Customer Complaints Resolved Same Day Instead of One Month... LGU+ Introduces MSA Technology to IPTV

Application of IPTV Platform System Partitioning Technology
7x Faster Development Speed... Innovation in Customer Experience

LG Uplus is innovating the customer experience of Internet TV (IPTV) by applying 'MSA (Microservice Architecture)' technology, which operates the platform system by subdividing it into smaller units. Previously, customer complaints that took up to a month to resolve can now be addressed as quickly as the same day.

On the 1st, LG Uplus held a study session on IPTV platform design technology and announced that it has applied MSA technology to the IPTV U+tv and mobile TV platforms. This has enhanced the stability of media platform operations and significantly improved IPTV quality.

Jae-yong Jang, Head of MSA Service Development Lab at LG Uplus, presenting at the IPTV platform design technology study [Photo by LG Uplus]

MSA is a design (Architecture) technology that operates the IPTV platform by dividing it into small service (Microservice) units. By separating the system into small application units, the scope of modifications becomes easier and clearer. It can increase development speed and minimize the scope of failures when problems occur, making it a core technology for next-generation platforms.

Jang Jaeyong, head of the MSA Service Development Lab at LG Uplus, said, "In the past, resolving customer complaints was delayed from a minimum of several weeks to up to a month. Now, simple complaints can be handled on the same day they are received. Problems are resolved within 1 to 2 days at the latest." For example, if traffic suddenly increases in a short time, server expansion can be done within 5 minutes.

The existing IPTV platform was operated using a monolithic approach, developing the system as one large service. While the monolithic method is easy to develop and deploy initially, as system functions become complex, interdependencies arise within modules. Even minor additions or changes require modifications across multiple areas of the platform, and partial issues can lead to system-wide failures. Applying modifications to the actual platform also takes a long time.

LG Uplus began applying MSA technology to the IPTV platform in May 2021. After about 20 rounds of work over two years, the process was completed last month. To minimize customer inconvenience, a sequential transition method was adopted, providing uninterrupted service during the work.

With the introduction of MSA, LG Uplus expects effects such as ▲7-fold improvement in development speed ▲rapid resolution of customer quality complaints within 1 to 2 days ▲capability and environment to deploy applications hundreds of times a day ▲cloud infrastructure setup within 1 to 2 hours ▲prevention of quality degradation due to massive access. The company plans to innovate the IPTV usage experience by easily adding or improving new functions or services and quickly resolving inconveniences.

Among various services, LG Uplus first transitioned IPTV, which has high competitiveness and close customer interaction, to MSA. The next target is the DSS system, which is also undergoing MSA transition. Additionally, MSA will be applied to the frontend that customers directly use and interact with.

To this end, the company is continuously expanding its developer workforce. Lab head Jang said, "Currently, there are about 100 development engineers in the technical organization, and we plan to continue hiring."

Lee Sangyeop, CTO (Executive Vice President) of LG Uplus, said, "To strengthen IPTV viewing quality that customers can feel, we applied cloud-based MSA technology, enabling quick responses to customer voices. LG Uplus plans to continuously secure development talent and technological capabilities to transform into a platform operator, innovating the service quality of the entire company by expanding not only IPTV and mobile TV usage experiences but also various services."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.