensed by labels and publishers.
Analysts called it a looming litigation and cost headache for the company.
While no lawsuits had been filed by the recording industry against the service, playlist swapping on Facebook didn’t go unnoticed by the major labels. A source at one label alleged the company was engaging in "massive infringement."
Facebook’s move comes as labels are moving aggressively to force Web 2.0 companies to share revenues from music-related audio and video offerings. MySpace, Grouper, Bolt, and Imeem have all been sued or threatened with litigation by the major labels for not seeking proper licenses for ad-supported music and video services.
Whether or not Facebook brings back a similar music offering remains to be seen. With more than 26 million unique visitors in the US, according to comScore, analysts said yesterday that the company is likely to come back with a music feature that ensures payment to record companies.
P2P Takes Two SourceForge Awards
Excerpted from Slyck.com Report by Thomas Mennecke
As it currently stands, P2P-related applications are among the most popular projects on SourceForge, the leading developer community forum dedicated to the furtherance of open source projects. The top three SourceForge projects are Azureus, eMule, and Ares Galaxy.
It’s not surprising, therefore, that P2P technology made an impressive impact on the annual SourceForge Community Choice Awards. Last year, the popular BitTorrent client Azureus won best overall project.
This year, two file-sharing projects made top honors at SourceForge’s annual Community Choice Awards. eMule took the Best New Project award for demonstrating the most potential for greatness.
Azureus took top honors for Most Collaborative Project for being most likely to accept developer patches and value their input.
The Globe is Going Online
Excerpted from eMarketer Report
The worldwide online population will grow to 1.5 billion by 2011, from 1.1 billion in 2006, according to JupiterResearch‘s "Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2006 to 2011: Emerging Economies Catalyze Future Growth" report. The growth will put 22% of the world’s population online in 2011.
Brazil, Russia, India, and China are expected to account for most of the growth. This is mainly because the online populations of the US, Canada, Japan, and Western Europe are already mature.
North America’s share of the worldwide online population is actually expected to shrink to 17% by 2011, down from 21% in 2006.
Vikram Sehgal, Research Director at JupiterResearch, said, "In China and India, increased infrastructure development and relatively higher purchasing power from rapid growth of gross domestic product (GDP) will coincide with increased consumer adoption of the Internet through 2011."
eMarketer’s Internet population estimates put the industrialized countries of the Asia-Pacific region on top of the world in penetration rates. Over 70% of South Korea’s population uses the Internet, and rates are not much lower in Japan and Australia. Both Canada and the US have Internet penetration rates of around 63%, while the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain have all yet to hit the 60% mark.
Morgan Stanley estimated in November 2006 that there will be over 1.34 billion Internet users worldwide in 2007. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a long-standing benchmark for such data, put the total for 2005 at 964 million, only slightly less than Morgan Stanley’s 1.04 billion estimate for the same year.
Reflecting this broad consensus from key sources, eMarketer puts the total number of Internet users worldwide at 1.1 billion in 2006 and 1.3 billion in 2007.
"If only the definition of an ‘Internet user’ were uniform across the world," said Ben Macklin, Senior Analyst at eMarketer. "Unfortunately each country defines an Internet user differently."
"For example," Mr. Macklin said, "some research agencies define an Internet user as someone who uses the Internet once per month, others once per week. Some include just users over 14 years of age, some over 3 years of age. Gauging an accurate measure of an Internet audience is still an inexact science."
For a country-by-country view of Internet growth, read the eMarketer Worldwide Internet Users: 2005-2011 report.
Call to Legalize File Sharing for Personal Use
Excerpted from BlogNation Report by Amanda Lorenzani
Marco Beltrandi from the Italian political party Rosa nel Pugno has this week called for the legalization in Italy of P2P file sharing for personal use.
Beltrandi said, "Our laws today are seriously unbalanced in favor of security, which is sacrificing the liberty to access content and information. There is a risk that copyright, which guarantees innovation and social and economic progress, will in some cases deny freedom and distribution of work, ideas, and content."
