T-Online Hungary, a group member of Deutsche Telekom and Hungary's largest Internet access provider, announced that it has selected Alcatel and Microsoft TV as the suppliers for an Internet protocol television (IPTV) pilot project, based on the combination of the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform and Alcatel's services integration solutions.

The pilot project comprises three phases: a technical lab trial, two field trials and a public market trial. The technical lab trial was successfully concluded at the end of January 2006. The first field trial (which included 18 broadcast TV channels, VoD and PVR) was recently evaluated and based on the results, a second extended field trial (with 500 users, enhanced quality and more TV channels) was started and is ongoing. The third phase, a public market trial, is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2006.

Alcatel and Microsoft bring together the network infrastructure, software platforms and services integration skill sets required to deliver a superior user experience. Alcatel is the industry leader in providing purpose-built technology solutions and services integration that allow carriers to reduce the cost and complexity associated with large scale deployments.

T-Online Hungary is using the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform for the pilot project, which is designed to deliver an enhanced user experience by enabling user-friendly features like instant channel change, picture in picture, personal video recorder (PVR) functionality (such as one-touch recording and pausing live TV) and video on demand (VoD).

"Alcatel's unparalleled experience deploying video solutions for operators around the world together with the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform capabilities will allow T-Online Hungary to evaluate these new services quickly," said Andras Tudos, Chief Information Officer for T-Online Hungary. "This trial is an important first step toward offering our customer base dynamic new services like broadcast TV, VoD and interactive TV."

"This agreement with T-Online Hungary is another example of the increasing demand we are seeing from operators around the world," said Monika Maurer, President of Alcatel's fixed solutions activities. "By partnering with Alcatel and Microsoft, T-Online will be able to deliver a better TV viewing experience, characterized by a more personalized and predictable experience for consumers."

Deutsche Telekom and Alcatel are leaders in the fast-growing triple play market. Alcatel is currently involved in more than 35 IPTV/triple play projects worldwide and Deutsche Telekom will deploy triple play services in Germany, Spain, France and Hungary.