Microsoft adds Mediaroom Partners

Microsoft announced that it added three new system integration partners, HP, Tech Mahindra, and 180Squared. These companies are in addition to Alcatel-Lucent, which is Microsoft's only end-to-end system integrator as well as its only reseller.

Microsoft also stated that Mediaroom is not supporting more than 2 million TV sets worldwide.

This is interesting because it may indicate some weakening of the Microsoft/Alcatel-Lucent arrangement. Alcatel-Lucent offers two middleware software systems as well as Mediaroom. Whether or not this is true, Microsoft's service provider customers can benefit from the incremental skills that these three new partners bring. HP has a strong server hardware base. Tech Mahindra has strong back office skills, and 180Squared provides applications and the ability to support smaller deployments.

The 2 million TV sets does not mean 2 million subscribers. AT&T in the U.S. provides multiple set-top boxes per home. In any case, Microsoft is experiencing strong growth in homes served.

Kasenna Tested at 1 Million Subscribers

HP and Intel ran IPTV scaling tests using Kasenna's LivingRoom middleware and Kasenna's PortalTV video on demand systems. These test showed that this software set can support 1 million subscribers using 9 servers. Five of the servers were used to support the middleware, 3 servers to support video on demand, and one server to support the backend database.

This simulation was run at HPs IPTV lab in Grenoble, France. It assumes that 60 percent of the set-top boxes were active and 40 percent inactive. The 60 percent active set-top boxes break down into:

• 18% watching or channel surfing broadcast TVs (180 thousand)
• 34% watching VOD and NPVR services (350 thousand)
• 1% browsing video on demand content (10 thousand)
• 4% browsing the electronic program guide (40 thousand)
• 3% viewing other applications (30 thousand)

Kasenna and HP are planning to release a white paper that gives the details of this test next week. You can download a summary of this test and register for the white paper at:

http://www1.kasenna.com/1m/

Kasenna promised to give me an early release of the white paper along with an interview with one of their technical people who worked on this project. I will post a summary after that.

This result is impressive. Kasenna uses a thin client approach, so it is quite dependent on the servers. Earlier middleware systems such as Nokia Siemens Myrio is set-top box based and puts a much lighter load on the network. Two years ago Myrio told me that their software could support 1 million subscribers with 4 servers. The primary function of these servers is to download software into the set-top boxes.

At that same time, Microsoft told me that their software would require 600 servers to support 1 million subscribers.