TelcoTV: IP-Prime picks up momentum

In addition to new customers, IP-Prime has also signed up several new partners to its ecosystem. Verimatrix announced at the show that it is securing SD and HD broadcasts, while NDS continues to secure on-demand content. The IP-Prime service is also being demoed through live feeds in 11 partners’ booths, including technology developers Cisco, Falcon and Nortel Networks, as well as vendors Entone, Occam and Hitachi.

Ducay stressed that telcos want the ability to choose from a variety of vendors for IPTV equipment, but while IP-Prime is focused on growing its ecosystem of partners, the quality of relationships outweighs the quantity of vendors involved. IP-Prime is also up against Avail Media, which prides itself on the breadth of relationships it has in place but is stressing QoS in its HD lineup rather than its turnkey IPTV platform as a differentiator. As part of its MPEG-4 HD marketing push, IP-Prime is also offering a 30-day trial for telcos to experience the service in their own networks, outside of the controlled trade-show environment.

At this week’s show, Avail also introduced its customer portal, Avail Advisor. The service includes a channel lineup builder, a business modeling tool to calculate return on investments, and a company profile and marketing roadmap to inform its affiliates’ marketing strategies.