Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet Expertise

The digitization of content and the wide-spread availability of unlimited high speed internet access across a range of multimedia devices have spawned a new era in over-the-top (OTT) services. With the likes of Skype (for voice), iTunes (for music) and Netflix (for movies), there is no limit to imagining how many services could be offered OTT bypassing traditional channels.

This represents a major opportunity for new players to enter service markets without the need to build, buy or lease end-to-end infrastructure. At the same time, incumbent providers face an increasing threat as their traditional services face stiff competition from the OTT substitutes.

Major challenges faced in OTT include:

• How to establish new content related services without infringing on traditional content rights?
• What are the regulatory implications of offering critical services OTT such as 911? What level of regulation should these new services bear?
• What business models can and will be successful? How to monetize OTT services? Is advertizing sufficient? What are users willing to pay?
• How can incumbents link and extend traditional services with OTT to garner greater value? Can such an approach stem service substitution?

Recent Client Successes
Supporting OTT has been a key element of our practice over the last ten years:

• For an enterprise vendor developer, helped develop the business plan for an OTT consumer multi-party video conferencing and social networking client
• For a leading voice services provider, helped to develop a device strategy to extend service from traditional OTT to a mobile service offering