Specialized Content Distribution Platforms

This section refers to a rather amorphous category of service offerings having to do with
either content that is associated with an event such as online show or exhibition that may be
streamed to a subscriber or content that is local and is made available only through the individual
broadband access network. The latter is known as a walled-garden service.
Video streams often involve satellite downloads to avoid a trip through the public Internet
and the subsequent caching of the content onto video servers where said content is then
streamed over a high-speed last-mile connection. The technology for doing this is fairly well
developed and could be adapted to a high-speed wireless networks, but the services to date
have not been big moneymakers over wireline networks where they have been tried, and
broadband wireless operators should adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
Walled gardens have not proven particularly successful in broadband access networks
either, though the cable networks particularly have long anticipated that such services would
ultimately prove profitable. Set-top box and cable headend manufacturers have built walledgarden
capabilities into both customer premises equipment and cable headend systems. The
content itself will normally be stored on a special server. To date no one has made equipment
having a walled-garden capability that is aimed at the wireless broadband market, and such
services represent a potential rather than an actual market.