Microsoft is teaming up with Alcatel - the company that developed Amigo TV, a community TV application, and the world's leading DSL equipment provider - to try and carve itself a slice of the fast-emerging TV and video-over-broadband market.
The two companies yesterday confirmed they've entered a global agreement to accelerate the availability of TV over IP (IPTV) for broadband operators.
It is a marriage made in technology heaven: Alcatel is a leader in broadband, in networking over IP, and in the growth and integration of multimedia and end-to-end video while Microsoft is a leader in software for TV.
The sorts of services the partnership hopes to facilitate include video streaming on-demand, interactive TV, video and voice communications, photos, music and home video sharing, and online gaming.
Analysts say that the chief aim of the partnership will be to tie up agreements with as many of the world's top 20 operators as possible, who between them account for between 60-70% of the world's access lines. On a conference call yesterday, Moshe Lichtman, VP of Microsoft's TV division, confirmed that "with Alcatel we will be able to target those [top operators] much more effectively."
Internet Protocol television is the accepted term for the notion of TV and/or video signals distributed to subscribers using Internet protocols - often in parallel with the subscriber's Internet connection, supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure and possibly bandwidth.
The playback of IPTV generally requires either a personal computer or a "set-top box" connected to a TV.
In a joint statement the two companies declared that their global collaboration agreement was aimed at accelerating the availability of next-generation IPTV service offerings by broadband operators globally and that the integrated IPTV delivery solution, once developed, would help reduce the deployment costs and time-to-market period for IPTV service producers.
"Together, Alcatel and Microsoft will usher in a new generation of exciting entertainment, information and communication services, enabled by the marriage of powerful broadband networks and advanced software," said Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer.
"We are committed to integrate the current Alcatel video solutions with Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, resulting in a market-leading integrated offering," added Alcatel Chief Executive Serge Tchuruk.
About i-Technology News Desk SYS-CON's i-Technology News Desk trawls the world of Internet technologies for news and innovations and presents IT professionals with updates on technology advances, business trends, new products and standards.
Ravi wrote: Check out htt
p://www.indiaJobPlace.com
(IndiaJobPlace.com)
IndiaJobplace.com
searches jobs posted on
major India Job Portals
and newspapers (
currently
more than
3,50,000 jobs are posted
on IndiaJobPlace.com (htt
p://www.indiaJobPlace.com
) and
thousands of jobs are
added everday.)
You dont have to go to
multiple job sites to
search for jobs posted.
IndiaJobPlace.com does
that for you and shows
you jobs from all the job
portals in one place!
You can do a search on
IndiaJobPlace (http://www
.IndiaJobPlace.com) by
location and keyword
easliy with one click can
even email the job
results to yourself or
anyone that you know!
They also provide a way
to filter the job results
by the job board.
Try IndiaJobPlace.com
Its cool! and its free
no advertisements or
annonying pop ups!
henkepek wrote: without
every user having
broadband ....it SUX.
i can tell...coz i tried
it ....i have
broadband,and my IP
provider,whom i have
telephone + internet via
cable from, last week
started to launch
streaming TV ( videofilms
on demand).... for
starters ,i could chose a
free film to look at
...but if i go over my 10
Gigs a month ,they put me
on smallband....and they
did ...lol...so ...if i
wanted speed again on my
regular
internetconnection i had
to pay more(1 Gig/1
euro)......
Suburbanpride wrote:
Microsoft probably has
the cash to muscle out
(or buy out) a lot of
start ups in this area,
but It wouldn't suprise
me to see someone like
apple, or maybe someone
less consumer oriented
like cisco stand up to
microsoft and not let
them take the market
without a fight. Apple
has a patent out on an
implementation of TV in
quicktime.
EmbeddedJanitor wrote:
###elid commented on 23
February 2005:
The real question is how
much will something like
this cost to the
consumer? ###
The other question: how
crap will this be? Given
the problems involved in
doing VoIP, the mind
boggles as HDTVoIP with
its far bigger hunger for
hbandwidth.
moosesocks wrote: Verizon
has far more ambitious
plans.
They are in the process
of wiring several states
with Fiber lines to the
home to provide phone,
internet, and in the
future, television (most
likely provided by some
form of DirecTV due to
verizon's recent dealings
with DirecTV).
I believe service is
already live in a few
cities with reported
speeds of 50mbps
down/15mbps up. All for
about $60/month.
