Microsoft plies Mediaroom on rural IPTV operators

Today, Microsoft announced that its Mediaroom IPTV platform now supports virtualization, which will facilitate cheaper IPTV deployments with a faster time to market.

Microsoft's IPTV platform has never been a huge sensation, despite its considerably strong portfolio of capabilities which include time shifting, video on demand, six-channel simultaneous channel view, and home media sharing. Since debuting as Mediaroom (its sixth brand name change) in mid-2007, it has been adopted by 20 major IPTV providers worldwide, and has over three million households using it. With today's announcement, Microsoft is making a play at the smaller regional service provider.

Redmond is now claiming that virtualization will give Mediaroom the smallest platform footprint of any full IPTV service. Microsoft says it can create as much as a sixfold reduction in server demand with no depreciation in user experience, and that it is possible with only ten physical servers to serve 30,000 subscriber homes.

Rural operator RTC, which provides service for an approximately 6,000 square mile area in North Dakota has signed on to use Mediaroom with virtualization in its upcoming IPTV launch. The operator utilizes DSL for most of its customers, and is partnered with WildBlue Satellite for its customers outside of the DSL coverage area.