Lucent Technologies announced a strategic alliance with Orca Interactive, a global market leader in developing applications for IPTV, to deliver solutions that help service providers offer secure, mass market- Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and next-generation multimedia services to end customers at any time on any device.

BitBand, a leading provider of video content distribution and delivery solutions targeted to the Telco IP broadband networks, announced the opening of its new U.S. office in Milpitas, CA, USA.

BitBand's proposition to U.S.-based Telcos and IOCs (Independent Operating Carriers) is powered by the company's leadership in supplying advanced and innovative Video On Demand solutions for the IPTV market.

Harmonic Inc., a leader in digital video compression and transport solutions for telcos, announced that Plala Networks, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and a leading ISP, is using a Harmonic-based headend to deliver television-over-IP (IPTV) to customers in eastern Japan. Harmonic's versatile high-performance DiviCom ^TM MV 100 encoding platform makes it possible for NTT's Plala Networks to simultaneously distribute broadcast-quality video services via existing DSL and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructures to maximize reach and revenue while minimizing operational costs and complexity.

TANDBERG Television announced that it has been selected to provide advanced video encoding and control systems to Malaysia's newest Pay TV platform. MiTV Corp Sdn Bhd (MiTV) is set to launch this summer with a full commercial roll out of a multi-channel IPTV service, with more than 50 live and on-demand channels planned.

Alcatel at Supercomm continued to demonstrate its leadership in the area of providing triple play solutions, including Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) capabilities, to its customers. As the leading triple play solutions provider, Alcatel has gained unparalleled services integration and network design experience through its work on more than 25 major IPTV deployments around the world. At Supercomm, Alcatel is demonstrating this leadership through new solutions, real-world demonstrations, strategic partnerships, and more than a dozen speaking engagements and presentations.

Intellon Corporation announced multiple customer enablement programs supporting IPTV applications. Intellon's ICs enable adapters, gateways and set-top boxes to allow telecom operators to reliably distribute IP video content throughout the home at a reduced cost. Intellon will demonstrate these products and applications in the company's booth #68040 at this year's SUPERCOMM.

Intellon Corporation, the world leader in powerline communications, announced the world's first hybrid coax-powerline networking solution for the distribution of IPTV and other networked video content throughout the home. The new solution uses a unique Intellon coupler design that allows a single industry standard HomePlug processor to achieve hybrid connectivity between both powerline and coax home networks. Intellon will conduct a live demo of this new solution at this year's SUPERCOMM, which will take place in its booth, #68040.

Telefonica de Espana S.A.U ("Telefonica") of Spain and Lucent Technologies announced that Telefonica has added its 40,000th IPTV subscriber to Telefonica's "Imagenio" multimedia broadband service in Spain. "Imagenio" is designed to deliver digital-quality broadcast multimedia services into the home over a broadband connection, also serving as the platform for Telefonica's future multimedia service offerings.

TANDBERG Television and Microsoft Corp. announced that they have entered into a development and cooperation agreement to integrate TANDBERG Television's encoding technologies with Microsoft TV's award-winning Internet Protocol Television ( IPTV ) Edition software platform. As a further demonstration of the collaboration between the two companies, TANDBERG Television will enhance its EN5900 range of advanced video encoders that has been integrated with the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform by incorporating picture-in-picture ( PIP ) generation functionality into the encoder itself. The enhanced solution represents the next step in TANDBERG Television and Microsoft's long-term relationship and demonstrates the companies' commitment to collaborate on ways to propel the IPTV industry forward.

Microsoft Corp. and Harmonic Inc. announced they are jointly working to deliver an integrated Internet protocol ( IP )-based video solution encompassing the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform and Harmonic's industry-leading DiviCom encoding solutions. The integration, which represents one of the first real-time IPTV solutions for both SMPTE VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC ( H.264 ), enables broadband service providers to offer feature-rich, broadcast-quality video services at ultra-low bit-rates. The collaboration — formalized through a Development Cooperation Agreement — is expected to speed service deployments while reducing technical risk, and to facilitate the growth of the emerging IPTV market. The agreement allows for the continued integration and interoperability testing of the two companies' solutions using the DiviCom MV 100 multi-codec real-time compression platform.

Motorola Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced that the companies are extending their long-standing relationship for digital video solutions to include the emerging Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) market. The companies will collaborate to deliver a seamlessly integrated hardware and software solution designed to enable service providers worldwide to offer compelling, revenue-generating IP video services to their customers.

Expanding on its two-year lead in the GPON marketplace, FTTP forerunner Optical Solutions Inc announced another industry milestone: its 30th IPTV customer, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative of Oklahoma. Pioneer is the nation's third largest telephone cooperative, with more than 140,000 customers/members in 72 exchanges and 30 Oklahoma counties.

Kasenna announced the availability of PortalTV ^TM, a customizable turnkey application suite for delivering entertainment services over broadband networks. Recognizing the need for operators to provide differentiated service offerings to their subscribers, PortalTV offers a web services-based entertainment delivery platform which operators can quickly brand as their own and further customize according to their requirements. PortalTV brings the ease, flexibility, and power of web programming to the television world. The result is a revolutionary new way for telcos and other broadband carriers to develop and deploy IPTV.

Tut Systems Inc., an industry pioneer in enabling the delivery of next-generation data and video services over broadband networks, today announced that it is deploying what it believes is the first MPEG-4 AVC digital TV headend in North America at Farmers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. in Kingstree, South Carolina.

Telephone companies have the means to improve their competitive position by taking advantage of improved service creation platforms for delivering easy-to-use, highly customized interactive television and video services, according to a senior executive with mPhase Technologies, a pioneer in internet television (IPTV).