SupportSoft Joins Broadband Services Forum to Speed Adoption of IPTV and Next Generation Services

 July 19, 2005-- SupportSoft, Inc. a provider of Real-Time Service Management software, today announced it has joined the Broadband Services Forum (BSF) as a Principal Member to support future initiatives surrounding IPTV and interactive next-generation broadband services.

SupportSoft will join BSF members from leading hardware manufacturers, and service and content providers worldwide. SupportSoft intends to participate in the dialogue on future interoperability standards to ensure customer satisfaction with those product offerings yet-to-come that will take advantage of widespread, high-speed, IP-based service provider networks. 

The mission of the Broadband Service Forum is to address the fundamental business and technology issues that are vital to the future success of the broadband industry. Central to this discussion is the customer's viewpoint, with which SupportSoft is intimately familiar through access to its software by more than 30 million broadband customers worldwide.

SupportSoft believes that a satisfactory experience for the customer starting at the time of the installation will make broadband services even more widely accepted. The SupportSoft Digital 360 product vision contemplates service providers having one view into both the "last mile" in their network and the customer premises, one integrated set of service automation tools to manage, diagnose and resolve customer problems and, as a consequence, one customer support environment to serve all of their triple play needs.

"The Broadband Services Forum is filling a much-needed gap in the industry. Tackling important technology interoperability, business and development issues related to IPTV and future broadband services is critical to all industry stakeholders," said Derek Kuhn, Chairman of the Broadband Services Forum. "SupportSoft's expertise in the areas of broadband service automation, installation and network management from both customer and service provider perspectives will lend a welcomed viewpoint to the Forum's work."

"SupportSoft is working closely with its digital service provider customers to speed the adoption of IPTV -- and all multi-play services -- by improving service quality from the moment of installation through ongoing customer service interaction," said Chris Grejtak, senior vice president of products and marketing of SupportSoft. "We look forward to sharing our Digital 360 product vision with the members of the BSF to help shape discussions around new industry standards to reflect the customer's need for proactive problem resolution and service automation that can help ensure the continued rapid adoption of current and anticipated broadband services."

For more information, visit http://www.broadbandservicesforum.org

For more information, visit http://www.supportsoft.com