An important feature of Ericsson’s IPTV solution is a software development kit (SDK) which allows TV portal customization and the smooth integration of TV applications and back-office systems. The offering is enhanced by a growing ecosystem of trusted partners providing consumer applications.
The Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution is a next-generation solution that offers all the necessary components for a successful IPTV service deployment on top of an IPTV-enabled infrastructure.
Henrik Ericsson, Strategic Product Manager for IPTV Services and Applications at Ericsson’s Multimedia division, says: “Ericsson’s IPTV Multimedia Solution is open and flexible, and built on proven standards and technologies. It enables customers to tailor the solution to their needs, helping them differentiate themselves from the competition and make additional revenues in a simple and cost-effective way.”
The Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution offers much more than traditional TV; it gives the end user an individual TV experience, making it possible to personalize the viewing experience and be more interactive. In addition to broadcast TV, the solution’s offering includes personal video recordings, video-on-demand, time-shift, gaming, parental control, and the remote control of recordings from a mobile phone.
The Ericsson IPTV Solution is designed for IMS infrastructure, but also works well without it.
Henrik Ericsson stresses that open application programming interfaces (APIs), with an associated SDK, constitute an integral part of the solution. “Through the use of these APIs, the customer can give the IPTV portal their desired look and feel, and smoothly integrate revenue-generating applications and back-office systems,” he says.
Ericsson has also started to establish an IPTV applications ecosystem, which, so far, involves a selected set of experienced partners, such as the Swedish company Accedo Broadband.
“We have started on a small scale making sure that IPTV applications – which will in part run on set-top boxes with limited capacity – can be developed and executed live efficiently, and that there is a market demand,” Ericsson says. “The long-term goal is establishing a rich ecosystem that includes a large portfolio of consumer applications, some developed by ourselves but the majority by third-party companies using our SDK. This will strengthen our own IPTV offering as well as our customers that have chosen Ericsson’s IPTV Multimedia solution.”
And, Ericsson of course, offers the services of developing IPTV applications by its own Global Services IPTV consultants.
Henrik Ericsson says Ericsson has a unique position in the IPTV market due to the company’s broad expertise and portfolio in the IPTV area – partly achieved through its acquisition of TANDBERG two years ago – and ability to deliver a full and flexible solution.
The next release of Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution, 2.2, is scheduled for Q3 2009. A notable feature of this release is a new portal technology using scalable vector graphics (SVGs) which will further improve the graphical user interface and make the IPTV experience unique.
Ericsson has won a number of awards for its IPTV solution, such as a Telco TV Vision Award in November 2008 and an IPTV World Series Award in March 2009.
Ericsson is very active in the Open IPTV Forum, as one of its founders, and its IPTV solution is aligned with the forum’s architectural releases.
“Our strong efforts in the IPTV space is now starting to pay off and many major IPTV operators have shown interest in Ericsson’s IPTV multimedia solution,” Ericsson says.
By Benny Ritzén
