Alcatel-Lucent provides Vodafone Portugal IPTV details

Vodafone Portugal has launched its Digital TV service based on Alcatel-Lucent solution

PARIS — Vodafone Portugal (London:VOD) announced on July 17, 2009 the launch of its Digital Television (IPTV) service, designated as Vodafone Casa TV. The IPTV service of Vodafone Portugal, developed with Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides access to more than 100 TV channels, including 8 high definition channels and hundreds of movies available via video on demand (VoD). The move reinforced Vodafone Portugal’s offer for the home and strengthens its position as a total communications company.

The offer includes all advanced television features such as High Definition Image (HD) and Dolby Surround Sound, as well as a wide portfolio of innovative services. For example, “Passou na TV (Was on TV)” program allows customer to view recent programs while the service “Fotos e Músicas (Pictures and Music)” enables customers to use their television to access photos and music stored on any network-connected PC inside the house, as well as the possibility to record programs on any TV Box without any extra costs in a simple and immediate way.

The service also has a unique user interface, specially designed for Vodafone and developed by Alcatel-Lucent for simplified and intuitive access to all the television and video services features.

“Vodafone Portugal, which is committed to offering its customers the best multimedia services and the best television experience, selected Alcatel-Lucent after an evaluation process to develop the “Vodafone Casa TV” service. In this instance Alcatel-Lucent was selected due to the technical and functional quality of the proposed solution, for its competence in developing and integrating complex multimedia services and for its expertise in delivering TV solutions,” said Jorge Bento of Vodafone Portugal, responsible for the Technical Implementation of the service.

The “Vodafone Casa TV” service reuses the network architecture developed for providing broadband and voice services to the commercial offer “Vodafone Casa”. The Middleware and DRM, essential software for the service offering are Microsoft Mediaroom products.

“Delivering on our customers’ vision for Portugal and its business imperatives, Alcatel-Lucent is focused on making Vodafone’s IPTV service a rich and user-friendly experience,” said Gianluca Baini, Alcatel-Lucent’s Global Account Leader for Vodafone. “After deploying our triple play service delivery architecture, Vodafone can now leverage our unique services integration capabilities to provide the advanced services their customers expect.”

As the integrator for the solution, Alcatel-Lucent provides Vodafone professional services including project management, design, installation and deployment. Alcatel-Lucent is also responsible for the development of an applications set that provide new features such as “SelfCare”, a solution that gives Vodafone Casa TV customers access to the remote channels subscription, allowing them to customize their channel selection. Vodafone Portugal’s IPTV solution is also equipped with a tailored OSS solution for real time monitoring of TV service quality and continuous alarm management.

“We’re excited to be working with Vodafone Portugal on a compelling TV service that enables consumers in Portugal to enjoy TV on their terms,” said Christine Heckart, general manager of marketing for the Connected TV Business Group at Microsoft Corp.

Alcatel-Lucent is a recognized leader in IPTV, occupying the No. 1 position in IPTV access and middleware solutions worldwide – according to the most recent MRG IPTV Market Leaders Report (April 2009). Alcatel-Lucent currently supports more than 5 million IPTV subscribers for its service provider customers, representing more than 18 percent of all IPTV subscribers worldwide.

The company is also involved in more than 55 triple play service delivery architecture (TPSDA) deployments, and more than 60 IPTV transformation and integration projects. These transformation projects leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s extensive field deployment experience and lab investments in next generation IP Transformation Centers (IPTCs) and dedicated IPTV Network Solution Integration & Testing lab (NSIT) to reduce time to market and mitigate deployment risk.