itvt

Integra5, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based company that specializes
in technologies for converged services, announced last month that
Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (PTCI), a quad-play provider
that offers both IPTV and digital cable services in Oklahoma and
Texas, has become the first operator to launch personalized
multi-device converged services based on Integra5’s TV and PC
“Picture” Caller-ID applications. The applications, which are powered
by Integra5’s i5 Converged Services Platform (CSP), can be customized
by end-users via an operator-branded “i5 Customer Control Portal”:
subscribers log into their accounts on the portal, located on the
operator’s Web site, in order to personalize their TV and PC caller-ID
notifications by adding photos and setting tones, nicknames, fonts and
colors (note: the portal also allows subscribers to customize various
other device and service-management features). PTCI is offering
TV-based caller-ID service, branded as “OnScreen Caller-ID,” to
customers who subscribe to its digital TV and telephone caller-ID
services, and offering PC-based caller-ID service to its high-speed
Internet customers for an extra $3 per month. “PTCI offered a basic TV
caller-ID application in the past,” PTCI CEO, Ron Strecker, said in a
prepared statement. “However, in this increasingly intense competitive
environment, it became clear that we needed a long-term strategy for
rapidly delivering new, differentiated services to our customers on an
ongoing basis. The i5 CSP has allowed us to lay a foundation for the
efficient, continuous rollout of new applications–starting with TV and
PC caller-ID–that our subscribers can personalize and manage across
TVs, PC’s and mobile phones.” Added Integra5 CEO, Meredith
Flynn-Ripley (note: for an in-depth interview with Flynn-Ripley, see
[itvt] Issue 7.46): “The ability to blend the bundle across multiple
devices and put subscribers in charge of their experience with
personalization and call control–as we’ve seen in the mobile
industry–represents the next generation of converged communications.
By enabling operators like PTCI to rapidly launch an infinite number of
new applications that extend personalization and management features,
the i5 CSP moves bundled services beyond commodity status through a
unique, differentiated subscriber experience, proven to drive retention.”

According to Integra5, the i5CSP also provides end-users with active
call control, allowing them to manage PC and TV caller-ID
notifications (for example, by pressing a button to ignore a call or
divert it to voicemail, selecting which TV’s and PC’s receive the
service, and viewing call logs that list names, numbers, dates and times
associated with incoming calls). The platform’s other customers include
Knology, WideOpenWest, BVU OptiNet, Comporium, EATEL,
Everest, Foothills Telephone Cooperative and Hargray.