Monday, 13 August 2007

Microsoft Expands Into Living Room With MediaRoom

Microsoft has described its Mediaroom IPTV offering as not just a way for it to expand its reach into the living room, but also to gain a new market in telecommunications operators...

Microsoft has now expanded into livingroom with its IPTV offering MediaRoom. Microsoft has described its Mediaroom IPTV offering as not just a way for it to expand its reach into the living room, but also to gain a new market in telecommunications operators.

"Microsoft hasn't traditionally operated in the backbone infrastructure of the carrier," said Christine Heckart, general manager of Microsoft's TV group. "Mediaroom is really the first time in that business."

Microsoft currently has 10 operator customers around the world with commercial IPTV offerings and an additional 13 that are trying the technology or making Limited offerings.

Those experiences show that Microsoft may have to do some more work before convincing operators to deploy more Microsoft products. Earlier this year, AT&T, one of Microsoft's IPTV customers, said that it was having technical problems related to software programming that was causing launch delays. Swisscom and Deutsche Telekom also delayed commercial services after technical difficulties with Microsoft IPTV products.