To help telecommunications companies reduce the complexity and cost of adding television to their broadband offers, mPhase Technologies has enlisted Magpie Telecom Insiders, an applications software developer, to accelerate the implementation of new Internet-based television (IPTV) services.

An example of Magpie's work -- customizable user interfaces -- is being shown at the mPhase Technologies booth at the Broadband World Forum in Madrid (Oct. 3-6, Stand 3007).

Magpie's developers are building new service applications for the mPhase TV+ System, a carrier-grade soft switch platform that was designed by Lucent Technologies Bell Labs engineers for ease of integration into industry-standard telephone and broadband access networks. Denver, Colo.-based Magpie, whose founders are all former Bell Labs software technologists, have been building software together as a team for over 12 years.

"Service providers can only win in IPTV by staying current with consumer trends," commented Phil Thompson, mPhase executive vice president of product management. "Unlike telephony, where new calling features took time to introduce, IPTV is changing in Internet time. This creates a compelling need to continually innovate an intuitive dial pad for IPTV - an engaging, responsive and easy to navigate subscriber graphical interface."

While the mPhase TV+ System foundation is solidly built on a carrier-grade architecture, innovative and creative developers can embellish the services independently, thanks to the system's ability to translate standard Internet protocols into telephone network lingo. "Our software architecture was developed at Bell Labs, but other qualified companies -- including service providers themselves -- can build new applications onto our software platform and speed services development," said Thompson.

"We're thrilled to be the first development company to showcase the open architecture of the mPhase TV+ platform," said Margaret Burd, CEO, Magpie. "Magpie's long experience with telephony and Internet standards, combined with its reliance on Agile Development methods, makes the task of building applications for mPhase TV+ relatively straightforward. "