Microsoft

Future still belongs to IPTV, and vice versa

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:00:33 -0400

IPTV progress has been relentless in the last year as several IPTV service providers around the world have surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark, or gotten closer to it. Telco IPTV services also have started to steal some cable TV thunder, which is not something that most industry watchers--or the telcos themselves--expected to happen this quickly.

Still, so many questions surround IPTV even as it gains adoption: How will bundled IPTV, essentially free, affect the ability of telcos to make money from premium content offerings? How will over-the-top online video trends affect IPTV, and is integrating the two worlds the right approach? Are set-top boxes on their way out? Will Microsoft Mediaroom own the living room, or could the telco-inspired Soft At Home give the software giant a run for its money?

Microsoft TV, Integra5, MU Dynamics, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Ericsson and Zeugma Systems are just a few of the companies primed to talk about IPTV at the show.

Charter Communications narrows Q1 loss, adds subscribers

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Charter Communications posted a first quarter loss of $358 million, or 97 cents a share, compared to $381 million, or $1.04 a share a year ago and said its revenue rose 10 percent to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion, primarily the result of an increase in how much each of its customers was spending on service. The company said ARPU rose to $100.14, up 13 percent from a year earlier.

Charter, controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said revenue from VoIP nearly doubled to $121 million and Internet subscriber revenues jumped 12 percent to $121 million.

For more:
- See the Wall Street Journal story
- Check out Charter's quarterly results

Cisco posts higher revenue, carrier sector decline

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Cisco Systems reported a revenue increase of 10 percent to $9.8 billion for its fiscal third quarter, a figure which spelled relief for many telecom industry types who know that Wall Street moves the entire sector up or down based on Cisco's performance. Still, service provider orders were down about 3 percent during the quarter. Service providers consistently have been a source of growth for Cisco, and CEO John Chambers has said the company will continue to rely on that market segment, which now provides at least 20 percent of its business.

Chambers is predicting 9 percent to 10 percent growth for Cisco for the fiscal fourth quarter, and says the company intends to eventually move toward annual growth of 12-17 percent. Profit for the fiscal third quarter declined slightly to $1.8 billion.

For more:
- see this report at The New York Times

Related articles:
- Cisco recently struck a telepresence resale deal with AT&T. Cisco Systems report
- Microsoft OCS = Cisco Entering IP Cisco report

ALSO NOTED: Verizon's Petri retires; BigBand cuts 25 jobs; and much more...

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:51 -0400

> Daniel Petri, group president-International, at Verizon will retire Aug. 1 after 37 years with the telco. Report

> Video gear maker BigBand Networks reported a slimming net loss, but also cut 5% of it workforce. Article

> Microsoft backed-off from increasing its bid to acquire Yahoo!, but now both firms remain in Google's shadow. Article

Alca-Lu beats Microsoft in$367 million ruling

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Microsoft must pay Alcatel-Lucent $367 million, according to the latest ruling in an ongoing series of patent infringement cases between the two companies. But, don't feel sorry for the software giant just yet. Microsoft lost a $1.5 billion patent infringement ruling to Alca-Lu last year, but the decision was overturned last August, and Microsoft will seek the same outcome for this ruling. The latest decision, from a U.S. District Court jury in San Diego, involved the France-based vendor's allegations that Microsoft infringed on a video coding patent and two user interface patents. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff on the latter two patents, but not on the video coding patent. Alcatel-Lucent had been seeking $1.75 billion in damages.

For more:
- see this story at MarketWatch

Related article:
- France Telecom already has given Microsoft reason to avoid Paris

Telepresence fray lures Tandberg, Polycom

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

Telepresence is one of the newest technology toys in telecom, and early promoters like Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and Microsoft are now being joined by other vendors, some of them already big names in videoconferencing. Tandberg just announced a new partnership with Nortel that will allow the company to tap into Nortel's global network management capabilities while pursuing its own spin on telepresence, bringing the technology into packages for all kinds of business customers. In other telepresence news, Tandberg and another long-standing conferencing firm, Polycom, separately partnered with Microsoft.

Frost & Sullivan last year said the market for telepresence products and services would hit $1.3 billion by 2013, and the agency may issue an even brighter forecast within the coming months. The question now is where carriers fit in: Are they incorporating telepresence in their unified communications packages and managed services portfolios? Now may be the time to do so.

For more:
- see this story about the Tandberg news at Light Reading
- read this story about the Polycom news at Telephony
- check out this cover story about telepresence at Telephony

Related article:
- Cisco and Nortel have been battling on the telepresence front

Telcos still mulling service mashup trend

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:59:52 -0400

What: Application mashups

Why you should care: Application mashups have been seen as one of the ways in which the vitality and flexibility of Web services development could influence the traditional telecom industry. In telecom, mashups can be enabled by making application programming interfaces and network resources available to developers via software developer kits and other efforts. The desired result is more customized services, more rapid service creation responding to real user demand and a greater depth of market intelligence on which carriers can draw.

Who's using it: Several telcos and vendor partners have projects in the works in one form or another. Microsoft's Connected Services Sandbox was one early notable foray into enabling such mashups, and BT has been busy with its own project based on its 21st Century Network roll-out. Yet, as Telephony points out in a story this week, telcos are still figuring out this technology trend.

For more:
- see this story at Telephony

Microsoft preps Mediaroom enhancements

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

Microsoft reportedly is readying the next-generation version of its Mediaroom IPTV system, currently code-named Milwaukee (the city what made famous by that beer), for availability this summer. The new version includes personalization enhancements, as well as the ability to run real-time data feeds from Web sites on-screen with video streams, according to a story at Light Reading.

For more:
- see this report at Light Reading

Related articles:
- Telecom Italia reportedly may not use Mediaroom software

ALSO NOTED: Microsoft out at Telecom Italia?; NeoNova targets rurals; and much more...

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:59:51 -0400

> After years of working together, Telecom Italia reportedly may not use Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV software. Article

> Venture capital firms invest in, spin off rural ISP hosting firm NeoNova Network Services. Article

> Rural telcos complain about middleware delays at vendor Myrio. Article

France Telecom unit to buy Orca Interactive

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

France Telecom content security subsidiary Viaccess is acquiring IPTV middleware vendor Orca Interactive, based in Israel, for $21.4 million in cash. The move comes amid consolidation in the tightly-competitive IPTV middleware market, where smaller vendors are having trouble against the likes of Microsoft. It is not yet clear how Orca's technology will be paired up or integrated with Viaccess, but the more intriguing question here could be, where does Orca fit with France Telecom's recently announced Soft At Home joint venture with Thomson and Sagem SA. That JV is targeting Microsoft Mediaroom's market dominance.

For more:
- read this story at Light Reading Europe

Related article:
- France Telecom launched the Soft At Home joint venture late last month