The Open IPTV Forum has signed liaison agreements with the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to further drive for an interoperable end-to-end IPTV solution for Managed Network and Open Internet deployments in a global market.

These liaison agreements underline the Forum’s commitment to use existing and emerging technologies and specifications from standardization bodies and other industry associations. DLNA, DVB and ETSI specifications are the base for major parts of the Open IPTV Forum Release 1 specifications and the setup of these working relationships will foster the cooperation with these organizations, ensure proper reuse of specifications and further drive the alignment of the various IPTV specifications which is an important target for mass market IPTV deployments.

OIPF LogoThe liaison agreements allow for regular information exchange, the participation of observers and joint promotion activities in areas of mutual interest which center around all aspects of IPTV services delivered via Managed Networks, the Open Internet and the Home Network. They cover work on requirements, architecture, protocols and interoperability testing for media formats, meta-data, content delivery, network control, application execution environments and content and service protection among others.

These liaison agreements follow the establishment of the Open IPTV Forum as an Association in Germany (eingetragener Verein) earlier this year. They mark the next step of the Forum to deepen its ties with other organizations active in the IPTV area and will be followed by the establishment of similar partnerships with other relevant organizations over the next year.

DLNA

Members of Digital Living Network Alliance share a vision of an interoperable network of personal computers, consumer electronics, mobile devices and service providers in and beyond the home, enabling a seamless environment for sharing and growing new digital media and content services. Founded in 2003, the group established and maintains a platform of interoperability based on open and established industry standards that, when used by manufacturers will support the sharing of media through wired or wireless networks. More than 200 multi-industry companies from around the world have joined DLNA, committing the time and resources necessary to achieve their vision. DLNA's 2009 Promoter Members include: ACCESS, AwoX, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, DIRECTV, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Intel, JVC Kenwood Holdings, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, NXP, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Rovi Corporation, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. Additional information about the Alliance, its participating companies and membership benefits is available at www.dlna.org.

DVB Project

The Digital Video Broadcasting Project is an industry-led consortium of over 250 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others committed to designing global standards for the delivery of digital television and data services. DVB standards cover all aspects of digital television from transmission through interfacing, conditional access and interactivity for digital video, audio and data. The consortium came together in 1993 to create unity in the march towards global standardization, interoperability and future proofing.

DVB dominates the digital broadcasting environment with thousands of broadcast services around the world using DVB’s open standards. There are hundreds of manufacturers offering DVB compliant equipment. DVB standards are also widely used for other non-broadcasting applications such as data on the move and high-bandwidth Internet over the air.

Further information about DVB can be found at: www.dvb.org, www.dvb-h.org, www.mhp.org and www.dvbworld.org.

DVB is a registered trademark of the DVB Project.

ETSI

ETSI produces globally-applicable standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), including fixed, mobile, radio, converged, aeronautical, broadcast and internet technologies and is officially recognized by the European Union as a European Standards Organization. ETSI is an independent, not-for-profit association whose 717 member companies and organizations, drawn from 62 countries across 5 continents worldwide, participate directly in its work.

For more information please visit: www.etsi.org

The ETSI logo is a trademark of ETSI registered for the benefit of its Members.

Open IPTV Forum

The Open IPTV Forum e.V. is a pan-industry initiative with the purpose of producing end to end specifications for IPTV that will take the next generation of IPTV to the mass market. The forum is fully open to participation across the communications and entertainment industries.

Today the Open IPTV Forum e.V. has many members that have joined the effort to develop this "tool", an open, end to end specification for IPTV based upon existing technologies and open standards that could help to streamline and accelerate deployments of IPTV technologies and help to maximize the benefits of IPTV for consumers, network operators, content providers, service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and home and network infrastructure providers.

For more information please visit: www.oipf.tv