Web applications that target Internet-enabled TV consumer electronics have different development requirements than PCs, PDAs or smartphones. Differing degrees of standards support inhibit the entry of small businesses into the market — a problem the W3TV project aims to resolve.
Industry’s inadequate adoption of existing technology standards in this
field has benefited major software development companies rather than
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An EU-funded initiative, the
W3TV
project, will evolve a set of software engineering methodologies and
tools to allow European software SMEs to easily enter the market of
applications development for Internet-enabled TV consumer electronics
(TV-CEs) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). It will also enable
them to easily migrate their applications across different platforms.
The SMEs will only need know-how regarding the development of
applications on top of a reference platform, to be defined by the
project on the basis of existing standards.
In the first project year, the project team analysed the state of the art of Internet-enabled TV platforms, applications and development tools. They also surveyed SMEs to collect and define user requirements, and, on the basis of all the information gathered, they defined the W3TV technical requirements. These were used for definition of the W3TV Toolset architecture and the Platform Description Model (PDM).
A first version of the W3TV Toolset has been designed and developed, which includes the Platform Migration Toolset as well as the Application Transformation tool. The PDM is platform-specific and is created during the platform migration process to describe how the reference platform is mapped on a TV platform.
Based on feedback from participating SMEs, project partners have defined a set of applications to be developed, including a Travel Guide application, a User Generated Content application and a Video-On-Demand application. A first version of the latter has been designed and implemented.
In subsequent project work, appropriate business models will be defined, with an emphasis on the role of SME associations. These models will support exploitation of W3TV results, with a focus on the commercialisation of platform migration services. Overall, project efforts can help reduce investment in software engineering tools and the associated risks, as well as dependence on TV-CE manufacturers and IPTV platform providers. Additionally, new sales channels will be created, translating to the potential for new revenues and enhanced competitiveness for European software SMEs.
EN 
CS
DE
ES
FR
HU
IT
PL
PT
РУ
SK
TR
УК
AR
中文
