Tell us something about the company. Its area of business, product and service portfolio etc…

IneoQuest has grown from a test and measurement platform provider into a solutions provider focusing exclusively on video solutions. The company started operations in 2001 by aligning its business with companies such as Spirent Communications and Axia Communications. However, we soon realised that the video space offered huge opportunities and decided to focus exclusively on video testing.

Thereafter, during 2005-06, we expanded our portfolio to include video monitoring as during that time we started working with several service providers who were deploying IP video. At the time, the uptake of IP video was growing at a rapid pace in markets like North America and Europe.

Over the years, IneoQuest has build up a system that offers end-to-end video network intelligence, covering video acquisition, multicast etc. The system provides quality video and a high-level view of service delivery of the entire infrastructure.

Our products and solutions are capable of capturing the performance of multiple assets present across the entire infrastructure network. Such a capability is increasingly becoming important for our clients particularly service providers, cable operators and satellite providers. Using this capability the management of these companies can take an informed investment decision which is based on the exact status of assets across the company’s network. By deploying our solutions, a company can easily identify those assets in its infrastructure network which face issues. Further, these solutions also assist clients in zeroing in on information such as whether the problem regarding the asset in question is specific to a location, time period or a particular user base, and thus, accordingly address the issue.

What are the key trends which would encourage the adoption of the company’s video monitoring and quality assurance solutions in regions such as the Southeast Asia and India?

Over the last few years, IneoQuest has managed to add a few big clients from these regions to its portfolio. In Southeast Asia, we are working with players such as SingTel and Maxis Communications, among others.

In India, we are in the process of exploring opportunities to participate in a number of tenders for IPTV projects. The Indian market is witnessing a significant shift towards the adoption of video over http. IneoQuest believes that this offers a great opportunity for content providers to reach end-customers. At the same time, service providers can also tap this opportunity and offer a feature rich service play, in comparison to their competitors.

Currently, IneoQuest’s presence in the Southeast Asian region is limited to a few markets. What are IneoQuest’s plans to enter into emerging markets like Vietnam and Indonesia?

We are in the running for a few businesses in Vietnam, where the company is in the process of responding to tenders for few projects. IneoQuest is also working in countries like Thailand and Malaysia. In these emerging markets, the company operates through its partner Rich Media Techno Group.

What will be the key growth drivers for the video market?

The service providers’ ability to differentiate themselves is going to drive this market. The companies which currently do not own content need to focus on creating value as accessing content from multiple sources is becoming increasingly easy for customers. Today, customers have the option of accessing content from YouTube and over-the-top (OTT) players etc.

Thus, operators have to enrich their service portfolio to avoid becoming a mere pipe provider. In order to enhance their service portfolios, service providers can undertake multiple strategies such as creating a better environment through applications, providing seamless delivery of services through mobile and offering content through a set top box.  Service providers should explore value added features to enhance the consumer experience. Most of the value added services revolve around smooth delivery of video. The aim is to deliver more video using limited infrastructure.

What are the factors responsible for the slow uptake of video in India?

We see better reorganisation taking place in India. For example, Reliance Communications is re-evaluating few of its investments outside of India and focusing on their core investment within the country. So far, Indian telecom players have been waiting for technologies that can deliver video in areas where the network is not strong enough to support such services. With the launch of 3G and long term evolution (LTE) services, customers in India can now avail of high quality video services. And as an increasing number of operators introduce LTE, India will witness increased uptake of video-based services by users.

In fact, these are interesting times because technology has reached a stage where industry stakeholders can focus on propagating it to more underdeveloped markets than was possible in the past. Extending the reach of video to distant places has become a lot more cost effective.

Who are your key competitors and how do you differentiate from them?

IneoQuest provides end-to-end video network intelligence including linear and adaptive multi rate streaming solutions. Other players in the same segment are BridgeTech Inc, Gamma Network Solutions and Tektronix.

Also present are various local manufacturers catering to specific markets. Over the last few years, several players have emerged in China who are offering their clients extremely low cost solutions based on their ability to create software. At present, nine out of top ten worldwide service providers are using IneoQuest’s products and solutions. Globally, the company caters to 550 clients.

Where does the Southeast Asia and India figure in the company’s business strategy over the next two to three years?

We continue to grow beyond our traditional market which is primarily North America. Over the last two years, the company has expanded its presence significantly.

Going forward, we see Asia and India as the key markets where IneoQuest can expand. This entails leveling out the market. Since different markets have swings and dips, as company seeking growth opportunities, it is important to expand its reach to be able to benefit from this phenomenon. We have a presence in various countries like Russia, Ukraine, Beijing and Latin America.

What is the contribution of Southeast Asian region in terms of market share to the company’s topline. And going forward do you see it increasing significantly?

At present, the Southeast Asian market contributes nearly 15 to 20 per cent to the company’s topline. I believe that over the next two to three years the market share can easily increase to 30 to 35 per cent. I am hopeful because countries in the region support large populations where majority of the consumers have the potential to consume large volumes of video. Further, we see the competition in the service provisioning space is growing. . And as the competition grows the need for quality and quality assurance would create further business opportunities for IneoQuest.

Do you see any regulatory or nationalistic policy derailing and challenging the expected growth in the market?

On the contrary, I believe that country specific policies are actually encouraging the market. Even in places such as China where we have traditionally seen segregated delivery of services, competition has made inroads. We see global players and local cable companies providing video services to users.  In fact, there are a lot of efforts from governments to explore the potential offered by the country’s existing telecommunications and IT infrastructure to promote economic growth. Such developments in turn are supporting launch of new technologies and encouraging consumption of video.

What is your assessment of the regulatory and policy environment in India?

Service providers in India too are realising the importance of reaching out to vast population which has the capability of supporting data services. India serves as a prime market to understand the growing demand for video and the delivery mechanism for the same. Young people in India have access to new technology. The users have better education and better paying jobs and they have multiple sources to get the content of their choice.

How do you ensure that there is a greater uptake of your products by government especially in developing countries for developing and promoting public infrastructure services?

Traditionally, IneoQuest never had a huge play in the government space. We do offer video surveillance products in this space, however this business has never been big for the company. At the same time, the company always had a fairly decent market share in public access and government sponsored television programmes.

What about sectors like education or health?

Since, there is no sense of competition within the video delivery of education, there does not exist a huge push to promote such products in this segment. Moreover, from education perspective it is not easy to shift to new sources for the content. Thus, players do not feel the need to spend huge amount of money on ensuring quality video.

IneoQuest steps in whenever educational or health institutes and other industries face issues with delivery or face overheads. We help companies overshoot troubles in these segments. But solutions that are being provided to these industries are significantly smaller in scope than those offered to cable operators or telecom operators or satellite providers.