Microsoft Announces Eight New Partners for Interactive Television Strategy

As Microsoft continues to push forward in its pursuit of interactive television, the company has announced eight new partners to join its effort to deploy a set of interactive software technologies in the living room. This move comes as ambitious trials around the country struggle with delays, with Microsoft claiming that it has made significant progress toward organizing the industry to develop interactive television services. The new partners include Hewlett Packard, U S West Inc., the Telstra Corporation, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Data, Ing. C. Olivetti & Company, Anderson Consulting, and Alcatel Cable. Microsoft's strategy, centered around its software technology known as Tiger, aims to send digitized video streams over advanced cable and telephone networks for a fraction of the cost of competing video-servers.

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft has announced eight new partners to join its interactive television effort, including Hewlett Packard, U S West Inc., and Deutsche Telekom.
• The company's software technology, Tiger, aims to enable the transmission of digitized video streams over advanced cable and telephone networks at a lower cost than competing video-servers.
• Microsoft plans to begin its own trial with Tele-Communications Inc. in the first half of next year in Seattle, followed by a similar trial with SBC in Richardson, Tex.
• The company's senior vice president of advanced technology, Nathan Myhrvold, has stated that Microsoft is "methodically going about strengthening each part of the food chain" in its pursuit of interactive television.
• Competitors such as Ncube have expressed skepticism about Microsoft's plan to support thousands of video viewers with clusters of fast personal computers linked together by a digital switch.
• Microsoft's partnerships confirm the company's growing momentum in the development of interactive television, with last year's struggles now seen as a mere setback.

Statistics:

• Eight new partners have been announced by Microsoft: Hewlett Packard, U S West Inc., Telstra Corporation, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Data, Ing. C. Olivetti & Company, Anderson Consulting, and Alcatel Cable.
• The first trial with Tele-Communications Inc. is scheduled for the first half of next year in Seattle.
• A similar trial with SBC will follow about three months after the Seattle trial begins.
• Microsoft's software technology, Tiger, aims to reduce the cost of transmitting digitized video streams over advanced cable and telephone networks.

Sources:

• Microsoft Corporation
• Hewlett Packard Company
• U S West Inc.
• Telstra Corporation
• Deutsche Telekom
• NTT Data
• Ing. C. Olivetti & Company
• Anderson Consulting
• Alcatel Cable
• Time Warner Inc.
• Silicon Graphics Inc.
• Viacom Inc.
• AT&T
• International Business Machines Corporation
• Sun Microsystems Inc.
• Cray Research Corporation
• Ncube Corporation