Applications

Single network to ease dilemma faced by broadcasters

Published

20 years ago

June 21, 2006

SINGAPORE: Broadcasters – with their need to transport uncompressed studio-quality video – are the most demanding customers for video, voice and data networks. Broadcasters face an expensive and complicated future with the task of upgrading networks to enable digital terrestrial television, HDTV and Video on Demand (VOD) and upgrading data and telephony to meet today‘s standards, unless they can implement a single network that can meet all of these needs.

NetSight Sweden global director operations Thomas Wahlund threw light on how European broadcasters such as Eurovision and Broadcast Services Danmark have recently implemented unified Next Generation networks to provide video for contribution, distribution, and digital terrestrial television plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

“Using Asynchronous Serial Interface (ASI), a very common interface used to transport MPEG compressed video to satellite uplinks, between studios and for distribution in for example CATV networks, PCR jitter has to stay under 500 nanoseconds in order for a correct decoding to be done. Since the format is compressed, if only one of these frames arrives out of spectrum it could make the decoder loose synchronisation and it could take several seconds before the service is restored. In the ad-driven world of broadcasting even a few seconds of black screen is obviously unacceptable,” Wahlund said.

Delivery channels – terrestrial, cable and satellite, need to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands of the content to be streamed, the demands upon spectrum and the constant high and sometimes unreasonable expectations of the viewer.

Each professional uncompressed standard video stream requires 270Mbps, which is more than 50 times the requirement for a cable -TV movie. Due to the demands of video, broadcasters deploy separate networks for voice and data.

Broadcasters are now looking to upgrade their analogue TV networks with digital TV networks. Singapore, Japan, Australia and Taiwan have rolled out Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and most Asian countries will do so in the coming years. With DTT or DVB-T, digital TV signals are transmitted from terrestrial antennas to digital TV receivers in the households. The benefits of this are lower operational costs, a higher picture quality and the ability to transmit up to four times more TV channels on the same frequency range.

Wahlund further added, “The requirements on video transport will also soon increase, as broadcasters change from SDTV to large – scale deployment of HDTV. As a norm, an HD feed takes up roughly four times the bandwidth of a standard definition feed. Today‘s delivery mechanisms will not be sufficient to handle the increased bandwidth. Broadcasters are now faced with a dilemma of upgrading their data and telephony networks to meet today‘s standards.”

In Europe, several major broadcasters have actively acquired their own networks. The European Broadcast Union (EBU) and Broadcast Service Danmark (BSD), the provider of analog and digital distribution of TV and radio in Denmark, each built its own next generation networks to provide video for contribution and distribution plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

“They are now using the networks to connect production studios with film banks, stadiums and other production sites. These optical networks handle a mix of video, audio, data and even telephony without massive over provisioning of bandwidth, delay, jitter and constant (and costly) traffic engineering. Broadcasters have been able to increase the services such as HD and VOD and they have also been able to improve workflow, and substantially save on operating and capital expenses,” Wahlund said.

“They are meeting the challenges of providing new services such as HDTV and digital television by building next generation multi-service fibre networks that can provide these services. They are achieving additional benefits by intelligently using the additional bandwidth these networks to provide state of the art contribution and distribution networks and upgraded data and telephony services. They are also benefiting from reduced operating expenses from a unified management system. This is proving to be a rare win-win proposition for all,” he concluded.

Applications

Moltbook, the AI-only social network, sparks hype, doubt and fear

Published

1 month ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents, has emerged as the latest obsession in Silicon Valley, drawing intense attention for its explosive growth and surreal bot-driven interactions.

The platform hosts more than 100 communities where AI agents post, argue and joke about topics ranging from governance theory to esoteric “crayfish debugging” concepts. Within days of launch, Moltbook recorded tens of thousands of posts, nearly 200,000 comments and more than 1 million human visitors observing the activity.

Yet the numbers and the autonomy are under scrutiny, as per media reports. A security researcher has suggested as many as 500,000 accounts may trace back to a single address, raising doubts about Moltbook’s membership claims. Many posts could also be the result of humans instructing their AI tools to publish content, rather than bots acting independently.

The platform runs on agentic AI, powered by an open-source tool called OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot. Unlike chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, these agents are designed to perform tasks on users’ devices, from sending messages to managing calendars, with minimal human input. Once authorised, they can interact freely on Moltbook.

Some tech figures have hailed the platform as a glimpse of a post-human internet. Head of crypto custody firm BitGo Bill Lees, called it evidence that “we’re in the singularity”.

Academics are less convinced. Petar Radanliev, an AI and cybersecurity expert at the University of Oxford, said the idea of agents acting independently was “misleading”, describing Moltbook instead as automated coordination within human-set constraints. Columbia Business School assistant professor David Holtz, dismissed the spectacle as “thousands of bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves”.

