Digital Media Buzz > Beam Me Up, Scotty: IPTV’s Newest Applications

Beam Me Up, Scotty: IPTV’s Newest Applications

By Contel Bradford

The business benefits of IPTV are often overshadowed, mainly because the technology is generally viewed as a consumer perk. Be that as it may, IPTV is increasingly being used for a range of purposes, including corporate communications, employee training and various retail applications.

“We’ve seen examples of IPTV in residential-care homes in Scandinavia, in hospitals in France and hotels in the U.S., so there are a variety of solutions already deployed,” says Richard Broughton of media analyst firm Screen Digest. “One of the advantages that businesses have in using IPTV is that scaling isn’t an issue. The hotel might have 1,000 rooms but will still need only one management server, so it’s fairly cheap to install and run.”

One particular area where the technology has been widely deployed is Sweden, where the residents in some apartment complexes have the ability to contact medial centers and physicians directly through their TV sets. These enhancements allow for instant diagnosis, helping both patients and medical facilities save on time and money.

IPTV is still relatively new in the United States, but it is only a matter of time before it goes completely mainstream. While the technology is being slowly embraced by many industries, here are a few sectors that have already got a head start on deployment:

Corporate Benefits
Corporations and even smaller business are using IPTV systems to deliver company data, training programs, news feeds, internal broadcasts and other video media via IP streams. The power of this technology allows companies to:

• Provide live TV and radio to employee desktops or screens within the building;
• Deliver live information and news feeds to corporate decision makers;
• Keep staff up to date in common areas; and
• Deliver entertainment in employee break areas.

Educational Benefits
The delivery of channel and video media over IP streams is ideal for an array of educational application, because an IPTV system is economical, easy to install and maintain. Most importantly, it makes an essential tool in the modern learning environment. IPTV empowers professionals in the educational field to:

• Enhance the efficiency of teaching by making channels available to all PCs or displays on campus;
• Provide students with TV and radio channel access based on their specific interests, culture and educational needs;
• Facilitate more effective lesson plan creation via flexible IP streaming technology; and
• Deliver live lectures to any PC or TV connected to the campus network.

Healthcare Benefits
IPTV technology provides advanced, highly flexible communication and entertainment facilities within the healthcare field. These systems are customizable and can serve as an asset to any healthcare environment. Some of the most notable benefits include:

• The ability to distribute free or paid television services across the network to every patient;
• Extensive set of local and international TV and radio programming options to accommodate a more diverse range of patients;
• Improved healthcare environment as patients have individual control over live video streams, audio and prerecorded content from their rooms; and
• Increased productivity via back-office administrative control of entertainment systems in public viewing areas.

Although it may be a challenge to convince some businesses to use IPTV over traditional or Internet TV, more are bound to make the transition when examining both the proven and potential benefits. The technology has already shown that it can be a cost-effective method for meeting delivery and viewing needs within large corporations and busy networks. So even though you still can’t beam your doctor down into your living room, the increasing use of IPTV in the business world shows that the technology is making great progress.