News Round-Up

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

• Alcatel-Lucent has launched Triple Play Express (TPE), which it bills as a "solution for regional operators, allowing them to drive incremental revenues, compete more effectively and position themselves for the future by cost-effectively providing state-of-the-art voice, data and IP video services to local and regional communities--all while building a foundation for the delivery of even more advanced IP-based applications." According to the company, the solution "is tailored to regionally focused operators, utilities and municipalities in North America, all of whom want to avoid installing a system that is too large or too complex for their needs. Instead," Alcatel-Lucent continues, "they are looking for an end-to-end solution to quickly launch interactive TV services--fitting the size of their subscriber base and providing them with the foundation for delivering other revenue-generating, IP-based applications at a later stage." TPE, the company claims, "is the first packaged end-to-end IP video solution that meets these stringent requirements."
• Calix says that it is demo'ing new interactive IPTV applications enabled by Microsoft Mediaroom in its booth (501) at the TelcoTV show in Orlando this week. According to the company, the demo's will include "security monitoring and caller ID applications created by Microsoft Certified Integration Partner 180Squared using the Mediaroom application development platform, Mediaroom Presentation Framework"; as well as "an advanced home entertainment experience enabled by Microsoft Mediaroom for Xbox 360 and Cisco set-top box consoles, across [Calix's] Unified Access Infrastructure."
• Envivio has announced that Bosnian telco, BH Telecom, has launched an IPTV service based on a complete IPTV headend from the company. According to the company, the service, which was built by systems integrator/middleware vendor, Smart Com, enables BH Telecom to offer a full suite of live and on-demand channels, complete with an EPG, PVR and various other interactive features to its approximately 2 million subscribers.
• Ericsson and its subsidiary, Tandberg Television, say that they are showcasing solutions for delivering HD content and multiplatform TV in their joint booth (701) at TelcoTV. According to the companies, visitors to their booth "will see the debut of the IPTV industry's densest multiformat HD/SD encoder/transcoder, award-winning content management system, enhanced IPTV end-to-end solution and connected home gateway. "
• EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering has launched BrixVision, an end-to-end solution for IP video service assurance. "One exceptional aspect of EXFO's BrixVision," the company claims in its press materials for the new solution, "is its support for over-the-top (OTT) IP video service assurance. This exclusive functionality," the company continues, "enables providers to monitor the availability and quality of their video services over their content delivery network (CDN). The capability also allows service providers to assure IP video services transferred over the Internet with the same powerful tools they use to monitor their private networks."
• Harmonic and Falcon IP/Complete have announced that Butler-Bremer Communications, a cable operator based in Iowa, has selected the IP/Complete "bird to box" video solution and Harmonic's Direct-2 Edge solution for its new cable IPTV service. "Our overall goal is to provide a unique IPTV service via multiple distribution networks--cable TV, Twisted Pair Copper and FTTH," Butler-Bremer CEO, Richard McBurney, said in a prepared statement. "The Falcon IP/Complete total IPTV system and Harmonic's Direct-2-Edge solution provide the best option in terms of value, quality and reliability, as well as ease of implementation and operation." Harmonic has also announced that Santa Barbara Utilities has selected its solutions--including its Ion AVC HD encoders, ProStream 1000 stream processing platform, StreamLiner video servers, Armada intelligent asset management and NMX Digital Service Manager--for a new broadcast and on-demand IPTV service at the Santa Barbara Plantation Resort Community in Curacao.
• IneoQuest has announced the expansion of its product line for optimizing Microsoft Mediaroom operations.
• Latens says that Utah-based Emery Telcom has launched IPTV services powered by its ECO middleware and preintegrated conditional access system. The deployment sees the technology working in conjunction with ADB set-top boxes and an Avail-TVN headend.
• Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility business has announced: 1) operations support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) integration solutions for IPTV deployments with Microsoft Mediaroom; 2) the expansion of its NBBS remote device management software platform to include Microsoft Mediaroom-certified set-top boxes; and 3) a deal to supply its VIP1200 IP set-tops and Microsoft Mediaroom systems integration services to Farmers Telephone Cooperative.
• MySpace says that it will offer exclusive live streaming red-carpet coverage of the November 16th premiere of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." According to the company, "viewers will also be able to take part by posting comments or questions to the 'Twilight Saga: New Moon' premiere MySpace page that may then be presented to the celebrities during the broadcast." In addition, the winner of a "Red Carpet Correspondent Contest" will conduct interviews on the red carpet during the live stream and attend the premiere, MySpace says.
• Rovi has launched a digital media discovery and connectivity solution for cars. According to the company, the solution--a combination of its Lasso media recognition software and Connected Platform networking technology--"provides descriptive details on CD's, DVD's, Blu-ray Discs, and digital files played in the car" and "treats the infotainment system in the car as another device connected to the home network," allowing "the transfer and sharing of digital content for enjoying on the go."
• Zeugma Systems and Skitter have announced a partnership which they claim enables them to offer a joint solution that "enables broadband operators to deploy compelling entertainment services at a fraction of the cost of traditional IPTV." According to the companies, their joint solution "combines the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN), a service delivery router providing subscriber management, edge routing, and broadband aggregation in a carrier-class, high-performance platform, with Skitter's http://www.Skitter.TV, a set of video technologies to encode, configure, deliver, and monetize Internet and linear TV services. The ZSN automatically detects streaming content from Skitter.TV and, depending on subscriber policy, allocates bandwidth for that stream across the broadband network," the companies say, adding that "alternatively, broadband subscribers can dynamically alter their downstream bandwidth using Zeugma's SmartBoost application, in order to maximize video quality for both standard- and high-definition streams." According to Zeugma president and CEO, Andrew Harries, the joint solution "rounds out the over-the-top (OTT) approach to video delivery. What has thus far been lacking from the wide array of primarily on-demand OTT systems," he continued in a prepared statement, "is live television broadcasts, something subscribers demand before pulling the linear TV plug. Skitter.TV adds that vital element and affords broadband service providers a compelling alternative to IPTV."