Nokia Siemens Network Launches Platform to Enable "TV on Any Screen, on-Demand"

At the IPTV World Forum in London, Tuesday, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) launched a new software platform that it bills as "allow[ing] people the freedom to watch TV on multiple devices" and as promising "TV on any screen, on-demand." According to the company, the new--as yet apparently unnamed--platform lets operators provide live or on-demand TV to mobiles, Internet-connected computers, and satellite or digital terrestrial platforms; offers an open platform for creating new applications; and provides remote PVR, catch-up TV, operator-to-subscriber messaging, faster channel-changes, and enhanced IPTV picture stability. "This new software platform lets subscribers enjoy video content and manage it in a consistent way, whether inside or outside the home," Brook Longdon, NSN's head of media and entertainment solutions, said in a prepared statement. "By offering quality video on a range of different devices, across different networks, and by providing an open environment for app development, we free operators to partner with developers without being bound to any one vendor's roadmaps and to differentiate their service."

While enabling a consistent user experience across a range of devices and networks is "compelling for the consumer" because it offers simplicity, NSN says, delivering content in this way can be complex and operationally costly for the operator. The company claims that the new platform resolves this issue by supporting different environments from a single, cost-efficient control point based on the DVB-IPTV and Open IPTV Forum Baseline Managed Profile specifications.

NSN says that the platform supports several types of network PVR, including user-controlled and operator-controlled recording, in order to "allow flexibility in business models and in navigating content rights issues." The platform also includes enhancements to NSN's Interactive Applications toolkit, the company says, enabling faster application development and time-to-market, and greater flexibility in terms of user interface customization. Other elements of the new platform highlighted by NSN include network-based catch-up TV, whereby previously shown content is automatically made available for later viewing.