Nortel Networks and Canadian telco Telus struck a development deal to extend IPTV beyond just beaming broadcast TV into the home.
Under the partnership, Nortel will integrate its advanced multimedia and communications products with Telus’ IP-based Future Friendly Home services. The resulting standards-based technology would combine communications with video, opening the door to applications including voice mail displayed on a TV screen and, down the road, tapping into a home Webcam via a video-enabled mobile handset.
Nortel provides several planks for IPTV technology, including its end-to-end IPTV service assembled with its own switch products, as well as systems from technology partners. That complete IPTV system will appeal in a market where interoperability is not the law, according to Ken Couch, director of marketing for Nortel’s IPTV group.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taken those solutions and products and merged them into our IPTV-product solution. So now we have voice and [Signal Initiation Protocol] applications integrated,” Couch added.
All of that work is focused on standards-based systems, and it also will fold in IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) into those products, Couch noted. While a key part of that development will focus on IPTV, the resulting system will supply a wider multimedia and communications product set for the customer home, he added.