Beltrandi went on to explain, "It has been proven that free sharing of online content does not damage the copyright holder. On the contrary, in some cases it actually sparks a desire for culture which has a positive effect on the market. A recent survey from Anica, as an example, showed that those using file sharing are more likely to go to the cinema in comparison with the rest of the population."
If you want to find out more, the full proposal will be available in Italian on the Camera dei Deputati website shortly. A timely topic area to be covering at the moment, particularly with the imminent autumn arrival of QTRAX, the advertising-supported P2P music distribution model which has already signed deals with Universal, Sony/BMG, Warner Music Group, The Orchard, EMI Music Publishing and EMI Music, as well as numerous independent labels.
DRM Solutions to Grow despite DRM-Free Music
The recent "DRM-free" music tracks that were announced by Apple and Amazon do not herald the death of digital rights management (DRM), reports In-Stat. Instead, the DRM-free model will likely be viewed as a music industry-only experiment, albeit one that will be closely monitored to see if a viable business model emerges, the high-tech market research firm says.
The amount of digital content flowing over telecommunications networks is enormous and growing. Much of this content is already protected by some type of DRM or content protection scheme. As the creation of digital content expands, it is, in turn, fueling demand for more DRM solutions and content protection technologies.
Recent research by In-Stat found that forensic DRM technologies, which are used to identify actual end-users of digital content, will see much wider usage in the future.
A significant percentage of US consumers remain ignorant about DRM. In a recent In-Stat survey of US consumers, over 40% of respondents stated that they were not familiar with the term "Digital Rights Management." However, DRM is a familiar topic for a growing number of consumers.
Forty-five percent of the same survey respondents stated that they had either purchased or used some type of media product with integrated DRM or content protection technology.
The research, Digital Rights Management Update, examines the current atmosphere surrounding DRM and content protection. It discusses the debate about "fair use" of content vs. copyright infringement, defines DRM and conditional access, and identifies leading vendors and DRM systems. In addition, it presents the findings of a recent US consumer survey about DRM and DRM technologies, and examines key trends that will shape the market over the next 12 months.
BitTorrent Offering May Reshape TV
Excerpted from San Jose Mercury Report by Troy Wolverton
BitTorrent is rolling out a service that could usher in a whole new era of television.
Beginning next month, the San Francisco-based video and media distribution company will offer some of its library of television and feature films - which include titles such as "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "24" - for free as streaming videos, supported by advertising.
While it’s too early to know how consumers will respond to the new service, it and similar offerings on the way from BitTorrent rivals point to a potential revolution in how consumers access television and movies.
That’s because the services are a lot closer to traditional television than previous Internet video offerings, making it more likely they’ll be adopted by viewers.
Instead of having to pay for shows and wait thirty minutes or even hours to download them - like they might have to do with videos from iTunes, say - users will be able to watch them right away at no cost.
Peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) services such as BitTorrent’s have largely been viewed as complementary to existing cable and satellite television services, supplementing them and reaching consumers who don’t subscribe to these services.
But some analysts say offerings such as BitTorrent’s could eventually replace cable or satellite television.
"It’s inevitable that the traditional broadcasting infrastructure will be replaced by Internet infrastructure that’s on demand," said Aram Sinnreich, Managing Partner of Radar Research, a consulting firm that works with media and technology companies.
For all its revolutionary potential, BitTorrent’s service will begin rather modestly. The company plans to quietly roll-out the service starting with its top ten titles.
The company doesn’t plan to officially launch it until sometime in the third quarter, but eventually plans to offer all of the 10,000 videos in its library as streams.
Meanwhile, BitTorrent will be experimenting with how to incorporate advertising into the videos, which will be embedded in Flash windows inside web pages. In addition to ads offering consumers the option to buy a download of the video, the company plans to test displaying watermark logos, as well as showing commercials before, after, and in-between the videos.
