Rostelecom choose SmartLabs for unified IPTV Platform

June 28th, 2011 – SmartLabs, leader in the IPTV services delivery platform market, started to deploy the large-scale unified IPTV platform for Rostelecom service subscribers in all Russian Federation regions.

Within the project, all separate IPTV platforms currently run in the regions will be replaced with the unified IPTV platform based on a bunch of SmartLabs products offering a unified set of services and enabled with a state-of-the-art, fast, animated and nice-looking user interface.

During the preceding six months, the telecom operator had been conducting a tender to select a unified IPTV platform provider. The largest global and Russian IPTV solution developers and integrators took part in the tender.

Rostelecom defined three key criteria to compare the proposals: total cost of ownership, time to market, and compliance with the operator business development strategy.

"We have throughly analyzed all the received proposals to choose SmartLabs for its best cost-efficiency and time-to-market, said Andrey Kholodniy, Head of Rostelecom’s Media Products office. “The fact that SmartLabs solutions already provide IPTV for about a half of Rostelecom consolidated customer base, was one of a major driver for this decision.’

‘We are proud that our expertise in tight cooperation with regional Rostelecom subsidiaries and other Russian major operators has earned such a high appreciation, and our platform has been chosen for a new unified Rostelecom IPTV solution,’ said SmartLabs CEO Mikhail Grachev. ’We plan to implement special services for the new integrated solution, which will be unique in the Russian IPTV market. We will deliver the services using a very attractive usable interface making interactive television easily accessible and clear for all Rostelecom subscribers throughout Russia.’

Unified IPTV platform launch is planned for the end of 2011. Traditional services, such as TV channel access and video-on-demand, will be extended with new interactive and OTT services provided by the operator to various mobile devices connected to the Internet.

About companies

SmartLabs is the leading provider of multi-screen, multi-network solutions for the video streaming sector. SmartLabs’ solutions deliver content services to over 7 million subscribers around the globe on multiple devices from set-top boxes to mobile phones. Smartlabs' client base includes telcos (fixed and mobile), ISP's, cable operators, content and app service providers. SmartLabs partners with 25 IPTV market leaders including Widevine, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung and LG.  Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Smartlabs has offices in USA, Canada,  UK, Cyprus and has been established for over 15 years, creating innovative solutions for the interactive TV market.

Rostelecom (www.rt.ru) is the Russian national telecommunications company, which is the largest telecom company in Russia. The company got this status in April 2011, when the CenterTelecom, North-West Telecom, South Telecom Company, Volga Telecom, Ural Telecom, Siberia Telecom, Far East Telecom and Dagsvyazinform interregional communications companies were merged with the Rostelecom national long-distance communications company.