an iptv server benchmark that scales to one million subscribers

HP, Intel, and Kasenna Create an IPtV serVer BenCHmarK tHat sCales to one mIllIon suBsCrIBers

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IPtV is revolutionizing Video on demand. HP, Intel, and Kasenna have created a non-proprietary IPtV server benchmark that scales to one million subscribers.

This ground breaking benchmark will accelerate IPTV deployments worldwide.

HP, Intel, and Kasenna Collaborate to Create an Industry FIrst:

an IPtV server Benchmark that scales to one million subscribers


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“The challenge for service providers enabling IPTV services is understanding the scalability of the underlying IT infrastructure. As IPTV continues to move out of the lab and friendly trial environments, it is critical to validate the enabling platforms and their ability to cost-effectively support the anticipated subscriber growth and subscriber usage of the service.”

Ananda Subbiah Vice President, Hewlett Packard CME Solutions

Maximizing Your Subscriber Investment: The Key to Your Future Success in IPTVthe IPtV market segment is clearly poised for explosive growth—IPtV households are expected to grow worldwide from 7.2 million in 2006 to 48 million in 2010, a 5-year CaGr of 60 percent.1 the typical IPtV deployment today serves well under 100 thousand subscribers. the IPtV server benchmark described in this paper demonstrates how service providers can cost-effectively implement an IPtV solution to capitalize on this projected market growth.

today’s IPtV solution trials often focus only on fine-tuning customer features and functionality. that’s insufficient. to effectively take advantage of this growing market, you need to be ready to deploy these features to millions of subscribers. as an IPtV service provider, you require proven solutions that minimize the time to deliver these new

features to an ever-increasing subscriber base, while enhancing your profit margins.

Before you move forward with scaling up your IPtV deployment, consider these bottom-line questions:

• How can my company scale IPtV to a million subscribers while reducing our per subscriber capital cost for infrastructure?

• How can we guarantee our investment supports both the features available today and the new features required in 2010?

• What are the essential components to reducing operating expenses in both our headend and remote offices?

• Can we leverage the benefits of open, industry-standard servers and software while scaling as cost-effectively as with proprietary, integrated solutions?

as a service provider, you are concerned about how cost-effective IPtV solutions being evaluated today will scale. You need an experienced team with proven knowledge in the key IPtV software, hardware, and operational issues. and you need a solution from trusted sources with proven platforms.

“It’s important to realize that no one has ever previously demonstrated this one million subscriber IPTV benchmark, and this level of scalability has never been achieved either in a lab or in a real-world deployment. HP, Intel, and Kasenna are the first to prove the viability of scaling—and in a real-world IPTV environment. This lays the foundation for IPTV deployment on a massive scale.”

Kumar Shah CEO and President, Kasenna Inc.

Breaking the Scalability Barrier: One Million is Here TodayKnowing that maximizing your deployment cost per subscriber is critical, HP, Intel, and Kasenna committed to building and benchmarking an IPtV solution that scales to support one million subscribers. this extraordinary undertaking has paid off with unprecedented results.

What’s more, these benchmark results were attained on a stable, efficient, scalable IPtV service-delivery infrastructure—built using IPtV software based on open-standards computing technologies running on industry-standard servers.

For you, this means a solution with bottom-line benefits:

• You use significantly fewer servers than required by other IPTV solutions. the PortaltV™ software suite includes Kasenna’s livingroom™ 2.0 middleware and mediaBase™ 8.2 Video on demand (Vod) software. this suite provides a basis for cost-effective scaling with performance headroom to support new and evolving services, helping reduce capital expenses.

• You gain higher server performance with lower energy consumption. High-performance HP Proliant® servers with processors based on Intel’s low-power dual-core architecture reduce space and cooling requirements, helping lower operating expenses.

1 source: Infonetics report, march 17, 2007, by Jeff Heynen titled “IPtV

equipment, services, subscribers,and Capex Quarterly Worldwide

market share and Forecasts for Q406”


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Benchmark Usage Model for One Million Provisioned STBsThe subscriber database is provisioned for one million accounts with one set-top box (STB) per account. The operating assumption is that during any given peak time, such as a busy Friday or Saturday evening, 60% of the STBs will be active (maximum 600,000 simultaneous concurrent STBs), and 40% will not be active.

18% watching or channel “surfing” broadcast TV (180,000 concurrent STBs)

34% watching Video on Demand (VOD) or time shifted TV content (340,000 concurrent STBs)

3% viewing other applications such as subscriber account data or games (30,000 concurrent STBs)

4% browsing the electronic program guide (EPG) (40,000 concurrent STBs)

1% browsing VOD content (10,000 concurrent STBs)

40% inactive STBs(400,000 concurrent STBs)

L E G E N D

CentralOffice

Hewlett PackardServers

KasennaLivingRoom™

KasennaMediaBase™

IPTVMiddleware

nPVR

VOD

Server Rack

Figure 1. this diagram illustrates the equipment used, including HP servers dl380G5, dl580G4, HP Blades C-Class, ProCurve

switch, and msa 50/60 & 70.

