HONG KONG--Promising to take the telecom industry to the next level in much the same way it has addressed Web services, Microsoft used an ITU Telecom World 2006 press conference today to highlight products and announcements in its advanced telecom initiative. One of the highlights outside the show was also mentioned here--BT today rolled out its live IPTV service using Microsoft’s platform, joining AT&T, Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom and T-online.

They included two new capabilities and the announcement of the telecom service providers who will launch them. Swisscom is working with Microsoft to give small to mid-sized business customers a hosted VoIP service that includes hosted email, presence, instant messaging, collaboration and desktop services. The new capabilities use Sylantro Systems’ Feature Server along with hosted versions of Microsoft server products including Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Windows SharePoint Services.

China Mobile and Microsoft are teaming to offer new push mail service to businesses in China, using Microsoft Windows Mobile powered devices.

Separately, Microsoft said Telenor ASA of Norway will use Microsoft’s Connected Services Framework as the platform on which it will develop new services, beginning with a Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration.

In telecom, Microsoft “sees an industry evolving very rapidly,” said Pieter Knook, senior vice president, mobile and embedded devices division and Communications Sector Business. “With Telco 2.0, we draw a parallel to Web 2.0 in that we are focused on services and how important they are going to become,” he said. “It is part of the same evolution.”

The Connected Services Framework is Microsoft’s service delivery platform for Telco 2.0, he added, and the company is focusing on services such as IPTV and the Swisscom offering, and on screens, through its Windows Vista OS and its Windows Mobile initiatives.

The company announced a new Connected Services Sandbox which Knook described as “a safe environment in which to test and prototype in a live environment,” based on partnerships with BT, Bell Canada, Nortel and others.