In-Stat/MDR reports that the worldwide IP/DSL set-top box (STB) market is expected to grow to over seven million units and more than $700 million revenue by 2008. Despite the segment's rosy outlook, 2003 was the first year any IP/DSL STB maker shipped over 100,000 units in a single year.

The growth will be driven by the increasing popularity of telephone company-supplied video services, the market research firm says.

In a recently released research report, In-stat/MDR finds that:

• The market will grow to 1.3 million unit shipments in 2004.
• Most of the shipments and revenue will come from Europe and Asia where telephone company (telco) TV activity is greatest
• The stepped-up activity has caused IP/DSL set top box manufacturers to develop new product models. Many have expanded their product lines to include several models rather than only one.
• Increased volumes are bringing the costs of IP/DSL set top boxes down. Basic boxes can be found for less than $100 today as compared with $150 last year.
• There are multiple models available today capable of decoding the H.264 and Windows Media Video 9 advanced video compression schemes.

The report, titled IP/DSL Set Top Boxes: Benefiting from the Rise in Telco TV, contains analysis and forecasts of IP/DSL set top box markets in various categories and regions of the world from 2003-2008, and also includes analysis of products and strategies of major operating system and middleware vendors. Further details are available online.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.