The superfast broadband portal Fibrecity has teamed up with middleware provider Dreampark to deliver IPTV.

Fibrecity Holdings Limited has announced that Dreampark will provide the middleware for its set top boxes when it rolls out its next generation “fibre to the home” (FTTH) ultrafast broadband service in early 2011.

Swedish-based Dreampark is one of the leading IPTV middleware providers on the European market, and the Dreampark Dreamgallery(TM) Middleware has been chosen because it maximises flexibility and performance to allow Fibrecity to easily add new features while maintaining fast IPTV services for residents using the Fibrecity portal.

The groundbreaking next generation service model from Fibrecity – the first “city” of which will be Bournemouth, on the South coast of England – allows residents with a connection to a Fibrecity network to access next generation services including 100Mbps broadband from multiple service providers via a single Fibrecity connection. They will also be able to access IPTV – offering a television experience which allows them to choose from a whole range of providers.

IPTV – or Internet Protocol television – is single or multiple program transport streams (MPTS) which are sourced by the same network operator that owns or directly controls the “last mile” to the consumer’s premises. This control over delivery enables a guaranteed quality of service (QoS), and also allows the service provider to offer an enhanced user experience such as better programme guide and interactive services for example.

In commercial environments, IPTV is widely deployed for distribution of live TV, video playout channels and Video on Demand (VOD) material across LAN or WAN IP network infrastructures, with a controlled QoS.

Dafydd Thomas, CTO of i3 Group, the parent company of Fibrecity Holdings, said: “The Fibrecity network has been designed to offer choice and easy access to next generation services. Our partnership with Dreampark means that residents taking up services with our service provider partners will be able to navigate the Fibrecity portal easily and intuitively.”

Per Skyttvall, CEO at Dreampark, commented: “This contract showcases Dreampark’s position as the leading IPTV middleware provider in Europe. We are proud that Fibrecity Holdings Limited has chosen Dreampark and we are confident this partnership will achieve its goal of delivering feature-rich IPTV to residents connected to the Fibrecity network.”

Earlier this year Fibrecity announced the first service providers to deliver next generation services to homes in Bournemouth via the fibre to the home network. Fibreband, Velocity 1 and Vispa will be offering telephone, TV and superfast broadband services costing from £9.99 per month.

KEY FACTS
• For residents to be able to make use of the Fibrecity network, an engineer needs to fit an Optical Network Termination (ONT) box to the inside of the wall that the outside connection has been made. An Ethernet cable then connects the ONT to the set top box.
• Fibrecity Holdings is building its network using the sewer network. This means that the fibre optic network can be built 66% faster than if the company had to dig up the roads – meaning fewer traffic jams for local residents!
• The Fibrecity portal is a similar concept to a price comparison website.
Downloading a two hour HD movie from iTunes would take around 6 minutes using the Fibrecity network, compared to around 4 hours with a typical 2Mbps broadband connection.
Uploading 100 high quality photos to Facebook would take about 40 seconds using the Fibrecity network, compared to about 25 minutes with a typical 2Mbps connection.

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