Video is a major challenge for the future Internet. This traffic type is foreseen to account for close to 90 percent of consumer traffic already by 2012. However, the current Internet, and in particular the mobile Internet, was not designed with video requirements in mind and, as a consequence, its architecture is very inefficient when handling video traffic. It is the vision of this consortium that, as video is going to represent the majority of the traffic, the future Internet architecture should be tailored to efficiently support the requirements of this traffic type. Specific enhancements for video should be introduced at all layers of the protocol stack where needed, ideally supporting an incremental deployment.

Following the above vision, the main goal of the project is to evolve the Internet architecture for efficient video traffic support. The proposed architecture will follow a cross-layer design that, by exploiting the interaction between layers, can raise performance to values unattainable with individual developments. The following key issues will be addressed by the architecture: i) enhanced wireless access support to optimise video performance, ii) novel IP mobility architecture adapted to the requirements of video traffic, iii) transport optimisations for video distribution and iv) network-aware video services that interact with the underlying layers.

The technology developed by the project will be designed taking into account the requirements of network operators for commercial deployment, and will aim at improving the Quality of Experience by users as well as reducing the associated costs for operators. Standardization and early incremental testing are considered key success factors for MEDIEVAL.

The consortium is well balanced and combines the integrated perspectives of three mobile operators, a major manufacturer and an innovative video technology company, in addition to leading academic partners and research institutes.