IPTV

Amedia Networks’ (News - Alert) new Broadband Entertainment Center is impressive to start. By combining various home networking gear into a single device, the Center lets users enjoy multi-media content throughout the home.

But Amedia Networks has taken a step further to show the ease of Center’s interoperability with various other devices, a feature customers seem to desire increasingly. The provider of media gateways for ultra-broadband triple-play services in the home says it will feature Amino’s flexible AmiNET130 HD/SD MPEG-2/4 IPTV device in a demonstration of the Broadband Entertainment Center at the 2007 International CES (News - Alert) (Consumer Electronics Show), Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas, NV.

The Amedia gateway, working with Amino’s compact AmiNET series, lets residential users surf the web at ultra-broadband speeds directly on their TV screens. Supporting HDTV displays at 720p and 1080i resolution, the AmiNET130 enables service providers to deliver cost effective on-demand video and multi-room IPTV (News - Alert) services (supporting the triple play offering of voice, data and media).

The elegant AmiNET130 supports H.264 (MPEG4/AVC) video streams and is modeled on the same award-winning design as the AmiNET100 series allowing viewers to experience superior video quality of movies stored on their gateway – with the full capability to access, search, select, and play multimedia from their personalized media libraries right from their TVs.

The new Center will benefit more than just customers though.

“The Broadband Entertainment Center ultimately provides telecommunications carriers with a platform to better manage residential triple-play services and expand revenue opportunities at the same time.” said Frank Galuppo, president, CEO, and director of Amedia Networks.

Among its special features, the Amedia gateway includes a built-in, industry-standard software operating system. This unique feature can be used by telcos to access previously untapped revenue streams by allowing them to deliver proprietary or third-party software programs and networking capabilities to subscribers, such as in-home messaging, remote home monitoring, a virtual family calendar, personalized family firewall, and much more. Additionally, the gateway offers a Quality-of-Service (QoS) console for subscribers and carriers alike, and can transmit wireless HDTV via Ultrawideband (UWB) to various home entertainment and media devices throughout the home.

“In-home media distribution is rapidly evolving, evident by Amedia’s most recent breakthroughs with its Broadband Entertainment Center platform – which presents a new and exciting paradigm in home entertainment centered around the television and family room, rather than the PC and home office,” said Roy Kirsopp, VP and general manager at Amino. “As consumers continue to drive demand for more enhanced home media, such as HDTV and IPTV, Amino is committed to delivering powerful and flexible solutions to support new challenges faced by carriers.”

Amino Communications supplies the AmiNET series of set-top boxes renowned for their low-cost and reliability. Amedia Networks, Inc. provides next generation residential media gateways to distribute and manage high-quality voice, high-definition video, and high-speed data services throughout the networked home.

For more information, visit www.amedia.com and www.aminocom.com.

IP Multimedia Subsystems, a way to bridge the circuit-switched technology of yesteryear to the packet-switched realm of tomorrow, represents the lifeblood for service providers today. And the best way to understand all of the implications of this next-generation enabling technology is to make the IMS EXPO a must-attend event, collocated with INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO EAST, January 23–26, 2007. See you in sunny Ft. Lauderdale!

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Norbert Kovacs is an associate editor at TMCnet.