BitTorrent’s streaming service is only the latest development in the fast moving world of digital video. Start-up P2PTV company Joost is already beta-testing a similar streaming service with video from CBS, Sony Pictures Television, and other providers.
Netflix got into the game earlier this year with a service that allows subscribers to watch streams of movies on their PCs rather than having a DVD sent to their house. Santa Clara-based Vudu is testing out a service that would bypass PCs and stream rented or purchased movies from the Internet directly to a proprietary set-top box.
And that’s not to mention the websites of major networks such as ABC and NBC, which stream recent episodes of many of their current television shows through their websites.
Those streaming services follow the older video download services offered by BitTorrent, Apple’s iTunes music store, Akimbo, and others. The big difference: a streaming video plays almost immediately; downloaded video does not start playing until a sizeable portion of the file is stored on a viewer’s machine.
The promise of such P2PTV services is to offer something that the cable and satellite networks don’t: a universe of content available instantly at the touch of a button.
One of the biggest challenges right now is to get the video off of the PC-based Internet and on to consumers’ big-screen TVs. Apple TV and similar products are attempting to bridge that gap. But home networking technology to tie such devices to PCs are still difficult to set up and often don’t have enough bandwidth to ensure high-quality, high-resolution video.
Another challenge has to do with the licensing of content. Although digital distribution has the potential of offering viewers every video ever produced whenever they want it, today the reality is far from that. BitTorrent, for instance, lacks content from Sony and Disney.
And such companies are going to have to contend with the sometimes arcane rules governing video distribution that determine when and where particular movies and television shows can be shown.
"A lot" of whether P2PTV reaches its promise "is going to come down to licensing and pricing," said Mike McGuire, a media industry analyst for research firm Gartner.
Comcast doesn’t see much of a threat from Internet-delivered video, said Andrew Johnson, a spokesman. Cable companies already provide most broadband connections to consumers’ homes, he noted, so cable companies are poised to continue to be important players even if consumers get rid of their cable boxes.
"Most folks are going turn on their flat screen TV and look for that programming there," Johnson said. "That’s definitely where the consumer seems to be right now."
Microsoft Embraces BitTorrent
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Scott Gilbertson
Microsoft released a beta of Visual Studio 2008 last week and, to go along with it, the company has unveiled a new downloading scheme that sounds a lot like BitTorrent. The Microsoft Secure Content Downloader (MSCD), as the new protocol is known, is what Microsoft describes as "a peer-assisted download manager."
Further details make the setup sound even more like BitTorrent. From the MSCD site: "Each client downloads content by exchanging parts of the file they’re interested in with other clients, in addition to downloading parts from the server. No matter how great the Internet’s demand for the file, you will always be able to make progress downloading. MSCD lets you download content quicker than is possible without peer assistance."
Files are secured through an unspecified mechanism, but otherwise the system sounds like Microsoft has reinvented BitTorrent as a means of downloading software updates. Or at least is testing the system.
Some MSCD clients may be connected to each other via peer connections, forming a "cloud" of clients. Pieces of the file you are downloading are sent through these peer connections among clients, as well as through connections with the file server. As a member of the cloud, your computer both serves as a client and server to other members of the cloud. Data destined for the cloud may be routed through your computer and sent to other cloud members. The other cloud members connected to you will be able to access only pieces of the file you are downloading via MSCD – they have no access to any other data on your computer.
Essentially your bandwidth and connection are being used to distribute Microsoft’s software and it remains to be seen how consumers react to this idea. Is the potential speed boost and shortened download time enough to take the sting off the fact that you’re essentially helping Microsoft cut down on their server costs? Or will consumers revolt as they did when Blizzard released a World of Warcraft patch via BitTorrent?
Pando at Ten Million and Sharing
Pando Networks, a leading P2P content distribution technology developer, has surpassed ten million installations of its free downloadable application whose users download and share large media files. Now averaging more than 40,000 new installations each day, Pando achieved the ten million milestone in only fourteen months.
