Siemens Communications Inc. today announced the integration of Entone Technology's Hydra IP Video Gateway set-top box as part of the Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio of Internet protocol television (IPTV) solutions. With Entone's set-top box, service providers can use existing coaxial wiring for video distribution within homes.

"The SURPASS Home Entertainment solution, coupled with Entone's set-top box technology, provides broadband operators with a way to help avoid many of the costs and complexities involved with set-top boxes that require Ethernet cabling," said Chris Coles, president and CEO of IPTV middleware leader Myrio Corp., a Siemens company. "This is another example of how the standards-based SURPASS Home Entertainment solution helps enable service providers to choose the industry's desirable IPTV hardware and applications such as digital TV, pay-per-view, video on demand, personal video recording, Web access and much more."

The Entone Hydra set-top box also enables line sharing for simultaneous viewing and Internet access. The Hydra box supports up to three simultaneous video streams over a single digital subscriber line (DSL), fiber to the home (FTTH) or Ethernet connection. The single box also supports high-speed data and telephone features, such as Caller ID. Furthermore, the unit provides a RF remote allowing channel changing and control of the set top box throughout the home.

Launched in 2004, the Myrio Interactive Development Kit (iDK) facilitates the integration of the Myrio IPTV middleware platform with set-top boxes and other consumer electronic devices, making the SURPASS Home Entertainment solution scalable for broadband operators deploying commercial video services to digital TV subscribers. In addition to supporting Entone, Siemens also supports set-top boxes from leading vendors such as Amino Communications and Thomson.

The Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio's standards-based Java client provides portability across different CPU and Operating System combinations, helping operators reduce time to market with new IPTV services. With APIs to many IPTV applications, set-top box vendors can give operators fast, intuitive control over services and options.

User-friendly IPTV gateways and smart home solutions are key components of the Siemens LifeWorks philosophy, a vision for anytime and anywhere digital media delivery without barriers. The SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio is the IPTV solution of choice for more that 75 U.S. regional operators as well as many more worldwide. Globally, Siemens IPTV contracts now cover more than 38 million broadband lines.