Alcatel-Microsoft team forges new server interoperability alliances with HP and IBM

New relationships confirm that majors are targeting world’s Tier-1 telcos

On the equipment front, that team has partnered with Hewlett-Packard to optimise interoperability between HP’s BladeSystem and ProLiant servers and the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition system within the Alcatel Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA). In addition, HP ProLiant servers, pre-integrated with HP’s OpenView system, will be used in IPTV systems management applications. The three companies will establish a worldwide collaborative marketing effort.

Alcatel had previously established an OEM arrangement with HP, while HP has had a close working relationship with Microsoft for many years. The separate Alcatel-Microsoft partnership with IBM Corporation will bring compatibility with IBM’s BladeCenter and xSeries servers but no co-marketing effort was announced. Like HP, IBM has had a longstanding OEM relationship with Alcatel.

This series of announcements provides further support for the premise that the traditional IT hardware, software and telecoms suppliers have gravitated toward deployment opportunities with Tier-1 communications carriers, which some say leaves the Tier-2 and Tier-3 carriers up for grabs by smaller suppliers.

Before Microsoft and Alcatel established their IPTV partnership in 2005, neither of those companies had pro-actively positioned their IPTV offerings toward mid-tier and smaller telcos, although Alcatel had been involved in IPTV deployments by independent telcos in the US mainly by virtue of its incumbency as network supplier to many of those smaller accounts. During those years, Alcatel teamed with independent middleware companies, including Myrio (later acquired by Siemens) as well as iMagicTV and Thirdspace Living Ltd, acquired in 2003 by Alcatel. Systems integration services were provided not by global IT or systems integration firms, but rather, by smaller, regionally-based engineering and consulting firms. So, these recent Alcatel-Microsoft announcements with IBM and HP signify a further solidification of the Alcatel-Microsoft ecosystem around global infrastructure suppliers. Other partners within this ecosystem include Harmonic (for headends) and a number of set-top box suppliers including Scientific Atlanta, Motorola, Philips, Tatung and Thomson; again, all being global suppliers. Although no reference was made in the current Alcatel-Microsoft announcements with IBM and HP with respect to end-to-end integration, Alcatel, IBM Corporation and Hewlett-Packard all have well-established systems integration units that operate worldwide, all of which are involved in IPTV deployments. Middleware competitor Orca Interactive has had a systems integration relationship with HP for several years, while competitor Siemens has both its own telecoms integration capabilities and partnerships with third-party global integrators. Report: Steven Hawley