"We are thrilled to achieve ten million downloads so quickly," said CEO Robert Levitan. "When we launched Pando in 2006, we focused on providing a consumer file-sharing application that integrates with online communication tools such as e-mail, IM, and posting to websites. Now we are ready to help major content companies distribute high quality video more efficiently to all web users."
With its recently announced Pando Publisher, Pando enables commercial content owners and media companies to stream and download full-screen HD quality video to unlimited audiences. For companies distributing video, software or games, Pando Publisher’s web-based media console easily integrates with existing content delivery networks, to improve performance and efficiency while dramatically lowering costs.
With ten million installs, the capacity of the Pando platform has scaled dramatically. Pando transports hundreds of thousands of media deliveries, totaling more than 80 terabytes of data each day.
RawFlow Acquires Aggregator TV
RawFlow, a leading provider of live P2P streaming technologies, has acquired Aggregator TV, a London-based company leading the way in end-to-end video distribution platforms.
Aggregator TV, set up two years ago and funded by Intel, 3i, and Amadeus, developed a foothold in the market by providing a complete video content distribution package. With over 50,000 paid-for subscriptions each month to view specialty programs, this acquisition will be of strategic importance to RawFlow in enhancing its P2P streaming technologies with the ability to introduce micro-payment systems.
RawFlow has bought Aggregator’s entire publishing platform, which will provide capabilities for setting up portals and payment gateways as well as handling billing. Mikkel Dissing, CEO of RawFlow, believes the subscription model is the future of online broadcasting. "We believe that the content management and payment system on the Aggregator platform fits perfectly with the long-term strategy for Selfcast. The premise behind Aggregator was that even small or medium sized content providers should be able to make money from the content they provide; this is the ethos and future of Selfcast also," said Dissing.
Using RawFlow’s unique P2P streaming technology, Selfcast allows anyone at anytime to broadcast live and for-free with only the need for an Internet connection and a webcam.
In order to create broadcasts, a user simply downloads and installs the Selfcast software, which works as a broadcast wizard and encoder for the broadcasts.
This deal will help to propel Selfcast to the next evolutionary stage and further democratize live broadcasting on the Internet removing barriers such as the need for complicated infrastructure and high costs in bandwidth.
True Internet Chooses Oversi for P2P Growth
True Internet, Thailand’s leading Internet service provider (ISP) and one of the fastest growing providers in Asia, is implementing Oversi’s caching and content delivery platform to manage the growing P2P traffic load on its network and optimize the delivery of commercial media content to its customers.
Like many ISPs around the world, True is experiencing a rapid increase in its customer base and P2P traffic per customer. True looked for a scalable system which could optimize network performance, save on international bandwidth, and improve its customers’ experience.
By delivering bandwidth from the cache nearest to the user, OverCache offers optimal performance using less bandwidth, reduced costs, and better quality of service. With its highly scalable grid architecture, OverCache supports unlimited amounts of content - up to hundreds of gigabits per second - and millions of users, reducing the need to buy additional bandwidth. True can control the P2P load simply by scaling up the OverCache system in size in its existing network.
Dr. Viriya Upatising, CTO of True Internet, said, "We find that Oversi’s platform offers us the most effective P2P content delivery platform on the market in terms of scalability, ease of deployment and use, and cost/performance ratio. It also offers us a critical building block for other value-added services, such as premium content delivery, opening up new revenue-generating opportunities."
Dr. Upatising continued, "in view of the network challenges facing us today and in the future, we believe that the Oversi solution is the one we can rely on and grow with."
Joav Avtalion, Chairman & CEO of Oversi, said, "We are delighted that True, one of the earliest adopters of P2P content delivery technology and a technology leader in the region, has chosen the OverCache platform. We’re committed to the continued development of our products to meet the emerging needs of True and other customers worldwide."
