TalkTalk claims network upgrade will boost IPTV

TalkTalk has said an infrastructure upgrade to its broadband network will improve IPTV performance.

The announcement comes as the company looks ahead to the launch of YouView, the BBC-backed television service formerly known as Project Canvas.

According to TalkTalk, the content delivery network will run over its existing IP network, but put content closer to the end user, with hardware storing content near the extremities of the network.

“This is a hardware upgrade that puts content closer to customers, so they get a smoother IPTV servicer,” a spokesperson told PC Pro. “It also lowers bandwidth costs from our point of view.”

The potential improvements involved a deal with Alcatel-Lucent and the French company’s newly-acquired Velocix 7810 hardware.

TalkTalk said the service was the first network upgrade in the UK being rolled out specifically to target the YouView TV platform and meant the company would be able to offer an assured quality of service for TV streams.

“Content may be downloaded directly into the Velocix infrastructure and then dynamically distributed across the TalkTalk network to end users,” the company said in a statement.

“By delivering the content from within the secure network, rather than from the public internet, TalkTalk is able to guarantee a better user experience, as well as significantly reducing its peering costs for internet connectivity,” it added.