Unfortunately although much of the news has been positive for the TelcoTV market, there have also been negative announcements, such as Swisscom's postponement of their commercial deployment named Bluewin. Microsoft announced that Motorola will integrate Microsoft's IPTV platform into its IP set top boxes. Scientific-Atlanta is also showing the Microsoft TV IPTV platform in their booth. Network access equipment providers continue to partner with IPTV middleware vendors. We have Microsoft and Alcatel, Siemens and Myrio, and now Lucent has a strategic alliance with Orca. In other middleware news, Myrio announced its Myrio Interactive Creator, which will enable the service provider to truly customize their user interface by designing the layout and appearance of the content. Amino, the second largest supplier of IP set top boxes based on 2004 unit market share, announced a standard definition IP set top box capable of decoding MPEG-4 AVC. UK competitor Pace announced an IP set top box with hardware MPEG-4 AVC decoding in May, but it will not be available until September.
Try to imagine this scenario, that General Motors and Ford were given exclusive franchises to build America's interstate highway system, and also all the highways that connect local communities. Now imagine that, based upon a financial crisis, these troubled companies decided to convert all "their" local arteries into toll-roads -- they then use incremental toll fees to severely limit all travel to and from small businesses. Why? This handicapping process reduced the need to invest in building better new roads, or repairing the dilapidated ones. But, wouldn't that short-sighted decision have a detrimental impact on the overall national economy? It's a moot point -- pure fantasy -- you say. The U.S. political leadership would never knowingly risk the nation's social and economic future on the financial viability of a restrictive duopoly. Or, would they? The 21st century Global Networked Economy travels across essential broadband infrastructure. The forced intr...