Cisco will provide set-top boxes powered by Microsoft's "IPTV Edition" software for Deutsche Telekom's (DT) T-Home service, offering a trio of integrated services: telephony, broadband and HD services.
The triple play will be delivered via a broadband network based on Cisco's Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture.
Launched in March, T-Home will be made available to subs in Germany, France and Spain in the second half of 2006. In a statement, DT said its objective is to offer customers "a convenient plug-and-play solution that can be set up and operated both quickly and easily."
Microsoft has reportedly said the IPTV contract with DT was its largest in Europe to date, and the firm's second largest worldwide.
The Cisco STB is part of its KiSS series (Cisco acquired KiSS Technology last September) called the T-Home X 300T Media Receiver. The device has a DVR capable of storing up to 70 hours (non-HD), and has a DVB-T tuner. It is HD-capable via an HDMI interface and offers Ethernet and SCART ports for additional connectivity and functionality.