This regulation should
speed up deployment in a
few states such as NJ,
which have the networks
in place but cannot be
turned on due to the
regulatory hell that is
NJ telecom.
DumbSwede wrote:
Broadcast is dying, I
think this year is the
tipping point (at least
it is for me). With the
exception of live events
like Sports and News why
would you need
simultaneous broadcast
over the air? Storage is
large and cheap and
getting more so. Download
your favorite programs
and watch them at leisure
on a portable player.
I had thought this was at
least 10 years away, but
inevitable. Perhaps it is
now only 4 or 5 years
away.
PhillC wrote: You're
still probably watching
"NTSC" based HD TV. Most
HD broadcasts in the US
today are in what's known
as 1080/59.94i (to give
it its full name).
"1080i" stands for
resolution of 1920x1080
pixels and the magic
little 'i' means that the
video is being
interlaced. The "59.94",
which is usually just
rounded up to 60, refers
to the Hz refresh rate.
NTSC is at 60Hz, while
PAL is generally at 50Hz.
Plus, most of the shows
your watching have
probably been upconverted
from Standard Definition
(SD). Granted, there's
still a quality
improvement over SD for
upconverted footage, but
it will largely depend on
the originating format.
So if a fairly newish
show was originally
produced on 16mm or 35mm
file, or even DigiBeta
tape, the upconversion
will look pretty good.
Older shows that may have
been recored on 16mm, a...
an00n wrote: i have
trouble watching standard
def tv now.
with a plasma 50" tv and
the hidef tivo, the
picture quality on shows
like CSI, Law & Order,
Lost, and all the hidef
hbo films...it's
unbelievable.
PBS in HD
is incredible. watching
great nature
documentaries with the
fully lifelike saturation
and tonal quality that
ntsc cannot deliver is
pure goodness.
Magickat wrote: HDTV on
IP - no thanks, I'd
rather surf the net.
Whilst developing all
these new television
technologies, perhaps
someone will eventually
consider that the
majority of television
programs are terrible
regardless of their high
quality sound and
pictures etc.
Whether the program is
interactive or on demand,
or how it's delievered,
doesn't matter to me so
much as what I'm actually
watching. and I'm getting
less and less impressed
every year.
I find myself watching
less and less television,
and using the Internet
more and more. As for the
phone, most people I know
use it mainly to talk
about television. I'm
getting close to the
point where I almost
solely use email.
Wesley Felter wrote: MS
is late to the party.
Companies like Minerva
and Pace have TV over IP
stuff that works and is
deployed today. Microsoft
is going to have to offer
something either cheaper
or better if they want to
take over the TV over IP
market.
NotAnotherReboot wrote:
On the flipside, one
could take their failure
as an important lesson
that they will build
upon.
I would think a project
like this would actually
be easier if it is
digital the entire way
through. Microsoft also
has plenty of experience
with streaming media
these days.
I'm not sure how much
this tale impacts
expectations of this
project.
sakusha wrote: MS failed
at this before, with
plain old NTSC. A friend
of mine worked at a TV
station that I am not
permitted to reveal (but
is right in MS's backyard
somewhere). They had a
multimillion dollar pilot
project to use Microsoft
software to deliver
digital signals between
the studio and the
transmitter (and cable
distro point) with
dedicated, unlimited
bandwidth digital
circuits. Microsoft threw
millions of dollars of
research money into the
project, it was to be
their showpiece, to
demonstrate how MS could
provide end-to-end
digital infrastructure
for TV stations.
It was an utter failure.
Despite the use of
supposedly uncompressed
video, everyone started
complaining the picture
was fuzzy and the audio
didn't sync perfectly.
The station abandoned the
project after millions of
dollars of their own
investmen...
nmb3000 wrote: So it's
starting. As much as I
wonder how this is going
to play out in terms of
cost and DRM issues, I'm
glad to see at least a
few introductory steps
taking us in the
direction.
I really look forward to
getting rid of the old
standard twisted-pair
copper wire
infrastructure that we're
currently using and
moving towards a "one
connection for
everything" system.
Assuming we don't run
into issues with
monopoly-dictated pricing
and/or start revisiting
the old problems with
massive telecoms, I'd
love to get all my
services through a single
cable and a single
provider, not to mention
a kickass Internet
connection.
