Tatung's IPTV STB Wins Alcatel, Microsoft Certification

Hong Kong, May 22, 2006 (CENS)--Taiwan's Tatung Co. recently became Taiwan's only supplier—and one of only five suppliers in the world—for IPTV set-top boxes (STBs) after receiving product certification from Alcatel and Microsoft for their jointly developed new IPTV technology platform, according to Fazal Bahardeen, Alcatel's vice president and general manager of fixed solutions in the Asia Pacific region.

Bahardeen pointed out that Alcatel and Microsoft are jointly pushing a so-called second-generation IPTV platform, which adopts different STB technology than previous-generation counterparts. Motorola and KISS are among the other companies producing the new STBs.

According to Bahardeen, many telecom companies are evaluating whether to introduce the new-generation IPTV platform as one of their services, including SBC, which is expected to begin providing IPTV service in middle this year. Alcatel was tasked with providing the list of the five product-certified suppliers, but will let them to choose targeted STB suppliers, Bahardeen said. Each new-generation IPTV STB is priced between US$150 to US$250.

Industry sources said that Tatung's STB is designed on a system-on-a-chip (SOC) platform, which can integrate digital/analog signals, radio frequency, high-frequency coupling, and signal integrity to yield more functions than simpler digital logic and analog chips, though the costs of the former are higher. Tatung has produced STBs based on the SOC platform and delivered them to IPTV companies in the past.

According to Bahardeen, most global fixed-line telecom companies are transitioning into Next Generation Network (NGN) services and are trying to provide more diversified value-added services to compensate for decreasing revenues and profits from voice services. The NGN services is capable of providing IPTV, family media center, and home-security services. NGN technology is expected to be broadly adopted by mainstream telecom carriers over next five to eight years.

After IPTV, the vice president added, family media center and home security functions are expected to be the biggest NGN applications, Bahardeen said. NGN is expected to bring great demands for terminal products such as IP phones, video-conferencing telephones, and wireless web cams. Taiwan is expected to win lucrative business opportunities in NGN era, Bahardeen said.