VSNL Cuts Costs On PC Video On Demand Service With MS Deployment

VSNL is a major global communication services provider offering a portfolio of next-generation Carrier and Enterprise solutions, including Voice, Mobile, Data and Ethernet. Looking to attract more broadband subscribers in India and boost current consumption, VSNL partnered with various content providers to launch a PC Video on Demand (VoD) service utilising Microsoft solutions as its preferred platform. The service delivers live video streaming, static content (ring tones, wallpapers) and dynamic DRM-based content (movies) for its Indian customers on a pay-per-view basis. By implementing Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.0, VSNL has achieved higher operational efficiency, better content management, and enhanced customer targeting while delivering services faster and with lower development costs.

Situation

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), a part of the Tata Group, is a leading international telecommunications company based in India, with operations in over 39 countries.

The company is one of the world’s largest carriers of international voice and submarine bandwidth, and a leading provider of Indian private leased circuits. It also offers IP MPLS VPN, Internet access, hosting, mobile signaling and several other IP services, plus a range of retail services including high-speed broadband, dial-up Internet, Wi-Fi, and Internet telephony under the Tata Indicom brand.

A leading Internet company in India, VSNL is always seeking new opportunities and business drivers to expand its retail product portfolio. Initially, its goal was to boost consumption levels for broadband bandwidth. Says Mukul Sood, Vice President, Content and Applications, VSNL, “We wanted to provide our subscribers with broadband applications that enhanced the value of their high-speed connections. In this context, rich-media delivery such as video streaming was an important aspect of the overall strategy.”

The strategy VSNL adopted was to first differentiate between its Internet connectivity services from the competition by providing broadband-ready content. This would both showcase broadband as a superior product to dial-up connectivity, and generate incremental revenues through content purchase. Secondly, VSNL would encourage subscribers to purchase this content to boost incremental revenues per user. Finally, more compelling ‘sticky’ content such as educational, entertainment and devotional elements would be offered to retain subscribers by fostering ongoing interaction and relationships. While the overall strategy sounded viable, it was not without its challenges.

“When we started out, Indian content was not available in an Internet ready format. The business model of who to sell to, how to sell, at what price, size of the market opportunity, and so on, was unclear,” remarks Sood. He adds that VSNL was then an unknown entity in the Indian entertainment industry and that most content vendors did not see the benefits of an Internet play, and offered less-than-attractive terms. “There was also the question of distrust amongst content owners when it came to Internet distribution,” says Sood. “We had to find the right digital rights management (DRM) technologies that were acceptable to the content owners.”

Convincing the various stakeholders that their strategy with the PC VOD service was viable was equally challenging. “It took us some time to convince people of our business model and our requirements. We commissioned studios to reformat movies suitable for Internet delivery, hired lawyers who were familiar with the Indian and International IPR laws, and briefed our finance teams about the applicable taxes,” says Sood.

Ultimately, VSNL had to address all these concerns and convince stakeholders that they could deliver not only great content but a viable long-term business. “It was clear that we required an array of technologies to fulfill the promise of PC VOD in India. We needed a customised solution that would create a superior end user experience while providing content partners an online mechanism to upload their product and profit from it.”

Solution

When searching for the appropriate technologies, VSNL decided from the start not to develop a solution in-house. “Much of what we were trying to achieve was not available as a single off-the-shelf solution,” remarks Sood. “We recognised that we had to bring several distinct technologies together to make the entire experience seamless, and still offer the PC VOD service flexibility to grow when required.”

Initially, VSNL explored a variety of platform technologies. “There were several options but we opted for Microsoft because they had a technology roadmap similar to ours,” says Sood. “Microsoft came to us with good credentials in this space. They were willing to be a ‘partner’ and worked with us very closely, both in developing the ideas and in execution. The technology solution to most of our problems was either readily available or could be found quickly.”

Even so, VSNL recognized that the final solution would require extensive customisation to meet their very specific requirements. In the first phase, VSNL worked with AG Technologies, and later, with system integrators Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra (TM) to develop and customize specific modules.

“At the time, we had a static HTML site with vanilla functionality as the gateway to our retail broadband service,” says Sood. “Almost everything related to content had to be created from zero. We even had to educate the network planning people on the requirements from a content delivery/ management perspective. While Microsoft had the building blocks in terms of technology, we knew we had to customise them extensively to accomplish our objectives.”

Sood adds that when Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) convinced VSNL they were able to fulfill these specific needs, the company knew it had made the right decision, and MCS has been a close technology partner ever since. “The team helped us maximize our investments in technology. In fact, the second phase is being delivered by MCS,” he notes.

