Nortel Unveils Multi-Vendor "End-to-End" IPTV Solution

At the TelcoTV conference in San Diego earlier this month, Canadian telecommunications equipment giant, Nortel, launched what it says is an end-to-end IPTV solution, assembled through partnerships with a number of providers in the IPTV ecosystem. According to the company, the solution consists of a choice of IPTV middleware from Minerva or Orca Interactive; a choice of VOD technology from Kasenna or BitBand; content-security technology from Irdeto Access; a choice of encoders from Harmonic or Optibase; a Web-browser interface from Espial; digital program insertion (DPI) technology from Terayon; an emergency alert system from Trilithic; xDSL modems from Westell; and set-top boxes from Amino. Nortel says that it has conducted extensive testing of the solution's various component technologies at its IPTV lab in Ottawa, in order to ensure that all the technologies are interoperable and that the solution is reliable and secure. The company plans to support and sell the solution itself, in tandem with its Ultra Broadband access network: it says it will serve as a "single point of contact" for managing an operator's entire network build-out, and that it will offer a broad range of professional services, designed to remove the risks associated with planning, operating and managing an IPTV network. Versions of the solution are available for both the North American (ANSI) and European (ETSI) markets.

The solution also integrates Nortel's SIP-based multimedia communications technology, allowing IPTV subscribers to use their TV sets to interact with other subscribers through such media as voice, instant messaging, video and picture sharing. Nortel says that the solution also works with wireless devices such as PDA's and mobile phones. "Nortel strives to provide more than a superior IPTV network for our customers," Walt Megura, Nortel's general manager for broadband networks, said in a prepared statement. "Our goal is to enable new and exciting IPTV applications that give our customers a competitive advantage to win and retain IPTV subscribers. "By using a Nortel solution with our ecosystem partners, service providers can benefit from a complete solution that has been extensively tested to help ensure high levels of end-to-end reliability, security, and cross-solution management."

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