TV of the future has already arrived in Croatia with the IPTV solution from Siemens Communications: With a broadband connection and set-top box, people there can benefit from the comprehensive "MAXtv" offer made by Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Croatian T-Com. For the country's new IPTV with its wide range of services, Siemens Communications set up the turnkey technology and integrated it into the carrier's network.

Since September this year, Croatian T-Com customers have been able to use an electronic program guide to select from 13 Croatian and around 40 international TV channels. A large number of movies are also available through video on demand. What is more, the carrier can offer customers excellent picture quality because Siemens' technology is based on the new H.264 compression standard – corresponding to MPEG4. Despite taking up very little bandwidth, H.264 provides top quality in reproducing TV programs and videos over IP networks. Customers can now also surf the net on their TV sets and in the future will be able to record broadcasts on equipment either on their own premises or provided via the carrier's network. The technology of the IPTV package is based on the Surpass Home Entertainment solution from Siemens Communications.

"Our MAXtv IPTV service offers a completely new way to watch TV," said Vedran Perisic, Director for Content Development and Management at Croatian T-Com. In the carrier's view, MAXtv will permanently change future entertainment offerings as well as consumers' usage behavior. Vedran Perisic said the new TV, video, and interactive services with their high digital quality were unique in Croatia. "With MAXtv we're giving our end customers the flexibility and independence to decide what entertainment programs they want to consume and when."

"We're proud that Croatian T-Com opted for our IPTV solution," said Christian Unterberger, President of Fixed Networks at Siemens Communications. "Siemens is one of the very few companies in the market that can offer a standardized and open IPTV solution, something that's absolutely essential for profitable marketing over the long term." He added that Croatian T-Com had also gained itself a major advantage by using the H.264 compression standard from the outset. As a result, the carrier will have no problems at all introducing HD (High Density) for high-resolution TV over DSL at a later date, and at an economical cost.

Siemens provided the entire IPTV system as a turnkey solution for Croatian T-Com, which includes management systems for all the applications, digital rights management, and the integration of different manufacturers' set-top boxes. The middleware, which enables communication between the network and the set-top box, is provided by the Siemens subsidiary Myrio.

Background information

Siemens Communications provides a complete solution for IPTV under the name Surpass Home Entertainment. The service includes television via telephone, delivered directly to the user's home TV set, digital recording of programs (PVR, personal video recording) with electronic program selection (EPG, electronic program guide), interactive television and fast internet access with a raft of additional services, such as online gaming and a digital video store (video on demand).

As the world's first supplier of this technology, Siemens has installed turnkey solutions for carriers and service providers in Europe and Asia. Thai provider ADC launched the first solution in March 2005, offering television over IP, video on demand and online gaming. Since June 2005 the Belgian incumbent Belgacom has been marketing a similar service portfolio, and the largest Dutch network operator KPN launched its IP-based TV offering in May 2006. Siemens' Surpass Home Entertainment solution is based on tried-and-tested, leading IPTV middleware from Myrio. The basic hardware is enhanced with software components for encryption and content protection, a video-on-demand server, a TV headend and set-top boxes. Siemens has bundled the various components to create an end-to-end solution that guarantees seamless interaction between the various elements, minimizing implementation costs and risks for the carrier.

Croatian T-Com is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. The company was founded in Croatia on December 28, 1998, after the combined state postal and telecommunication services had been separated. Croatian T-Com and Croatian Post launched their respective operational business on January 1, 1999.