The change of middleware announced at US telco SureWest is well worth commenting on, given that it’s the first time we can remember that an operator has given up on its middleware platform and thrown in its lot with Microsoft Mediaroom, especially a customer this small. It could be the start of Microsoft targeting existing lower end IPTV customers or it may have come about purely because SureWest had a supplier that was moribund.
It was back in 2005 when SureWest said that it would be the first US operator offering HD programming, on an IPTV service built around Irdeto for conditional access, Minerva middleware, Kasenna VoD and Amino supplied the set tops. With the demise of Kasenna and eventual sale to Canada’s Espial for almost nothing in July last year, SureWest may have decided to bite the bullet and make a change, but wanted to make sure it never had to do it again, so chose Mediaroom from the biggest most stable supplier.
SureWest Communications said it would use Mediaroom over its existing IP-based fiber-to-the-home and copper networks in the greater Sacramento, CA region and the service will be ready by the end of 2009.
SureWest said it would be able to offer video services to 25,000 more homes which previously only got the company’s phone and high-speed Internet services.