[August 03, 2005]

Alcatel and Amdocs to Push IPTV and Other IP Services

BY JOHANNE TORRES
TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist

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Alcatel and Amdocs have joined forces in order to push IPTV and other emerging broadband IP-based services, the companies announced today. According to a letter of intent addressing the requirements of communications service providers (CSPs) looking to deploy IP-based television (IPTV) and other next-gen broadband IP services, the agreement will enable the companies to "work to deliver a joint end-to-end solution that will allow CSPs to offer 'triple-play' bundles of voice, data and video services, making deployments faster and easier, and reducing operational costs." The partnership asks for the integration of the Amdocs IP Convergence Solution for IPTV with Alcatel's broad suite of IPTV offerings.

"Today, in order to quickly deploy revolutionary new service offerings such as triple play and IPTV, service providers need not only the infrastructure, but also a way to address the unique operational and billing characteristics inherent in these services," said Hubert de Pesquidoux, president of Alcatel's North American activities. "Our alliance with Amdocs further differentiates Alcatel as the leading provider of IPTV offerings, it gives us the ability to deliver the industry's most tightly integrated solution and will allow our customers to accelerate their time to market even as they reduce operational costs associated with these innovative new offerings."

The companies announced they have begun developing an interoperability lab in order to "simulate real-world production environments and foster the creation of a joint end-to-end offering." The simulation project will include the infrastructure, full broadband access network, switching, routing, transport and applications.

"Amdocs is looking forward to joining forces with Alcatel to help CSPs unlock new sources of revenue by becoming providers of IP-driven entertainment and communications services to their customers," said Eli Gelman, executive vice president of Amdocs Management Limited. "Amdocs' leadership in business support systems (BSS) solutions and success in enabling integrated customer management, a winning business strategy for service providers, together with Alcatel's IPTV offerings that are based on its expertise in the network and integration, is a winning combination for CSPs."

Today's announcement follows a much publicized triple-play partnership between Alcatel and Telekom Austria announced back in March. Through a Public-Private Partnership model with Alcatel, Telekom Austria started a pilot project offering triple-play services via fiber optic cable to residential and business customers. In addition to being selected as the project�s integrator, Alcatel is also providing its Open Media Suite, the suite of products and services for video delivery, and its NGN portfolio to provide VoIP using a Fiber to the User (FTTU) system.

Despite its newness, IPTV services have been causing quite a stir within the IP services industry this year. In addition to Alcatel, Coaxsys Incorporated is another company offering such triple-play services. The company has been in the news lately as it announced various partnerships with telecoms to integrate its IPTV 7000 TVnet Network system for delivery of IPTV service to telecom subscribers. IPTV services enable residential subscribers to watch television via an IP connection over existing wiring in the home.

If you want to see Alcatel's products in action, don't miss their demo at TMC's VoIP Developer Conference being held this week in the South San Francisco Conference Center in California. For more info on the event, please visit http://www.voipdeveloper.com

Alcatel
http://www.alcatel.com
Amdocs
http://www.amdocs.com

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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne%
20Torres

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