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Telecom Italia: Agreement with Microsoft to connect phones, TV and personal computers

03/06/2006 - 12:00 PM

Thanks to the technological partnership between the two companies it will be possible to develop new applications that will be accessible from PCs, cell phones and via Internet TV. Mobile phones, PCs and TV will then be able to remotely connect with each other

The agreement with Microsoft, will enrich Telecom Italia’s Internet TV with new interactive features: TV and video from “Alice Home TV” (Telecom Italia’s web-based TV) will be broadcast in high definition, available for recording directly on a decoder and viewable with any home TV set

New solutions will offer companies quick and easy access to innovative services such as video conferencing, messaging and the ability to share and edit documents and presentations in real time, in an easy and safe way on both PCs and mobile phones


Telecom Italia signed a collaboration agreement with Microsoft Corp. for the joint development of new telecommunication services and entertainment applications, available from fixed as well as mobile terminals.

The partnership between the two companies will make possible the development of new applications that will be accessible from PCs, cell phones and also via IPTV. Mobile phones, PCs and TV will then be able to remotely connect with each other.

Internet TV

The agreement with Microsoft will also enrich Telecom Italia’s IPTV with new interactive features such as instant-channel changing, that will allow viewers to switch channels much faster than is possible with traditional satellite TV. Thanks to a proprietary Microsoft technology, viewers can watch up to 16 video streams on one TV set, ideal for providing multiple camera angles used in sports broadcasting.

Thanks to the partnership with Microsoft and the evolution of broadband access technologies - like ADSL 2 Plus, which enables Internet connections up to 20 Megabits per second for data reception - the television programmes and video contents of “Alice Home TV” will be broadcast in high definition, offering the opportunity of recording them directly onto decoders and viewing them on different TV sets.
On IPTV services, Alcatel is a technological partner in the development of both net infrastructure and technological platforms already successfully tested in similar projects in USA and Asia.

Alice Super-mailbox

As one of the first results of the agreement, Telecom Italia will launch its new “Alice Super-mailbox”. The new service, based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 technology, will offer the ability to store up to 60,000 e-mails; this functionality is already available on over 27 million TIM mobile lines and on approximately 4.3 million Telecom Italia broadband access points.
The new freemail service, with as much as 3 Gigabytes of storage space can actually be accessed through a single e-mail address by cell phone, without authentication, through TIM’s WAP portal, or by calling 49001 (all e-mail messages will also be available through voicemail), and with personal computers through a high-speed Internet connection.

A series of innovative communication services are offered as well, like the option of displaying the content of e-mails delivered to the Alice mailbox directly on the cellular phone . It will also be possible to access a “smart” directory located in a dedicated network server able to update the contact details stored both on the PC and cell phone in real time.

New business IT services

Telecom Italia and Microsoft are also partnering on new IT services for the business world. Thanks to Telecom Italia’s broadband connections and the adoption of new Microsoft communication tools, companies can streamline their company communication processes.
Thanks to the new audio and video conferencing applications, the latest email services, including shared calendaring and contacts, mobile device data access and collaborative tools such as the option of editing documents, presentations, data etc. in real time during meetings, businesses will improve communications between different departments and customers.
These services can be safely accessed through corporate PCs as well as through other mobile devices while on the road, like laptops with PC cards, palmtops or cell phones. For businesses, Telecom Italia has also developed an integrated system for the management of applications and terminals that also includes their servicing and optimisation.
To date, over 2.3 million users benefit from the services developed by Telecom Italia and Microsoft for the business market, among them also Telecom Italia Group’s 81,000 employees in all the company’s branch offices.

Milan, March 6, 2006