How much federal
regulation will
eventually need to come
into play to prevent
history from repeating
itself as with the
telecoms? Should
something as huge and
important as the nation's
informa...
mr_gerbik wrote: The
problem with VoIP has
nothing to do with
bandwidth problems, and
everything to do with
poor latency due to
software switches along
the way. VoIP needs to
get data end to end with
no hiccups at real time.
HowaboutSBC wrote: SBC
Communications, the
dominant local phone
company from the Midwest
to California, is already
deploying a full-blown
IPTV system, which it
plans to launch by
year-end in "undisclosed
markets." What techology
does that use?
aclidiere wrote: The idea
of watching whatever you
want, whenever you want
is definitely exciting.
As part of my job, I have
been studying the
possibility to watch any
program one would have
missed in the past week
of programming. You don't
even bother to record the
programs! All are
recorded, on the server
side!
However, a big, big
factor to consider is
scalability. I don't
think you can let 100% of
IPTV subscribers watch TV
at their own pace. The
network cannot handle
that.
What happens when
designing an IPTV system,
is that you make guesses
about what percentage of
users will want to watch
live TV and what
percentage will watch
on-demand, or will want
to control live, at a
same time.
Live TV works in
multicast, and NVOD
(Network Video on Demand)
works in unicast. If 10
people watch the same
show -- but want fine
...
mpesce wrote: One of the
things that both
programmers (TV
programmers, that is) and
consumers usually fail to
"get" about IPTV is that
it takes us completely
away from the channel
model of programming. A
channel is a set of
programs - just like a
DJ's set is a selection
of tracks. There's
nothing intrinsic about
the programming - it
exists because TV
spectrum is limited, so
programmers pick the
programs that they feel
will get them the highest
ratings in the market.
But when you move to
IPTV, where you can send
a highly individualized,
per-program stream to
each user's STB, why do
you need a channel? Can't
the customer just
directly select the
programs they're
interested in - from a
very, very, very long
list of available
programs - and watch
those? Why do you need a
TV programmer at that
point?
Of course, there are ...
aussie_a wrote: Will
Americans who come over
to Australia for 12
months as exchange
students be able to still
watch their shows thanks
to IPTV? How about us
aussies? We often don't
get American shows, will
we be able to sign up for
American IPTV and get it
while in Australia?
Conference in San
Francisco. Dvorak held
forth on a number of
topics, including the new
AMD/Intel lawsuit, the
viability of Java and
Sun, the value of (or
lack thereof) of
corporate PR, and whether
or not a new book about
Silicon Valley is really
worth reading.
According to Sean Walsh,
President and CEO of
Skyway Software, 'Our
Skyway Community is
thriving and our members
are very talented. We
truly look forward to
their RIAs submittals and
Skyway Builder extensions
and are excited that all
of the contributions will
benefit the entire Skyway
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
virtualization themes &
topics being discussed in
NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown
Weitzner brings 30 years
of publishing experience
to ZDE, starting in
editorial at Hearst
Business Communications
and moving over to the
business side at CMP
Media. As CMP Media COO
and CEO, he transformed
the company from a
print-centric publisher
focused on multiple
markets to a tech
You remember back in the
early days of video games
when there wasn't enough
capacity on the carts
themselves to support 30
hours of gameplay? What
was the solution to keep
you playing? They made
the games unbelievably
freaking difficult. Try
playing Kid Icarus now
after having played a
SUBSCRIBE TO THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL NEWSLETTERS
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR RSS FEEDS & GET YOUR SYS-CON NEWS LIVE!
Click to Add our RSS Feeds to the Service of Your Choice:
About Newsfeeds / Video Feeds
.gif)
According to Sean Walsh,
President and CEO of
Skyway Software, 'Our
Skyway Community is
thriving and our members
are very talented. We
truly look forward to
their RIAs submittals and
Skyway Builder extensions
and are excited that all
of the contributions will
benefit the entire Skyway 
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
virtualization themes &
topics being discussed in
NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown 
Weitzner brings 30 years
of publishing experience
to ZDE, starting in
editorial at Hearst
Business Communications
and moving over to the
business side at CMP
Media. As CMP Media COO
and CEO, he transformed
the company from a
print-centric publisher
focused on multiple
markets to a tech
You remember back in the
early days of video games
when there wasn't enough
capacity on the carts
themselves to support 30
hours of gameplay? What
was the solution to keep
you playing? They made
the games unbelievably
freaking difficult. Try
playing Kid Icarus now
after having played a