BBC iPlayer Launches with VeriSign’s Kontiki
Media consumers throughout Britain now have the chance to enjoy their favorite programs whenever they want with the BBC iPlayer, a new video-on-demand (VOD) player powered by P2P broadband content delivery services from VeriSign, the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world. 120,000 consumers downloaded the BBC iPlayer in its first week of launch.
As part of the launch, the world’s largest broadcaster is now providing UK license fee payers with the custom software application that enables greater flexibility over how and when they access BBC content. The broadcasting giant is making the previous week’s TV and radio content available online for playback on Windows PCs equipped with BBC iPlayer software. After consumers download a program, they have thirty days to view it before the file is automatically deleted. Launched files delete themselves after viewing.
The player leverages VeriSign’s P2P Kontiki Broadband Delivery Service. By allowing users to transparently share content, the P2P architecture of the VeriSign content delivery service lightens the load on servers that otherwise may be overwhelmed by the demands of delivering online video. With VeriSign, BBC iPlayer users can rely on secure and reliable delivery of content, fast video downloads, and high-quality media experiences.
The BBC iPlayer builds on VeriSign’s expertise in delivering content on demand to consumer devices including the PC and mobile phone. VeriSign has also worked closely with Channel 4, the first major broadcaster to make all its content available online, via Sky, and through AOL. Channel 4’s 4oD service enables viewers to use their PCs to catch up on popular TV shows wherever and whenever they want. For Channel 4, the 4oD service engages audiences across multiple devices and creates new revenue streams.
"Groundbreaking services such as BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4’s 40D are defining the ‘Any Era,’ in which consumers are in charge and expect access to information, content, and entertainment any time, anywhere, and via any device," said Todd Johnson, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing at VeriSign. "VeriSign is proud to power the offerings that are shaping this new age. With VeriSign’s Kontiki Broadband Delivery Service, broadcasters and media giants can better engage their audience with loyalty-building services that introduce entirely new revenue streams. And all of it is underpinned by VeriSign’s secure, reliable digital infrastructure."
Joost Vs. Babelgum at Broadcasting 2017
Excerpted from Rapid TV News Report by Chris Forrester
While the BBC this week started beta-testing the corporation’s iPlayer, two well-financed rivals see a different future ahead for "broadcasting."
P2PTV service Joost has ample backing from the duo that created Skype and later sold the low-cost P2P Internet telephony service to eBay for $2.6 billion, and also has 1 million enthusiastic beta-testers currently signed up. It has also secured cash from CBS and Viacom, and content from the likes of MTV. Reports suggest that its TV-like interface is easy to use, and new channels are being added almost weekly. It will go live later this year.
Babelgum, another P2PTV service, is also rapidly assembling programming. It sees the world as its potential customer, satisfying "every niche" no matter how small. While today’s Babelgum is almost all English-language, it has talked of building multi-language content including Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
Both Joost and Babelgum will be arguing their benefits, attractions, and the obvious challenges ahead at the upcoming Broadcasting 2017 event at BAFTA in London on September 27th.
Raketu’s All-in-One P2PTV Box
Excerpted from Daily IPTV Report by David Cotriss
With all the hype surrounding triple- and quad-play services, there’s never a shortage of companies entering this space. One such start-up is Raketu, which combines voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP), Internet protocol television (IPTV), instant messaging (IM), podcasting, and music into one P2P interface. This is one of the few services to add VoIP into the mix.
"Joost and Babelgum are going directly after content owners and broadcasters with an ad-supported P2PTV platform that at first replicates the TV-viewing experience on a PC, then layers on IM, blogging, and presumably VoIP capabilities to create viewing communities so that the content owners can more accurately track what Joost and Babelgum users are watching and, most importantly, what they like or don’t like about the programming," said Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst for Broadband and IPTV at Infonetics Research. "For the advertisers, it provides a fairly unobtrusive platform for getting highly targeted ads in front of a captive audience. Raketu seems to be trying to be all things to all people."
