TelcoTV: Eatel deploys Integra5

DALLAS--Eatel, a private, independent telco based in Ascension Parish, La., has deployed Integra5’s i5 Converged Service Delivery Platform to support TV-based caller ID and other applications from the vendor’s i-Communicate application suite.

Officials at Integra5, which enabled South Carolina telco Comprium to launch one of the first caller ID over TV services, said the application is now table stakes for IPTV competition. Mark Ho, director of product management at Integra5, said that as the need for new features arises, the company is now enabling capabilities to forward the call that pops up on the bottom of the TV screen to voice mail, a mobile phone or other devices. Customers also are driving the development of the application to become more personalized in functionality.

The applications are part of Eatel’s FiberEdge TV service. "The new service is free and automatically activated for any Eatel customer who subscribes to our FiberEdge TV Digital Edge package and any Eatel phone service with Caller ID," said Brad Supple, director of marketing and sales, Eatel.

In addition to deploying TV Caller ID, Eatel is testing Integra5's PC Caller ID application for possible future deployment. PC Caller ID delivers the same notifications of an incoming caller's name and number to a subscriber's PC screen before the phone rings.