Multimedia applications for standard IPTV: ITU-T IPTV standard suite in action

This paper describes multimedia applications for IPTV based on the suite of standards recommended by ITU-T. It explains how value-added multimedia applications in areas such e-commerce, e-health, smart-grid, and entertainment can be achieved using the newly developed standards that have been discussed and adopted by the market. It also shows how ITU-T standards enable coordination of multi-device and multi-source services, such as fixed-mobile convergence. Although standard based applications are often perceived as less versatile and attractive to the public than applications based on proprietary technologies, due to the latter´s specificity and specialization, they can provide sufficiently effective, and sometimes essential, functionalities in areas where interoperability is a key, especially in areas where public interest is at stake. In this paper, we demonstrate this with concrete examples.