Deutsche Telekom AG and Cisco Systems, Inc. announced that T-Online, a division of Deutsche Telekom, is driving growth of its "T-Home" service, a converged data, voice and video (triple-play) service delivered over T-Com's broadband network. This network is based on Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture and the "T-Home" service is delivered with Cisco IP set-top boxes (STBs) supporting the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform.

T-Online introduced "T-Home" at CeBIT 2006 in Hanover and will make the service available to its customers in Germany, France and Spain in the second half of 2006. "Our objective is to offer customers a convenient 'Plug and Play' solution that can be set up and operated both quickly and easily," said Kai-Uwe Ricke, Chairman of the Board of Management, Deutsche Telekom AG. "The Cisco solution helps us address that need."

"Microsoft is dedicated to working closely with Deutsche Telekom to drive a new generation of TV and connected IP services in Europe," said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president for the Microsoft TV Division at Microsoft Corporation. "This is Microsoft's largest IPTV agreement in Europe to date, and we are pleased to be working with Cisco to help Deutsche Telekom deliver high-quality broadband entertainment to consumers across Germany."

"Cisco and Deutsche Telekom have a long history of collaboration and innovation to develop and deploy advanced services to meet customer needs," said Mike Volpi, senior vice president, Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, Cisco Systems, Inc. "We are eager to continue building on this history and also to extend our collaboration with Microsoft as we work together to drive growth of IPTV globally."

T-Com's video delivery network is based on the Cisco IP NGN architecture and incorporates Cisco 12000 Series routers at the provider edge, Cisco 10008 Series routers as Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) platforms and Cisco Catalyst 6509 Series switches.

"T-Home" is delivered through a Cisco STB from the KiSS series called the T-Home X 300T Media Receiver which is one of the first in the world to support Microsoft IPTV Edition. Cisco acquired KiSS Technology in September 2005. The T-Home X 300T Media Receiver enables high-definition (HD) IPTV and features personal video recorder (PVR) functionality. Its 80-gigabyte hard disk stores up to 70 hours of programming with "time shifting" capabilities that enable users to record preset programs, and even interrupt running programs and continue them later. The T-Home X 300T supports the Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) standard and features a dual DVB-T tuner as well as and can be controlled remotely over the Internet. It is HD-capable via an HDMI interface and offers Ethernet and SCART ports for additional connectivity and functionality.

Cisco Systems will be providing expertise in rapid deployment of high volume, reliable digital video products, in addition to delivering continuing on-site support and video expertise to address technical issues for both the set top box product and the "T-Home" service.