14 DAY TRIAL // The first Mediaroom with virtualization service is coming to Europe by the end of this year. Microsoft revealed that it had inked an agreement with Viapass, for the adoption of Mediaroom as the French network services and telecoms operator's Internet Protocol television service. At the end of May 2009, the Redmond company announced that it had added a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V twist to its IPTV platform. Mediaroom became the first platform to bring virtualization to the world of IPTV via Windows Server 2008's hypervisor role. The Viapass TV division will provide business customers worldwide with Mediaroom with virtualization, starting with Europe in the last quarter of 2009.
“Virtualization has enabled Microsoft to extend the Mediaroom footprint to new markets,” explained Colin Morrison, EMEA sales director for the TV, Video and Music Business at Microsoft Corp. “We’re delighted that Viapass TV has chosen to use our technology to deliver a groundbreaking IPTV service for the hospitality industry. Mediaroom enables Viapass TV customers to offer their guests the very best in connected entertainment.”
One of the benefits inherent to the bundling of virtualization technology into the Mediaroom IPTV platform is the cost cutback when it comes down to hardware. In this respect, Microsoft informed that companies delivering IPTV services could reduce their hardware investment by as much as sixfold. While making the best out of less hardware resources, Microsoft promised that Mediaroom would deliver customized TV services, from live TV to high-definition TV, but also video on demand and rich interactive TV applications, at the same standard of quality as without virtualization.
“Hotel operators are excited by the possibilities offered by next-generation IPTV,” added Eric Legros, sales and marketing manager for Viapass. “They have already started to talk about our Microsoft Mediaroom-based solution as the most advanced hospitality juke box on the market. With Mediaroom, we can bring them a cost-effective platform that offers guests a highly personalized TV service with an extensive lineup of live and on-demand high-definition content as well as innovative information and service applications. Hotel guests are accustomed to a sophisticated TV viewing experience at home, and hotel operators, especially in the luxury sector, need to ensure that the TV experience they offer matches or even surpasses this, helping them to differentiate from their competitors, drive services revenue and attract and retain clientele.”