Juniper Networks, Inc. today announced the creation of the Open IPTV and Multiplay Initiative, an ongoing program designed to enable providers to more rapidly and cost-effectively deploy IPTV and multiplay service offerings using open, flexible and best-of-breed networks.

As the first phase of this initiative, Juniper is today introducing the new Open IP Service Creation Program with immediate availability of an open application programming interface (API) to enable applications to interact intelligently with the IP network. In addition, Juniper is announcing its E-series Broadband Services Router as the first to comply with TR-101 and Layer 2 Control Protocol (L2CP), two key industry specifications that streamline and simplify service delivery in multivendor network environments. With open solutions and industry standards compliance, Juniper is leveraging its technology, products and market leadership to help drive the delivery of multiplay services--a multitude of advanced voice, video and data services that go beyond basic Triple Play services.

The formation of the Open IP Service Creation Program enables content and application service providers, complementary service infrastructure providers and third-party developers to utilize the open interfaces and flexible programming environment of Juniper Networks SDX-300 Service Deployment System to create enhanced service capabilities and offerings. The SDX-300 enables dynamic application-driven control of network resources and provides intelligent service management functionality that allows providers to offer a mix of bandwidth intensive multiplay services with an assured user experience.

"Subscriber management is evolving beyond the provisioning of a transport service between the consumer and the Internet, to managing the experience within the transport service by reflecting the choices and preferences of the consumer," said Mark Seery, vice president, IP Service Infrastructure for Ovum-RHK. "As a result, the interactions between network operators, partners, suppliers and customers must become richer, faster and more automated. This requires the evolution of policy management from being a single network resource manager to being a cross-organization workflow agent and manager. An open standards approach will help accelerate this capability."

To date, a number of companies have built interfaces to, or software applications for, the Juniper Networks SDX-300 using its open APIs. A subset of those companies includes:

• Microsoft (Connected Services Framework)
• Siemens Shared Services LLC (IP Service Management)
• Exent Technologies (Games-on-Demand)
• RealNetworks (Media Delivery)
• Ellacoya Networks (Application Traffic Management)
• Tropos Networks (Wireless Service Control)
• IBM (Bandwidth Control)
• SeaChange International (Video-on-Demand Service Control)

"The rapidly expanding deployment of IP-based video-on-demand services presents potential resource constraints across the IP service infrastructure and hence potential service quality issues for providers," said Tom Rosenstein, vice president of Business Development at SeaChange International. "The ability to link our Axiom VoD control platform with the IP network via the SDX enables providers to more intelligently manage end-to-end resources based on their video delivery requirements, while ensuring the best possible experience for the subscriber."

Also announced today are two industry router firsts, which represent enhancements to the E-series Broadband Services Router that enable providers to leverage open standards to deploy flexible and cost-efficient multiplay solutions.

The E-series is the first router to support the IETF's L2CP, a standard that enables the E-series platforms to communicate in real time with third-party platforms, such as DSLAMs, sharing critical information about access line rates, service mix types and service agreements. This open information sharing enables service providers to utilize the E-series in a network leveraging best-of-bread solutions to intelligently and dynamically apply Quality of Service (QoS), and subscriber related policies from the edge to the IP core.

The E-series Broadband Services Router is also the first router to comply with Technical Report 101 (TR-101), a key deliverable of the DSL Forum to facilitate multiplay service delivery over a range of scalable broadband access technologies. Ratified by the DSL Forum in late April, TR-101 enables service providers to evolve their DSL access networks to better support faster access rates to introduce new high-value multiplay services. The E-series router compliance with TR-101 enables service providers to migrate to next-generation architectures seamlessly and reliably, reducing capital and operational costs.

Taken together, the new developer's program and standards compliance demonstrate Juniper's commitment to developing agile, open and customizable networks that empower customers to deploy flexible, differentiated multiplay service offerings without being limited to a single vendor or service offering.

"With this Open IP industry initiative, Juniper is taking a leadership position by simplifying the complicated deployment of new services, such as IPTV, with a more cost-effective and efficient process for service providers to deploy differentiated services," said Shailesh Shukla, vice president of service provider marketing and partnerships, Juniper Networks. "With our open IP strategy, Juniper will help accelerate a new generation of multiplay service deployments with our leading service provider customers worldwide."