NXTcomm08: Microsoft Mediaroom adds ecosystem partners

Microsoft today announced major new additions to its Microsoft Mediaroom ecosystem, including three systems integrators, two testing and quality assurance companies, and a new encoder partner in Harris. The expansions to the ecosystem represent broader acceptance of IPTV as a service said Christine Heckart, general manager of marketing for Microsoft Mediaroom, which is now expanding at a rate of two households per minute.

Tech Mahindra, 180Squared and HP were all added as systems integrator partners who have completed a training and market readiness program, Heckart said. IneoQuest and Agilent have come on board as service assurance providers within the ecosystem.

“These new systems integrator partners are in addition to Alcatel-Lucent, which remains a very significant partner of ours,” Heckart said. “In particular where we see them being most often used is in scaling the services. Most customers are still in scaling up mode, adding new cities and expanding their footprint. These systems integrators can go in and help them achieve those goals in a reasonably cost-effective manner.”

The addition of quality assurance partners is a sign of the maturing of the IPTV market, as the focus shifts to delivering service reliably and consistently, Heckart said. The Agilent J6900A Triple Play Analyzer and the IneoQuest IQ PinPoint systems enable service providers to detect and correct problems by monitoring packet loss, audiovisual bit rates, channel-change efficiency and round-trip latency for interactive services.

“Quality assurance is something triggered by scaling as well, you want standardized test and measurement processes, systems and tools,” Heckart said.”Up to this point, we haven’t spent as much time there and we didn’t have as much in the ecosystem.”

Microsoft Mediaroom now serves more than 2 million TV screens, Heckart said, and is growing at a rapid clip. “To give you some perspective on that, it was 18 months from when SBC, now AT&T, announced its IPTV service to when we hit the first million, but only five months after that to it the second million.”