Nortel (News - Alert) recently demonstrated its IPTV solutions during the IPTV (News - Alert) World Forum in London.

The company’s innovative IP video solutions enable telecom providers to deliver advanced new IPTV services -- including a new technique that links IPTV programming with a mobile phone, laptop or other device, thus enabling consumers to see the programming they want, when they want, even if they are on the move. Nortel reportedly used “home and coffee-shop scenarios” to demonstrate its cutting edge technology.

Sameer Sheth, general manager for video solutions, Nortel, pointed out in a press release that telecom providers need to impress their subscribers and deliver innovative services in order to attract new customers and maintain customer loyalty. He said service providers need to be able to roll out services that allow them to be differentiated in the market – services such as, for example, picture sharing across multiple devices. He said Nortel’s open solutions environment lets providers quickly deliver the new services of tomorrow. Best of all, providers can roll out these new services without expensive upgrades that drive up fees.

Visitors to the Nortel’s booth at the IPTV World Forum learned how communications and entertainment are coming together in new, exciting ways. They learned that by blending communication and entertainment, telecom providers can get more revenue from existing networks. For example, they can integrate video and telephony capabilities, resulting in TV features like picture sharing, IM, caller ID and click-to-call capabilities. This gives subscribers a broad range of choices and flexibility within their communication bundles and drives new sources of revenue for providers.

Attendees also learned how Nortel’s solutions facilitate a “common sign-on,” giving subscribers the flexibility to access content like video-on-demand at home via a set-top box, through mobile devices, personal computers, or share video with friends on different devices, like a PDA. Nortel builds intelligence into the network, allowing it to “know” the different types of devices associated with a user's account. Thus, a subscriber watching a video through IPTV at home can leave and still be able to pick up the movie from where they left off on their PDA, personal computer, or mobile phone.

Visitors also learned why an open solutions environment is the future of IPTV. Nortel’s open solutions environment means better interoperability between network components, so new services can be developed more quickly and rolled out with less complication. This, in turn, saves money for the service providers, which means they can charge less for their new services.

"Providers need to be able to compete effectively to deliver the services consumers are clamoring for like picture sharing across multiple devices," Sameer Sheth said in the press release. "Today, enhanced programming, HD and video-on-demand are competitive advantages that can drive revenue, but tomorrow, they're going to need more to impress their subscribers and maintain their loyalty. This is where Nortel comes in - our open solutions environment is not proprietary so our customers can quickly and cost-effectively adapt for the new services of tomorrow. This gives our customers the confidence of knowing they can keep up with their own customers' expectations of new services without expensive upgrades that drive up fees. At IPTV World Forum, Nortel will showcase the power of our technologies to drive these revenue-generating opportunities for telecom providers that their subscribers demand."

For more information about Nortel’s IPTV and other communications solutions, visit www.nortel.com.

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Nathesh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

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