IPTV rollouts continue overseas, and the latest is an announcement from T-Online Hungary that it will use Microsoft Corp.’s “Microsoft TV IPTV Edition” software platform and Alcatel SA’s service-integration products to field a pilot IPTV service.
The pilot project started with a technical lab trial completed in January. The first field trial -- involving 18 broadcast-TV channels plus video-on-demand and digital-video-recorder service -- is nearing completion and, based on that, a second field trial is now under way. If all goes well, a public market trail will follow this summer.
With T-Online Hungary, Microsoft now claims 15 service-provider rollouts for its IPTV Edition software system, which provides an array of features including instant channel change, picture in picture, DVR and on-demand programming.
Alcatel, meanwhile, is providing much of the network-integration and support systems to run the IPTV service.
