ECI Telecom, the Israeli equipment vendor, today introduced new broadband access features to its Hi-FOCuS-5 Multi-Service Access Node product line, aimed at enhancing IPTV and video services. Just weeks after adding its one-millionth IPTV subscriber supported by ECI’s broadband platform, these features will help to improve the user experience and allow service providers to be more efficient in their delivery and billing of video services.

The new MSAN features include QoS granularity, advanced traffic and bandwidth capability, and distinguishing multicast and unicast traffic within the same stream to prioritize and avoid traffic congestion. As bandwidth and delay-sensitive applications, these traffic and bandwidth management capabilities will help both IPTV and video platforms.

Danny Berko, ECI’s AVP of solutions marketing, broadband access division, said that application platforms such as Microsoft TV are excellent in the application field, but lack an understanding of the network. This is where ECI comes in. Due to the higher and more differentiated QoS granularity, ECI can manage bandwidth at different levels depending on the service requested and the customer’s needs.

Current Analysis ranked the Hi-FOCuS the top access platform for central office deployment. "The features announced today, specifically the traffic management capabilities, introduce a QoS concept breakthrough by enabling service providers to optimize bandwidth management and thereby expedite their IPTV adoption rate," said Erik Keith, Senior Analyst for Broadband Infrastructure at Current Analysis, in a statement released today by ECI.

Motorola, ECI’s North American partner, will be deploying the features in its IPTV offerings in the U.S. Berko said the features are compatible with any platform they offer. He anticipates that Deutsche Telekom, the company’s largest vendor in Germany, will bring the biggest boon to ECI’s success.

“The new features we introduced are helping us to position ourselves further as a world leader,” Berko said. “We are number two in the world, and in Europe in IPTV, due to the fact that now we can gain more customers with Deutsche Telekom. The features that we introduced today help us to create further momentum with Deutsche Telekom and of course anywhere we make IPTV platforms for many customers.”

ECI is also expanding its MSAN offering by with improved xDSL service blades, which use the same base card, allowing carriers to reduce training time, costs and maintenance. A higher density VDSL2 card now supports 48 subscribers, and a new, four-port GPON blade supports up to a 128 split, as well as the industry's highest support for non-blocking 64 concurrent voice lines.