In its most significant IPTV deal to date, Lucent Technologies today announced it is taking over development of Telefonica Group’s Imagenio middleware, and will market the results to Telefonica and other service providers.
The deal, signed today in Miami, calls for Lucent to develop new features for the middleware. Those features will include new IP multimedia TV services, which blend traditional TV and video capabilities with telecommunications and the Web to create interactive applications such as Web browsing, video conferencing and portable TV services.
Lucent further is establishing several IPTV research and development centers in Brazil, Chile, the Czech Republic and Spain, that will serve as interoperability labs for testing and integration. The R&D centers will be linked to Bell Labs, which Lucent owns. The project will include additional countries in the future, according to Lucent.
The agreement “will help Telefonica remain a leading provider of innovative IPTV services," said Vicente San Miguel, general director of Telefonica Group’s infrastructure and information systems division. "Lucent has proven to be an exceptional partner as we launched and expanded our 'Imagenio' IPTV service in Spain, where we are now supporting more than 250,000 customers.”
Both Lucent and Telefonica Group shares were up Wednesday afternoon. Lucent was trading at $3.02, up 1 cent; Telefonica Group shares were up 1.28 percent, selling for $12.67.
Lucent Technologies www.lucent.com
Telefonica Group www.telefonica.com/home_eng.shtml
