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Reliance, Microsoft tie up for IPTV
By siliconindia staff writer
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Friday, 10 October 2003, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Reliance Infocomm and Microsoft have signed an agreement to jointly create, test and deliver next generation Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) services, using an IPTV solution being developed by the US-based company.
"This technology will help us to offer customers a variety of services for a rich TV experience, including next generation broadcast TV and video-on-demand services," Reliance Infocomm official spokesperson Amit Khanna said in Mumbai on Thursday.
Microsoft would provide software and middleware for the services, which would be relayed over Reliance Infocomm's existing broadband network, PTI news agency quote him as saying.
A prototype of the software will be shown next week in a speech by Microsoft founder Bill Gates at ITU Telecom World 2003 in Geneva, one of the world's largest telecoms trade shows, according to a Reuters report from Amsterdam. ITU Telecom World 2003 opens in Geneva on Friday.
"Bill (Gates) on Monday will be talking about software innovations for the telecoms industry. We think there are a lot of benefits in Internet-based television," Reuters quoted Microsoft TV Platform marketing manager Ed Graczyk as saying.
The software would be developed by Microsoft TV, a division of Microsoft, and would be ready by early next year, Khanna said in Mumbai, adding, the implementation is expected to be completed within two years time.
Terming this as ushering in of the convergence era, Khanna said the solution would enable Web surfing, e-mailing, online gaming with multiple players, apart from enabling users to access over as many as 1,000 channels over the company's broadband network.
Video-on-demand, music-on-demand, video chat and e-commerce, apart from telemedicine are certain other features which would provided over the network, he said.
"This is next generation technology, after CAS and DTH," he said, adding, this would help India leapfrog into an era of entertainment.
The relationship would also enable the companies to test Microsoft technologies, like Windows Media 9 Series, Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for use in the country.
(Source: Economic Times)