Datacenters as broadcasters? Not as far-fetched as it would have seemed a scant couple of years ago.

If Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services like AT&T U-verse take off in the U.S., where subscribers expect home theater quality HD video and sound delivered to their couches over the Internet, then those datacenters have their work cut out for them. To you and me that may sound like making heavy investments in infrastructure, servers and storage, with energy bills to match.

Not so fast…

Microsoft says a mix of Mediaroom and Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 can help keep costs in check for smaller IPTV roll-outs. Indeed, the company says that the blend can result in a “sixfold reduction in the number of physical servers required to support a full-featured IPTV service.” That has the potential of translating into full IPTV service for 30,000 subscriber homes per market powered by fewer than ten physical servers.

Of course, I’d like to see the hardware requirements for those servers. Nonetheless, it doesn’t take away from adding virtualization support to an IPTV platform, for which they are claiming a first.

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