MCS led the engagement with VSNL, bringing in trusted partners to give end to end accountability, and partnering in retail content management technology plans for VSNL. In the process, MCS was able to leverage its global expertise on complex technology issues whilst ensuring on-time delivery, within budget.

Targets were set regarding the width & depth of content VSNL believed it could provide through the new service. “We explored the many types of services we could offer and the depth or comprehensiveness of each service, in terms of video or audio content,” says Sood. The company started small, stabilised things and determined that it would be better to build the service in phases. Since the vision kept expanding with newer ideas and service layers, VSNL set shorter, more realistic timeframes for each development.

Most VSNL divisions rallied behind the project, including network planning, IT support, customer care, content management, Web design, revenue (Assurance and Vendor Settlements), budgeting, and legal departments (contracts).

The final Microsoft solution integrated several enterprise grade core products and delivered a high-end ecommerce-enabled broadband portal for consumers. The solution was based on Microsoft Commerce Server 2002, Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 and Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.0. These were deployed on Windows Server 2003 R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004, to offer a scalable and future-proof solution. To ensure high availability at all times, Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) (now updated to Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007) was deployed in conjunction with Premier Support Services from Microsoft Consultancy Services.

The VSNL PC VOD service featured distinct modules to serve each stakeholder: content management and user administration for VSNL; content publishing and acquisition for content partners; and content catalogs and billing mechanisms for subscribers. Phase one was completed and launched in October, 2005. To facilitate fast uptake, VSNL chose to bill subscribers’ rental charges for any content purchased and waive data transfer fees.

This PC VOD service is an industry first in India with an online catalog of over 600,000 content assets. “Thanks to our collaboration with Microsoft, the service has a high degree of acceptance with both customers and vendors,” notes Sood.

Benefits

VSNL believes that working with a leading edge Microsoft platform has opened new market opportunities for the company. The PC VOD service not only delivers a superior end user experience but also provides VSNL with a credible platform to evolve its service in the future. Combined with better content management, improved customer segmentation, and a secure DRM solution, the PC VoD service offers a highly efficient and cost effective solution for VSNL subscribers and content partners.

Better Content Management

Moving from a static portal to a dynamic interface, the PC VOD service has been a boon to VSNL subscribers and its own administration of the service. Says Sood, “From a consumer’s point of view, this has been a good deployment. It allows us to present our PC VOD service in a far friendlier manner – better navigation, better control over individual catalogues, and better refresh rates.”

Lower Costs, Greater Efficiency

The seamless integration of separate Microsoft technologies into a single whole has boosted VSNL operational efficiency for the PC VOD service. The higher efficiency allows staff to better manage the entire content life cycle; ingestion, encoding, DRM, cataloging, management, and meta-data. “We can reduce turnaround times, reduce costs, ensure better security and better manage the content. This has resulted in fewer people, less hand-offs and consequently more efficiency,” notes Sood.

Higher Visibility, Positive Branding

As a pioneer in launching India’s first PC VOD service, VSNL has cemented its position as a forward-looking industry leader in the Internet space. The high customer satisfaction from subscribers and content partners has helped VSNL retain its competitive edge in the broadband connectivity and services market.

Secure Digital Rights Management

The success of a high-end consumer focused portal is undoubtedly the content and applications. VSNL recognised the importance of securing copyright protection in its enhanced partnerships with content providers across the globe. Working with MCS, Windows Media DRM 9 Series was implemented on all digital assets on the site. Additionally, Windows Media DRM was extended to the live stream of devotional content captured from cameras deployed in religious temples.

Better Customer Segmentation

Flexibility in determining what and how content is made available to subscribers is a key technology advantage of the PC VOD service. “We can today differentiate between different customer profiles, locations and requirements. Hence there are more market opportunities available to us. In the content business, licensing is all important and service providers have to be able to restrict their offerings to the licenced terms. The [Microsoft> platform is an important gateway for us,” adds Sood.

New Global Opportunities

Success with the PC VoD service has prompted VSNL to look at a larger global market for content services. This includes providing content capabilities by offering a ‘white label’ solution to other service providers anywhere in the world. “This has spurred new opportunities to use content as a business driver for VSNL,” says Sood.

He notes that with globalisation come new challenges such as global rights management, licencing, taxes, and content delivery networks, among others. “We will continue to build, adapt and add many new features to our content management platform to meet these challenges. Fortunately, Microsoft as our technology partner has kept pace with our quest for better market opportunities through continuous interaction and pilots for some of their newer technologies.”