Vodafone Portugal Integrates Ericsson Media Delivery Network to Improve TV Experience

Ericsson’s and Vodafone Portugal announce the selection and integration of Ericsson’s Media Delivery Network solution to create media-centric added value services that will enable an improved consumer video experience while reducing operational expenditure. This latest solution deployment in Portugal complements the Ericsson Media portfolio deployed in Portugal and other countries, enabling tighter integration of all-new platform capabilities that can delight TV consumers with compelling new experiences on all devices they own, while enabling better quality of experience and avoiding scaling costs.

Ericsson’s November Mobility Report highlights that mobile video will grow by 55% annually through to 2021, illustrating the increasing importance for service providers to adapt their delivery infrastructures to cope with the boom in online video traffic. As the Internet era of television brings about the industry’s greatest transformation, Vodafone Portugal’s deployment of the Ericsson’s Media Delivery Network (MDN) solution will address the rapid increase in video consumption and re-shape the future TV experience for Vodafone customers.

The Ericsson MDN solution directly addresses the exponential growth and demand for streamed video content by using a single platform approach and universal cache, which combine to offer service providers increased savings and converged visibility and control. The integration of the Ericsson MDN solution with other deployed Ericsson Media portfolio improves the distribution of all content offered to Vodafone Portugal TV customers, enabling the shift of recordings from set-top-boxes to the cloud and supporting services such as personal recording, catch-up, and time-shifted services. This cutting-edge and agile framework also transforms existing services, enabling greater monetization and faster deployment.

Pedro Duarte, TV and Video Services Manager Vodafone Portugal, says: “Our subscribers demand access to TV and video content anywhere and at all times of the day and we need creative solutions to respond to this rapid growth and deliver on-demand services with high quality across an unprecedented number of devices and platforms. This project will allow us to distribute the video content in a more efficient way, enabling a better customer experience for our TV customers, enabling them to move their recordings from set-top-boxes to their personal devices, via the cloud. Ericsson has proven the capability to deliver the project with quality and on a timely manner.”

The Ericsson deployment will enable Vodafone Portugal to locate and manage content within its local network by utilizing a virtualized architecture to deliver content closer to the end user. By caching content at various locations across its network, Vodafone Portugal can also minimize the distance that video data travels, enhancing the efficiency and speed of its delivery in the process. Ericsson Media Delivery network solution is already installed in other Vodafone Operating companies in Europe.

Elisabetta Romano, Vice President and Head of TV and Media, Ericsson, says: “Constantly rising consumer expectations for TV Anywhere have made it paramount for TV service providers to simplify the process of delivering seamless, high quality content. Our Media Delivery Network solution offers TV service providers video-optimization and delivery savings in bandwidth and enabling greater use of network capacity, while also guaranteeing a greater quality of experience across mobile and fixed networks. These capabilities mean Vodafone Portugal can now take an even more active role in the evolving media value chain, enabling them to drive new content partnerships, deploy new media-centric services and deliver superior user experiences.”