Internet Protocol Television for All End Users

IPTV is not yet available for a wide range of users, as the costs of such technology are still high. The Internet Protocol Television, which is what the acronym stands for, is a TV service offered via an Internet network, usually one that is broadband supported. The cost of broadband itself is high enough to determine 35% of the Americans to keep on using the good ol' dial-up, so IPTV looks even more exotic.

Opera, along with some of the world's greatest network operators, service providers, electronics manufacturers, etc laid the bases of the Open IPTV Forum, an initiative that has the purpose of offering users all over the Globe the possibility of having the IPTV technology at their disposal.

The founders of the project are Ericsson, FT Group, Nokia Siemens, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Telecom Italia. Along with Opera, some other famous companies such as Sony, Toshiba Corporation or Deutsche Telegom AG signed an agreement to enter the association. "It is extremely important to Opera to be a part of the Open IPTV Forum, as we share common strategic goals: lower the integration cost, speed up time to market for IPTV services and enable choice for consumers," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Together, we will create a solution based on open standards." he adds.

The main goal of the initiative is to give all end users the possibility to watch TV programs through the means of Internet protocols and by using the Internet related infrastructure as support. As the Opera team says, everyone, from IPTV providers, to consumers and content suppliers, would benefit from IPTV's expansion. For users, the advantage would be the fact that IPs could serve for a larger range of services, such as high speed Internet and VoIP. For now, the technologies that the new partners hope to achieve are just plans. But turning them into reality should not be such a difficult task with their forces combined.