NextWave Wireless Inc. a global provider of mobile multimedia products and technologies, announced the launch of MXtv, a mobile multicast and broadcast technology that enables WiMAX operators to deliver a broad range of rich and personalized multimedia services including mobile TV, interactive media services, and digital audio without having to invest in new spectrum or additional radio access network equipment.
Utilizing macro-diversity technology that improves broadcast performance over WiMAX channel, MXtv technology, which is completely compatible with the current 802.16e standard, is designed to slash the cost of offering high-quality, mobile broadcast services to subscribers.
In a separate announcement today, NextWave and Huawei Technologies (“Huawei”) announced a joint development agreement under which Huawei will deliver the integrated MXtv technology in its end-to-end WiMAX network solution including Huawei’s fourth-generation base station platform and ASN-GW wireless broadband gateway platforms. MXtv technology is also a standard feature of NextWave’s recently announced own line of WiMAX infrastructure products.
“With more high-quality broadcast channels on a per-MHz-basis along with the shared use of standard network equipment and already dedicated spectrum, MXtv’s wide range of applications completely transforms the economics of WiMAX for operators worldwide,” said Allen Salmasi, Chief Executive Officer of NextWave Wireless. “MXtv enables WiMAX operators to profitably deliver exciting mobile multimedia services such as mobile TV, digital radio, and other types of cutting-edge multicast services including user-generated, shared video content. In addition, MXtv will provide WiMAX operators a unique opportunity to generate significant incremental revenue by delivering relevant and highly-targeted interactive advertising to customers while maintaining control over the nature and extent of content delivered over their network. It’s a major win for WiMAX operators and a win for customers who will be able to enjoy the ultimate personalized mobile multimedia experience.”
Supporting 30 fps QVGA and WQVGA content, MXtv technology provides up to 45 high-quality mobile TV channels in 10 MHz with rapid channel switching times of under two seconds, and offers network operators the unique ability to dynamically allocate spectrum based on content availability, time-of-day requirements, user demand, and the availability of ‘must see’ live events such as sports, concerts, interactive reality shows or emergency broadcasts. With the unique ability to interleave broadcast content with voice and data content in each user transmission, MXtv enables WiMAX network operators to maximize service revenues by allowing them to dynamically optimize the mix of voice, data, and broadcast services on each RF carrier based on user demand, service pricing and advertising revenue. Furthermore, over 300 high fidelity radio broadcast channels or any combination of mobile TV, personalized radio, voice and data services can be offered in the same 10 MHz of spectrum. Similar to the company’s end-to-end TDtvTM solution for UMTS operators, MXtv utilizes advanced macro-diversity technology to deliver optimal performance and does not require operators to acquire additional expensive spectrum to enter the mobile TV market.
For non-cellular consumer devices like personal media players, handheld gaming or navigational devices and DVD players, MXtv offers an easy and cost-effective way to integrate interactive mobile TV services with a built-in return channel. Coupled with the ability to offer unicast on-demand services on the same spectrum, network operators can additionally offer a compelling program guide with the combination of the live broadcast content, on-device stored content of earlier broadcasts for more efficient distribution, personal content as well as a wide range of user-specific content including specialized or educational content, informational content, user-community content, regional and local content using either subscription or advertising supported business models. The operator also has the ability to broadcast specific content on a defined geographical basis to tailor the available content for each individual user.
“NextWave’s MXtv service offers an attractive value proposition for service providers interested in deploying WiMAX,” said Godfrey Chua, research manager, Wireless and Mobile Infrastructure, IDC. “This is because MXtv enables effective video delivery over the technology, thus creating the potential to turn WiMAX into a multi-media and advertising platform that could significantly improve the WiMAX business case for operators.”
NextWave - A Leading Provider of Mobile TV Solutions for UMTS and WiMAX Operators
MXtv mirrors the architecture and leverages the MBMS core network design that NextWave has built to support its recently announced commercial pilot of TDtv with leading tier one UK operators. The end-to-end solution is comprised of MXtv-enabled WiMAX network infrastructure from NextWave or other leading network equipment vendors, subscriber terminals powered by the company’s NW2000 MXtv-enabled WiMAX System-on-a-Chip (SoC), and the MediaFusionTM multimedia content management, discovery and advertising platform provided by PacketVideo (PV), a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless and an industry leader in multimedia client solutions.
The effort required by network vendors to integrate MXtv technology into their network solutions is minimal since most of the advanced MXtv technology comes incorporated in NextWave’s WAVE 2 compliant NW2000 WiMAX SoC for mobile devices. This SoC also incorporates numerous other innovations to improve performance, reduce power consumption, enable new types of advanced multimedia applications, and allow seamless operation and roaming across worldwide WiMAX frequencies and profiles, as well as in Wi-Fi coverage areas with its integrated Wi-Fi capability. By employing advanced 65 nanometer CMOS process technology to minimize size and reduce power consumption, NextWave’s SoC is optimized for bandwidth-intensive and energy-intensive mobilemultimedia applications and for Quality-of-Service (QoS) sensitive applications such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and real-time streaming or gaming applications.
To optimize the MXtv user experience and to maximize the opportunity for incremental advertising revenue, network operators can leverage the unique capabilities of PV’s MediaFusion platform and its CoreTM embedded media application framework which together provides for an on-device portal that delivers an integrated mobile media experience, a unified content catalog, service presentation, and media player through a single client application. MediaFusion is offered to network operators and handset vendors as a white-label platform. The integrated PV solution also includes a full Electronic Service Guide (ESG) that can be customized to the look and feel requirements of the operators or the device vendors. The MediaFusion client application allows the ESG to be dynamically created for each subscriber based on a combination of user surveys and usage profiles, significantly increasing the ability of operators to target advertisements and increase advertising rates.
PV’s MediaFusion capabilities expand beyond the user interface experience into the network operator’s service delivery platform, helping to solve the many challenges of managing multiple content types and business models for services such as pay-per download, subscriptions, ad-insertion and other models. MediaFusion’s service delivery platform further supports optional modules including: profiling engine for data mining; white label portal with storefront for content management, distribution and merchandising; discovery engine for rich-media and service discovery, and sharing among networked devices; and an advertising server.