HD Voice May Find a Home in Cable Networks, Heavy Reading Finds

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- While high-definition voice technology offers potentially significant benefits to users, it will probably take another two years for service providers to begin offering HD voice in earnest, with cable operators likely leading the way in HD voice deployment as they continue to press telcos for market share in business services, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Insider (www.heavyreading.com/insider), a paid research service of TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

Making HD Voice Happen: Choosing Codecs, Connecting Islands evaluates the potential for HD voice services growth and the role that various codecs will play in that growth. It first identifies the service providers that are best positioned to benefit from implementing HD voice and the factors that will influence their decisions. It then outlines the functions, uses, and differentiating factors of codecs, and provides a comparison of key codecs. Finally, the report surveys the efforts of 14 leading IP telephony vendors to implement HD voice in their products.

For a list of companies covered in this report, please see:

http://img.lightreading.com/lri/pdf/hri0510_companies.pdf

Several factors are contributing to the slow emergence of HD voice services, notes Robert Poe, research analyst for Heavy Reading Insider and author of the report. "While cable telephony and mobile operators have substantial power to drive adoption, adding HD voice capability to their services will require a significant commitment on their part," he says.

The current plethora of equipment choices isn't helping the HD voice market, Poe says. "Different types of HD services, devices, and networks often use different codecs," he explains. "Not only do service providers and vendors have to select the codecs that work best for themselves, but the combined effect of all the players' choices also has to work as a whole. While there are many codecs available to choose from, in general the fewer codecs involved, the better."

Key findings of Making HD Voice Happen: Choosing Codecs, Connecting Islands the following:

• Many leading VoIP technology suppliers are building HD voice capabilities into their products, with a substantial variety of codecs to provide these capabilities
• HD voice service will be a competitive differentiator, rather than a direct source of revenue for operators
• Widespread use and interconnection of HD voice services are necessary to make them compelling to users and service providers
• Cable companies and mobile operators are most likely to lead the push to HD voice adoption

Making HD Voice Happen: Choosing Codecs, Connecting Islands is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (12 monthly issues) to Heavy Reading Insider, priced at $1,995. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/insider. For more information on all of Heavy Reading's Insider services, please visit www.heavyreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About UBM TechWeb

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses – media solutions, marketing services and professional information – UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software and Game developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading and Gamasutra; research, training and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities – from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists – with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

SOURCE Heavy Reading

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