Regional Headend

Setting the Standard for Large-Scale DeploymentHP, Intel, and Kasenna hand-picked and assembled a top-notch engineering test team at the HP/Intel Center of excellence located in the HP Communications, media, and entertainment (Cme) solution Center in Grenoble, France, and richardson, texas. their mission: to develop and carry out a series of verifiable benchmark tests to validate that this IPtV service-delivery solution does, in fact, support one million users.

The result: Just five LivingRoom servers were required to support one million subscribers. Fewer servers translates directly to greater cost savings—in server room space, capital investment, maintenance, operating costs, and support staff—for you as a service provider.

these are the results for both sets of ePG tests:

Table 1. livingroom™ and subscriber database servers required.

Test Scenario

Subscriber Accounts Supported

Number of LivingRoom Servers*

single-server configuration

120,000 1 livingroom server also running the subscriber database

distributed, multi-server configuration

1 million 5 LivingRoom servers

1 subscriber database server

*In an actual deployment, additional servers may be used to support a high-availability configuration.

You can obtain in-depth details about these results by visiting: www.hp.com/go/iptv

Realistic tests. the benchmark test setup was based on Kasenna’s PortaltV product suite and HP Proliant blade servers running dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processors. the primary components were:

• the electronic program guide (ePG) was implemented using the Kasenna livingroom IPtV service and application delivery platform installed on HP Proliant blade servers running dual-Core Intel Xeon processors.

• Video on demand (Vod) and network Personal Video recorder (nPVr) functions were implemented using the Kasenna mediaBase content delivery platform.

• a sQl-compliant subscriber database was provisioned at one million accounts with one set-top box per account.

• Workload servers simulated up to one million subscribers according to the usage model defined above.

the team performed two sets of tests: one for an ePG scaling benchmark and one for a Vod/nPVr scaling benchmark.

EPG scaling benchmark

• Single-server configuration: First, the team ran benchmark tests to establish how many subscribers a single server could support, anticipating these results would interest service providers deploying a single-server configuration in a lab or field trial or for an initial production deployment. the subscriber database was installed on the livingroom server for this configuration.

• Distributed multi-server configuration: next, the team ran tests to see how many servers were needed to scale the test configuration to support one million servers.

the same usage model was used for both the single-server and the one-million subscriber tests. measurements, such as how long it took for the system to respond to user requests, were taken to determine system behavior. data was also collected to monitor and verify system stability.

Flexible usage model. the team implemented an initial reconfigurable usage model to represent subscribers carrying out activities associated with common IPtV services. the objective was an easily adaptable usage model to simulate a variety of service environments, knowing that other companies would be interested in testing and validating their own usage scenarios.

For these published IPtV server benchmark tests, the team configured the usage model to simulate the typical activities of IPtV subscribers during a peak usage period.

“ As an independent market analysis group, MRG realizes the high value of independent and objective IPTV benchmark testing like that done here by HP, Intel, and Kasenna. For something as crucial to the IPTV industry as scalability related to VOD and middleware software, objective benchmark testing has been missing from this industry. MRG congratulates HP, Intel, and Kasenna in removing the veil of mystery about what it takes to scale IPTV to subscriber levels of one million and to achieve fast channel change.”

Gary Schultz Principal Analyst/President, MRG, Inc.


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VOD and nPVR scaling benchmark

the team tested the Kasenna mediaBase server separately to show that it could sustain the workload required for the benchmark scenarios.

the mediaBase server uses Kasenna customized raId 5 software. the team first completed tests with the server running in normal mode. they then repeated the tests with the server running in degraded mode to simulate a real-world condition such as a failed disk or a disk rebuild in progress.

test results showed the mediaBase server sustained:

• an output of 3.75 gigabits/sec (Gbps) (or about 1,000 streams at 3.75 megabits/sec (mbps) per stream) in normal mode

• an output of 3.375 Gbps (or 900 streams at 3.75 mbps per stream) in degraded mode

Kasenna hybrid servers, which use both disk and ram to sustain streaming, were not considered for a highly distributed environment with many small streaming server sites. Hybrid servers are appropriate for single sites with a minimum of 10,000 streams.

Table 2. mediaBase™ servers required.

Test Scenario

Subscriber Accounts Supported

Number of MediaBase Servers

single-server configuration

1,000 1 das-based mediaBase server running Vod and nPVr in normal mode

distributed, multi-server configuration

350,000 a Highly available streaming architecture assumes a minimum of one extra server per site. For example, if 70 sites provide nPVr and Vod streaming, then the minimum number of servers required will be ((350,000/1,000)+70) = 420 servers.**

*scaled based on 35 percent Vod and nPVr users as specified in the subscriber usage model shown in Figure 1.

**additional servers are required for reliability to ensure that all videos continue to be available to users if a server fails. raId 5 only protects against common disk failures. Failure of other server components requires a n+K strategy to insure n servers are available at any given time.

