Siemens Communications Inc., a leading provider of Internet protocol television (IPTV) solutions in the United States and worldwide, today announced that it has named Tut Systems Inc. as an authorized reseller of Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment middleware. The SURPASS Home Entertainment solution has already made IPTV services a reality for more than 75 U.S. regional operators and many more service providers throughout the globe.

The reseller agreement will help to enable Tut Systems, a leading provider in delivering next-generation data and video services over broadband networks, to augment its industry expertise in headend IPTV solutions with market-proven middleware and integration services that are part of the Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio. By joining forces, Siemens and Tut Systems plan to build on the dozens of mutual IPTV deployments that the two companies have already undertaken together in the independent operator market - including ongoing work with TCT, a Wyoming-based service provider.

"The relationship between Siemens and Tut Systems enables us to offer some exciting services that will continue to give our customers some of the most advanced entertainment services available today," said Rod Collingwood, manager of Plant Operations and Video at TCT. "Our latest features - including interactive services such as on-demand entertainment, Personal Video Recording (cPVR) and Pause Live TV, along with future plans for Video on Demand (VOD) - are a great step forward toward fully integrating our communication services with an improved television viewing experience."

Commercially deployed by more broadband service providers than any other IPTV software solution, Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment middleware is helping service providers to increase subscriber revenue with a range of IP-based video and on-demand entertainment offerings. The solution also helps provide operators to more quickly launch new IPTV features as well as to improve system administration and reduce operating costs.

As part of the agreement to resell Siemens' IPTV middleware solution, Tut Systems is also taking a systems integration approach to help enable independent operating companies to more quickly and efficiently deploy a unified set of Siemens' IPTV services that interoperate with Tut Systems Astria(R) content processors.

"Both companies are dedicated to solidifying long-standing industry relationships in the independent operator marketplace," said Craig Bender, vice president of corporate development, Tut Systems. "Independent carriers have been among the front-runners in deploying digital video, pay-per-view and video-on-demand services. Siemens' proven, scalable and open portfolio of IPTV middleware is portable across a variety of hardware configurations and supports extensive features to meet the growing demands of IPTV consumers."

"Tut Systems will help Siemens expand its reach in the IPTV market," said Ryan Petty, vice president of Product Management, Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment. "As another leading provider of IPTV solutions, Tut Systems provides Siemens with additional expertise in providing operators with seamless, end-to-end IPTV deployments."

Siemens' market-leading IPTV solution includes middleware from Myrio(R), a Siemens company. Myrio's software suite consists of Myrio Interactive, a full-featured end-user application for set-top boxes, and Myrio TotalManage, a back-office subscriber and content management solution.

Siemens provides end-to-end IPTV solutions to U.S. regional operators as well as to national operators, throughout the globe, such as KPN Royal Dutch Telecom and Belgacom in Europe and Advanced Datanetwork Communications (ADC) in Thailand. Today, Siemens' IPTV contracts cover more than 38 million broadband lines worldwide. In December, China's Shanghai Telecom Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) announced that these companies will be collaborating with Siemens to offer IPTV services to a market that includes 25 million broadband users and 360 million television viewers.