Richard Broughton, Analyst at Screen Digest, elaborated on the challenges of trying to do everything at once. "Raketu offers converged services, including messaging and VoIP with video-on-demand (VOD) and niche channels for viewing on the PC," he said.
"If Raketu had the content, it would pose a threat to the other online TV/VOD services, and maybe in the future it will, but currently it is much more a messaging service than a video one. Content on Raketu is limited for the beta release," added Broughton.
Len Feldman, Director of IPTV Analysis at Multimedia Research Group, added, "Raketu illustrates the challenges of trying to do everything. VoIP and IM aren’t dependent on professional content in order to be appealing, but IPTV is. IPTV requires both very different technology and a very different business model from voice telecom services."
Damaka Launches Mobile P2P Application
Damaka, a fast-growing communications and collaboration software company, has launched the initial release of the industry’s first mobile P2P solution to provide voice, video, and IM. With Damaka’s application, dual-mode phone users with cellular (3G) and WiFi / WiMax connectivity can enjoy live two-way audio and video communications just the way they would enjoy them on a desktop or laptop.
Mobile wireless solutions are becoming an integral part of our day-to-day communications. Worldwide sales of dual-mode (3G & WiFi / WiMax) smart-phones are expected to grow from about 26 million to 189 million between 2007 and 2011 (In-Stat, July 2007). Availability of low cost WiFi access points and the advent of the dual-mode Phone (Cellular – WiFi / WiMax) is changing the mobile computing landscape.
"We are extremely pleased to reach this important milestone of being the first company to truly offer a standards-based P2P collaborative communications application on both the desktop and in the mobile space" said Siva Chaturvedi, CEO of Damaka. The launch of two-way live video for mobile devices by Damaka raises the bar for current operators and solutions providers.
"With continuous improvements in processing capabilities of mobile devices coupled with advanced audio and video compression techniques, we are able to provide real-time P2P communication on mobile devices. The live two-way video on mobile devices will significantly improve the user experience and will change the way communication is conducted in the future," he added.
Damaka mobile applications take social networking to the next level by enabling "Mobile Networked Life."
"The innovations in our mobile solution enable Damaka to deliver complementary products to communicate and share information using any device, any place, any time" said Satish Gundabathula, CTO of Damaka. "This secure pervasive communication and collaboration architecture is key to the overall success of our mobile strategy."
All packets transmitted between peers are encrypted including SIP signaling guaranteeing end-to-end privacy. Damaka’s application is SIP compliant and capable of inter-connecting with any SIP networks in the world. The initial mobile release supports Windows mobile and future releases will also support other operating systems for mobile devices.
The mobile application is device and network neutral. As long as the device meets the hardware requirements, the Damaka mobile application will enable it for two-way live P2P video along with other features. Damaka provides both a standard and customizable user interface (UI) for network operators and enterprise clients.
The initial release on mobile device will support two-way live P2P video, P2P audio, IM, DialOut (calling to PSTN/Mobile), DialIn (calling from PSTN/Mobile), video-mail, and voice-mail. Subsequent mobile application release would also support features like IPTV, Internet radio and file transfer.
GigaTribe Encrypted File Sharing Network
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Eliot Van Buskirk
Sure, you could use YouSendIt to share large files with your friends, and BitTorrent to download stuff from strangers, but if you’d rather set up a private, encrypted file-sharing ring with your friends and family for the purposes of sharing home movies, image zips, and personally-composed-and-recorded music, of course, you might give Shalsoft GigaTribe a try.
This Windows-only application allows you to share the contents of individual folders on your PC with friends in your personal network using Blowfish encryption.
John Carricaburu of Shalsoft claims that, "Since you’re only sharing with people you know, there’s hardly any risk of getting infected or fake files."
Gigatribe, which appears to be free of spyware, adware, and viruses, is free to use, although a premium version ($4/month or $25 for a lifetime subscription) allows you to download more than one file at a time, downloads from multiple sources when possible, and permits you to assign friends varied levels of access to your folders. The new "Peer-to-Web" feature allows you to access folders on your computer from any other PC.
