Microsoft says it has drastically cut the number of servers required to run its Microsoft Mediaroom technology on fewer than 10 servers. It says by using Virtual Servers, in a way similar to the use of shared hosting within an ISP, a six-fold reduction can be achieved.
“For the past two years or so virtualisation has been a big deal in the corporate IT world, so a lot of people have been applying that same principal in data centres or storage. It has never been applied to IPTV in a carrier grade environment,” said Microsoft Mediaroom’s Ben Huang. He added that a reduction in server quantities reduces both the upfront capital expenditure and ongoing costs because there is less ongoing maintenance.
Virtualisation can allow the support of up to 30,000 subscribers per deployment giving Microsoft the lowest footprint required to deploy TV services.
Trials are already underway and it is anticipated that commercial services will be made available using the virtualisation technology before the end of the year.