You can obtain in-depth details about these results by visiting: www.hp.com/go/iptv

A Synergistic Solution for the Long HaulHP, Intel, and Kasenna bring to the emerging IPtV arena software and server platforms based on open standards-based technologies—offering the cost benefits of a non-proprietary solution to reduce capital expenses. open and flexible solutions from the three companies empower you to customize or create value-added services while providing the performance to support large deployments:

• Intel and HP together provide an industry-standard processor and server platform optimized for IPtV. Intel’s low-power dual-core architecture supports high-performance processors in a smaller blade server package with lower power consumption, reducing physical space and cooling requirements—helping lower operating costs.

• HP offers extensive expertise in managing the complete design, delivery, and deployment of infrastructure solutions for today’s communications and media-services marketplace.

• Kasenna delivers the PortaltV product suite for IPtV including the livingroom IPtV middleware, which provides scalable service delivery using portal-based Web services, and the Kasenna mediaBase video-content streaming, distribution, and delivery platform, which provides scalable video delivery from disk-based and ram-based servers. You can easily customize Kasenna’s open software to quickly add new features, services, and applications—for lower support costs and shorter time to market.

Find out more about this IPTV solution:

• HP IPtV hardware and Centers of excellence: www.hp.com/go/iptv

• Intel high-performance processors: Contact your Intel representative or visit www.intel.com

• Kasenna IPtV software: www.kasenna.com/1m

L E G E N D

Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processors

HP ProLiant® Blade Server

Kasenna PortalTV™

Benchmark Solution

Figure 2. software and server platforms comprising the

benchmark solution.

“ Simulating one million users in a combined broadcast and Video on Demand scenario is a genuine ground-breaking accomplishment. Proving once again that the highest performing applications, like Kasenna PortalTV™, run best on Intel® dual-core platforms.”

Doug L. Davis Vice President, Digital Enterprise Group

General Manager, Embedded and Communications Group, Intel Corporation


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SuperHeadend

RegionalHeadend

BackboneNetwork

RegionalHeadend

RegionalHeadend

Figure 3. this figure shows the simulated benchmark usage

architecture used during the benchmark testing representing

IPtV services to one million subscribers.

One Million Subscribers

IPTV


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A State-of-the-Art Testing Facility Awaits YouYour one-stop resource. HP and Intel have built two leading-edge IPtV Centers of excellence to provide service providers with the right tools and sound technical expertise you need to build an optimized, scalable IPtV solution using open-standards-based technology. located in the HP Cme solution Centers in Grenoble, France, and richardson, texas, these two facilities are available to you as an all-inclusive resource for testing and validating your IPtV solution to help ensure it’s ready for large-scale deployment.

Benefits. enjoy the benefits of engaging with an IPtV Center of excellence:

• Pinpoint and resolve problems before your solution is deployed for subscribers.

• Accelerate rollout of new revenue-producing IPtV services.

• Help reduce costs and risks associated with deploying new IPtV services.

• Simulate workloads and activity scenarios representing your subscriber base using the configurable benchmark usage model. You can simulate your own scenario by:

– Providing your usage model requirements to IPtV Center of excellence engineering staff to test.

– Coming to the IPtV Center of excellence to work with engineering staff to perform your testing.

to engage with the HP/Intel IPtV Center of excellence closest to you, visit: www.hp.com/go/iptv

TAKE THE NExT STEPnow is the time to plan for and deploy an IPtV solution to support your

subscriber growth projections. to learn more about the HP/Intel IPtV Centers of excellence and what this team of dedicated experts can do for you,

visit the HP IPtV Web site:

www.hp.com/go/iptv


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Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of

Intel products as measured by those tests. any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance.

Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing.

For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit www.intel.com/performance/resources/limits.htm.

Benchmark details: data was collected from december 2006 through march 2007 on the HP campus in Grenoble, France. equipment used:

HP Proliant® Bl480c G1 server, part of the HP C-Class family, using two dual-Core® Intel Xeon® 5160 processors; HP Proliant dl380 G5, using two

dual-Core Intel Xeon 5160 processors, was also used.

© 2007 Hewlett-Packard development Company, l.P. the information contained herein is subject to change without notice. the only warranties

for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. nothing herein should

be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

© 2007 Intel Corporation. all rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel. leap ahead., Intel. leap ahead. logo, and Xeon are trademarks or

registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the united states and other countries.

© 2007 Kasenna Inc. Kasenna, livingroom, mediaBase, PortaltV, vFusion are trademarks of Kasenna Inc. all other trade names mentioned in

this document are property of their respective companies. all rights reserved.

0407/ms/mesH/4K 316839-001us

About HPHP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses, and institutions globally. the company’s offerings span It infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $90.0 billion. more information about HP (nYse, nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

About IntelIntel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products, and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com.

About KasennaKasenna is a leading provider of Video on demand content and mPeG-4 ready IPtV applications for triple-play services over broadband networks. Proven through dozens of global deployments, Kasenna’s patented software technology is built on open standards, allowing providers to easily customize services and the viewer experience. For more information, please visit www.kasenna.com.

an iptv server benchmark that scales to one million subscribers

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