FTI Consulting Reports Record Results
FTI Consulting, the global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance their enterprise value, this week reported its financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2007.
For the second quarter of 2007 the company reported record revenue of $239.7 million, an increase of 50.0 percent from revenue of $159.8 million in the prior year period. Earnings from operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 48.2 percent to a record $50.7 million, compared to $34.2 million in the prior year period.
Commenting on the quarter, Jack Dunn, FTI’s President & CEO, said, "We are very pleased with our second quarter results, as we experienced solid demand in the marketplace driven by expanded emphasis on regulatory enforcement; ongoing issues within the automotive, subprime lending, homebuilding and hedge fund sectors; continuing globalization of capital markets; and both secular and systemic trends towards the further adoption of e-discovery and electronic document management solutions. The success of our core strategy of a balanced global platform that anticipates our clients’ needs was proven effective again in the second quarter. Strong growth across all of our segments, including particularly good performance within our Communications and Technology groups, drove our overall financial results."
"During the quarter we focused on our strategic goals with particular emphasis on international opportunities. We pursued our overseas expansion plans through a number of initiatives. In addition, we continued to build value in our Technology practice, where our leading reputation, innovative products and geographical reach have begun to provide evidence of a commanding presence in this rapidly expanding market, further differentiating our practice from the competition. Finally, we took advantage of the strength of our business to make opportunistic investments in our brand positioning, marketing, and certain other areas, all of which will enhance our ability to grow."
Mr. Dunn concluded, "The first half of 2007 was excellent for FTI, and we expect to benefit from this momentum for the rest of the year. The factors driving demand for our services continue to evolve, and our diversified services are well situated to capitalize on this. Our financial results benefited from excellent recruiting and retention results, with employee turnover averaging a comfortable 16% during the quarter. FTI is the leader in the marketplace, with a depth of talent, breadth of services and geographical reach second to none, and we look forward to ongoing growth and success going forward."
Coming Events of Interest
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Edinburgh Television Festival – August 24th-26th in Edinburgh, Scotland. Janus Friis, Co-Founder of P2PTV service Joost, will deliver the inaugural Futureview Lecture at this year’s festival. The aim of this year’s event is to assemble a cast list from the hottest shows, the most exciting new technologies, and the biggest TV controversies of the year.
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International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) – September 6th-11th in Amsterdam, Holland. IBC is committed to providing the world’s best event for everyone involved in the creation, management, and delivery of content for the entertainment industry, including DCIA Members. Run by the industry for the industry, convention organizers are drawn from participating companies.
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Broadcasting 2017 – September 27th in London, England. What do the leading players in television and new media across Europe predict for the future of broadcasting? Find out during "Broadcasting 2017" at BAFTA. Join industry giants such as Silvio Scaglia, Founder & Chairman of Babelgum for a day of stimulating sessions.
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PT/EXPO COMM – October 23rd-27th at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, China. The largest telecommunications/IT industry event in the world’s fastest growing telecom sector. PT/EXPO COMM offers DCIA participants from all over the world a high profile promotional platform in a sales environment that is rich in capital investment.
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P2P Advertising Upfront – Sponsored by the DCIA October 26th in New York, NY and October 29th in Los Angeles, CA in conjunction with Digital Hollywood Fall. The industry’s first bicoastal marketplace focused on the unique global advertising, sponsorship, and cross-promotional opportunities available in the steadily growing universe of open and closed P2P, file-sharing, P2PTV, and social networks, as well as peer-assisted content delivery networks (CDNs).
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P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LV – January 6th in Las Vegas, NV. This is the DCIA’s must-attend event for everyone interested in monetizing content using P2P and related technologies. Keynotes, panels, and workshops on the latest breakthroughs. The Conference will take place in N260 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Conference Luncheon in N262-264. This DCIA flagship event is a Conference within CES – the Consumer Electronics Show.
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