Ericsson successfully demonstrates open standards for standards-based common featured set-top box

* Ericsson and industry partners successfully demonstrate standards-based common featured Set-top Box (STB) proof-of-concept with Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) open standards.
* With a standards-based common featured IPTV STB, consumers will receive a wider selection of content from different providers.
* Open standards will encourage innovative application development and foster creative marketing options in the pay TV arena.

Ericsson, a founding member of the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF), successfully showcased the benefits of embracing open standards with a standards-based common featured IPTV STB Proof-of-Concept (PoC) demonstration.

This showcase was created in response to Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and Media Development Authority (MDA) plan to minimize IPTV fragmentation across operators and enhance growth of interactive applications through a standards-based common featured IPTV STB over the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN).

Since TV was commercially available in the 1930s, people's interaction with TV has evolved significantly from the passive "sitting-back" to the active "leaning-forward" experience. Today, most people regard TV as an integral part of their communications – and just like with the internet, an open standards environment will enable the availability of exciting and interactive web-based content and services, from many different providers straight to people's living room TVs.

In view of this, IDA & MDA called for a IPTV STB Proof-of-Concept (PoC) in July this year to validate the interoperability between multiple service providers.

Under the current system, end-users have to install multiple STB provided by the respective operator they subscribe pay TV services from.

With the new technology, consumers will enjoy a high quality experience from a standards-based common featured IPTV STB, receiving a wider selection of content from multiple providers.

Ericsson believes the use of open standards for a common featured STB will encourage innovative application development and foster more creative marketing options in the pay TV arena. Higher levels of interoperability also provide marketing opportunities that are not typically available from closed proprietary solutions.

Amr Alsaid, Head of Practice TV, Media, Consumer and Business Applications for South East Asia & Oceania, says: "Open standards have proven to be powerful drivers behind innovation and adoption rates in various software and technology industries. The OIPF initiative is formed to provide an environment where pay TV operators can concentrate on offering compelling services and content for consumers, instead of worrying about interoperability or compatibility issues."

Ericsson provided a compelling end-to-end IPTV PoC demonstration which delivers across different equipment and services together with members of the OIPF, which include ANT Software Limited, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS (Fraunhofer FOKUS), HwaCom Systems Inc., Intel Corporation, Intertrust Technologies Corporation, Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT), Opera Software, Royal Philips Electronics, and Verimatrix Inc..

Mr Hu Yun Chao, OIPF President says: "It's our privilege to be invited by Singapore's IDA & MDA to participate in their common standard IPTV set-top box Proof-of-Concept exercise and we will fully support them in any way we can. Our organization sees this initiative as an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to deploy an IPTV solution based on the OIPF specifications. All our 10 participating OIPF members provided their best resources to ensure the successful outcome of this PoC showcase."

Created in March 2007, the OIPF is an initiative spanning various industries aimed at developing specifications, testing, interoperability and certification that will take the next generation of IPTV to the mass market. The OIPF consortium also aims to help operators lower their cost of deployment and allow for a more vibrant partner ecosystem through open standards.