Z-Band has been solving customers video distribution challenges since 1999, but both the customers and the challenges have evolved a lot in the past 15-plus years.
More organizations are creating and distributing video than ever before. Meanwhile, customers and integrators have more options when it comes to how they choose to distribute video. Z-Band launched its IPTV/IP Video Distribution Solutions during InfoComm 2015, adding a new option for its dealer base.
Z-Band IP sales engineer Daniel Helfrick talked to CI editor Tom LeBlanc about the future of integrators providing IPTV distribution to their clients and the necessity for them to get involved in solving their clients video distribution challenges.
What kind of traction among AV integrators have you guys had since introducing your IPTV system at InfoComm 2015?
Helfrick: Our traction with integrators has been limited since releasing this product. The IPTV system is very robust and requires a high level of education for the customer. It has also been a steep learning curve for our sales staff. For the better part of two decades we have focused on RF sales and being a leader in the RF distribution industry. The IPTV industry is entirely different than the customers and distributors we have courted since 1999. That being said, integrators are a big part of our 2016 business plan. We have used 2015 to prove that we can sell and support IPTV, and now our task is to improve our footprint in the market.
The Gigabud Video Hub allows integrators to leverage existing Cat 5 cables for video distribution. In what applications do you typically see integrators taking advantage of that retrofit option?
Helfrick:The RF over Cat 5/6 solution plays well in areas where the coax solution has grown unchecked for a decade or more. Our sales effort has always been geared around the variety of applications for Cat 6. Our biggest market or retrofits has been in New York City. It is a market where pulling new coax is expensive and difficult. Also, Time Warner Cable’s HDH feed provides a clear QAM signal that is very friendly to our system. New York City has been our best market for retrofit applications.
Our sense is that corporate, education and pretty much clients in every market are creating more video than ever before and therefore turning to their AV integrators to help them manage and distribute it. Is that your sense and do you see it as a big opportunity for integrators?
Helfrick:I think your sense is correct, the challenge for integrators and manufacturers is to understand what is driving this move toward video and implement technologies that provide a benefit to customers across all vertical markets. In healthcare we are concerned with patient engagement and education; in the corporate world we are concerned with better and more effective training methods. It isn’t just the video that is driving this revolution, but the return on investment to the customer in the form of happier customers, better trained employees, and a more engaged workforce.
One challenge that system designers often have with video distribution solutions is strain on network bandwidth. What advice do you have?
Helfrick: We try to understand the limits of the customers and design within those parameters. Often that means suggesting an RF system when the customer wanted to go IP. Our RF with RS232 system can provide a lot of the content control a customer wants at a lower price than an IPTV system. It can also mean limiting VoD content, using one of our variable bit rate transcoders, or minimizing the channel count to fit within the constraints of the system. We also have a few encoding options that allow the customer to provide different profiles of a given stream, so a popular channel can be viewed at 2Mbps on the desktop and 8 Mbps at the TV. We have several product offerings that help reduce the aggregate bandwidth in an IPTV system.
