Microsoft Mediaroom spin out, 180Squared and MBO Video, are working on a hosted version of IPTV which could open up the platform to smaller US telcos.
The idea is to take Mediaroom middleware and add to it the 180 Squared elements of set top provisioning, billing, video integrity and operational systems integration and management through its product line, and use them to with a number of MBO Video affiliates including Cimarron Telephone, Cim-Tel Cable and Pottawatomie Telephone and attach other applications such as customer care. The resulting merged service is called Cirrus Managed Cloud Solutions.
The end result is a shared IPTV Middleware installation across multiple entities, which allows for a secure, autonomous environment for each individual set of back end systems.
“By sharing the infrastructure and costs, IPTV becomes a much more viable and competitive product offering,” said Gene Baldwin of MBO Video. ‘We recognized the business potential of IPTV, and we’re eager to supply service providers and other entities, such as hotels and hospitality providers, economies of scale for more robust video solutions.’
The Cirrus Managed Cloud Solution will offer IPTV providers access to applications such as onscreen Caller ID, remote PVR scheduling and whole home PVR.
MBO Video is a privately held company whose carrier ethernet redundant network spans across four states and is especially strong in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The entire IPTV market has been trying hard to address this issue of how to deal with smaller and smaller customers, geographically dispersed, especially because there are almost 1,000 US local incumbent telcos. Satellite operations had previously tried marketing a single remote head end, which distributed the final IPTV service through a satellite, to save each of the telcos its own head end, which is fairly analogous to what they are doing here.