--Sonaecom to Trial the New Platform
Ericsson has launched what it claims is "the world's IMS-integrated IPTV middleware." The company bills the new platform as enabling a standards-based (it says it is aligned with the Open IPTV Forum's specifications), end-to-end IPTV solution that supports ease of integration and allows operators to choose between best-of-breed vendors. It claims that a number of TV technology providers have already pre-integrated consumer devices, content protection solutions, video servers and applications software with its solution; and describes it as bringing together various of its core products--including IPTV network infrastructure, video processing solutions and VOD technologies, as well as the new IMS-enabled IPTV middleware--with products from such companies as Accedo Broadband, Agama Technologies, Amino, HP, SecureMedia, Sun Microsystems, Tilgin, Verimatrix and ZyXEL. "Ericsson has combined its leading network solutions, digital television solutions, consulting and systems integration capabilities, with key industry partners, to launch an industry-shaping TV platform that delivers on the vision of the Individual TV Experience," Ericsson's head of TV solutions, Eric Cooney, said in a prepared statement. "Our focus is on enabling operators to differentiate their TV offerings and offer innovative services that attract, retain and excite the consumer. Our new IPTV middleware has been designed in line with open standards so that it can fully interoperate with third-party suppliers. This means that as prime integrator, we can offer our customers a choice of best-in-class, fully-tested products, as part of a pre-integrated end-to-end system."
Earlier this month, Ericsson announced that it had signed an agreement with Portuguese triple-play provider, Sonaecom, for a deployment that includes the first trial of the new IMS-integrated IPTV middleware. Under the terms of the "prime integrator" agreement, Ericsson has upgraded Sonaecom's IPTV system by delivering and integrating a new end-to-end solution; the solution consists of the new middleware and other Ericsson technologies, as well as Tandberg Television's HD and SD video processing platform. The deployment and trial have already begun. Ericsson claims that its new middleware will enable Sonaecom to quickly create, test and deploy new TV services, including interactive applications and mobile functionality. "Creating the Individual TV Experience requires a combination of skills taken from the world of telecoms and television," Jan Wareby, SVP and head of Ericsson's Multimedia Business Unit, said in a prepared statement. "This experience must reach wider than just television, further than just mobile, and beyond the limits of fixed-line networks. Helping operators to address this is central to Ericsson's TV solutions offering. This new IPTV ecosystem is transforming the worlds of communications and entertainment to deliver an open, carrier-class TV solution that drives the future of truly converged and blended services."
