The Alliance for Telecommunications Solutions (ATIS) released a new standard for LTE Multicast content delivery to mobile devices based upon the Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast System (eMBMS).
"Multicast is a highly efficient delivery mechanism for advancing the cloud's capability to enable many users to access the same content simultaneously--critical for streaming live events," said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller.
She said the new ATIS standard will enable significant savings in the network resources used for live streaming. "With the wireless component typically the 'last mile' of the network, depending on the type of data requested, the use of multicast methods also offers significant relief for the wired backbone," Miller added.
ATIS said the standard features three use cases describing potential situations where mobile devices can receive multicast-based broadcasts of specific live events/video content via eMBMS, which is the LTE version of the older MBMS interface spec. The new ATIS standard also provides delivery processes, assumptions, content delivery network interconnection implications and supporting requirements.
Major U.S. operators are eyeing LTE Multicast, also called LTE Broadcast, offerings. AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) has said it is "exploring the possibility," while Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) earlier this year demonstrated eMBMS over its LTE network in conjunction with the Super Bowl. However, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo has indicated that a commercial offering will have to wait, saying it will take "a year or two before the chipsets are in the handsets and that gets proliferated throughout the marketplace."
ATIS' membership includes nearly 200 companies. The group is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is 3GPP's North American Organizational Partner.
For more:
- see this ATIS release
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