Ericsson and Sonaecom Team on IMS-Integrated IPTV Middleware Trial

Under a recent collaboration with Portuguese triple play operator Sonaecom, Ericsson (News - Alert) will provide and integrate its open, standards-based, end-to-end IPTV solution. The Prime Integrator agreement includes Ericsson’s new IMS-based IPTV (News - Alert) middleware and enables the operator to deliver personalized and interactive TV experiences to its subscribers. The deployment and trial has already begun.

 

Ericsson will upgrade Sonaecom’s IPTV system by delivering and integrating a next-generation, end-to-end IPTV solution. The upgradation will bring together Ericsson solutions, including its new IMS-based IPTV middleware and network infrastructure, as well as TANDBERG Television's (News - Alert) high-definition and standard-definition video processing platform.

 

Ericsson’s flexible and scalable IPTV Middleware can be pre-integrated with IMS and will enable Sonaecom to quickly create, test and deploy differentiated TV services. The collaboration will enable the Portuguese triple-play operator to provide an individual entertainment and communication package for consumers that includes interactive and mobile functionality.

 

Based on open standards, the Ericsson IPTV ecosystem is designed to comply with the Open IPTV Forum specifications. José Pinto Correia, CTO, at Sonaecom, expects Ericsson’s complete solution to help them achieve their IPTV vision of bringing their customers personalized and interactive multimedia services, and provide them with the integration skills they need to deliver to consumers an individualized TV experience across multiple networks.

 

Jan Wäreby, senior vice president and head of business unit multimedia, Ericsson, explained that creating the individual TV experience requires a combination of skills taken from the world of telecoms and television.

 

According to Wäreby, this experience must reach wider than just television, further than just mobile, and beyond the limits of fixed-line networks. Helping operators to address this is central to Ericsson's TV solutions offering and he indicated that this new IPTV ecosystem is transforming the worlds of communications and entertainment to deliver an open, carrier-class TV solution that drives the future of truly-converged and blended services.

 

Ericsson’s IPTV offering combined with systems integration capabilities and local personnel will provide Sonaecom with a scalable, robust, end-to-end IMS-based solution to build its television business and offer advanced, revenue-generating services to its customers, said Hans-Erhard Reiter, president of Ericsson Portugal.