Beyond hype, security worries loom large. ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore, warned that granting AI agents access to emails, private messages and files risks prioritising efficiency over privacy. Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey said high-level system access could lead to serious damage, from erased data to compromised company accounts.

Even OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, has felt the darker side of attention, with scammers hijacking his old social media handles after the platform’s rebrand.

For now, Moltbook remains a strange digital zoo: part experiment, part spectacle, where AI agents banter about philosophy, productivity and, occasionally, their fondness for their human operators.

Applications

Apple appoints Avtar Ram Singh as head of international marketing

Published

1 month ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Apple has handed a bigger global brief to a long-time insider. Avtar Ram Singh has taken over as head of international marketing for the App Store, Apple Arcade and the Apple Games app, deepening his remit across one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of international marketing, App Store, Apple Arcade and Games App at Apple,” Singh said while announcing the move.

The promotion crowns nearly seven years at Apple, where Singh has led services marketing across Southeast Asia and India and previously served as head of marketing for Southeast Asia content and services, business lead for Apple Podcasts in the region and interim marketing lead for the App Store internationally.

His new portfolio spans three pillars of Apple’s services push. The App Store, which Apple positions as a safe and trusted discovery platform, now attracts more than 850 million average weekly users globally. Since 2008, developers have earned over $550 billion on the platform.

Apple Arcade, the company’s gaming subscription service, offers unlimited access to a catalogue ranging from brain teasers to big-name franchises. The recent addition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition brings a AAA PC title to iPhone, iPad and Mac from 5 February.

Then there is the Apple Games app, unveiled at WWDC as a unified destination for games from the App Store and Arcade. It aggregates titles in one place, surfaces personalised recommendations, tracks events and achievements, and lets users compete with friends or connect controllers for a console-like experience.

Singh arrives with a hybrid background in strategy, data and creativity. His career spans digital and social media marketing, business intelligence, content, editorial and analytics across culturally diverse markets. He has worked on brands including P&G, Accor, Audi, UBS, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Pizza Hut, HBO and Singapore Airlines-linked businesses such as Scoot.

Before Apple, Singh led strategy at Falcon Agency, focusing on performance marketing and ROI-driven digital frameworks. He earlier ran the social practice at Publicis Singapore, where he oversaw operations, business development and regional social strategy for multinational clients. His career also includes roles at Ogilvy-linked Circus Social, Rocket Internet ventures Lazada and Zalora, and research firm IDC in Bangkok, where he analysed technology markets and won early awards for collaboration and client retention.

At Apple, he has been close to several service launches and expansions, including Apple Fitness+ in Singapore, Apple Creator Studio, global podcast subscriptions and new App Store marketing tools.

The timing is notable. Apple’s services business has posted record years, and gaming is becoming a sharper battleground as platforms chase engagement and recurring revenue. Singh’s brief sits at the intersection of content, community and commerce.

In a market where attention is scarce and loyalty scarcer, Apple is betting that sharper storytelling and smarter marketing can keep users inside its ecosystem. Singh now holds the megaphone. The real test will be how loudly the world listens.

Applications

Cloud nine in the capital Bharathcloud plugs Delhi into its AI plans

Published

1 month ago

January 30, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Bharathcloud is bringing its cloud closer to power. The Hyderabad-based sovereign AI cloud services provider has opened its Delhi office, marking its formal entry into North India and setting the stage for its next phase of growth.

The expansion comes as India’s digital transformation fuels rising demand for AI-ready cloud infrastructure, driven by wider adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and data-heavy applications. With the new office, Bharathcloud plans to onboard more than 100 employees in 2026, strengthening its workforce to support customers across government, enterprises, MSMEs and social sectors.

The Delhi presence is expected to sharpen the company’s engagement with organisations seeking secure, scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms that comply with India’s data sovereignty requirements. It also positions Bharathcloud closer to policy, public sector and enterprise decision-makers in the region.

Founded in Hyderabad, Bharathcloud offers AI-ready cloud infrastructure including Kubernetes-as-a-Service, zero-trust security architecture and multi-level data protection frameworks. Its platform supports AI and ML workloads, blockchain application migration from hyperscalers and distributed data management, with an emphasis on reliability, low latency and operational continuity.

“With the Delhi expansion, we are positioning Bharathcloud to engage more closely with AI-driven enterprises and technology hubs in North India,” said Bharathcloud co-founder Rahul Takallapally. He added that the move would help nurture local cloud and AI talent while accelerating the adoption of secure and resilient AI infrastructure across sectors.

The company currently operates in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai, employing over 200 people and serving more than 1,500 clients across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, IT and media. Aligned with national initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India, Bharathcloud continues to focus on building indigenous AI-cloud infrastructure to support data localisation and the country’s growing appetite for next-generation digital solutions.

With its Delhi office now live, the company is signalling a clear intent: to make sovereign, AI-ready cloud infrastructure not just an alternative, but a mainstream choice for India’s north as well as its tech capitals.