World’s biggest IPTV upgrade due for Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest telecom operator, has chosen Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) to deploy and integrate a new IPTV platform that will deliver multi-screen interactive multimedia services to more than 900,000 subscribers. The new platform will replace Chunghwa’s existing IPTV system and respond to a growing demand from consumers for content anywhere, any time on a wide range of devices including TVs, computers, smartphones and tablets.

The Chunghwa Telecom deal also includes Ericsson Multiscreen TV and the Ericsson Media Connect (IPTV Remote) service. The new services are due to be available to subscribers in December of this year.

The number of IPTV subscribers worldwide is expected to explode over the next five years, increasing from 35 million at the end of 2010 to 155 million by the end of 2016, according to a Digital TV Research report published in July 2011. More than 70 percent of these 120 million new subscribers are expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region.

Mats H Olsson, President, Ericsson China & North East Asia, says: “By working in close partnership with operators such as Chunghwa, we are able to give consumers more flexibility, mobility and freedom through access to media content on any screen, anywhere. By offering this enhanced viewing experience, Chunghwa will be able to maintain its leading position in the IPTV arena. Our end-to-end solution will also enable the operator to enjoy new revenues from advanced TV services.”

Through its consulting and systems integration capabilities, Ericsson will be the prime integrator of the end-to-end solution, which covers everything from digital rights management to video servers, content management solutions and installation of set-top boxes.

Worldwide, Ericsson delivers more than 1,300 consulting and systems integration projects every year in multi-vendor and multi-technology environments to operators, governments, utilities and transport organizations. These range from end-to-end transformation projects to single-solution assignments.

Chunghwa Telecom Selects Fortinet for New Managed Security Service

Fortinet Unified Threat Management Appliances Enable Taiwan’s Largest Service Provider to Deliver Broad Security

MALAYSIA, 23 July 2008 – Fortinet – the pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – today announced that Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd has added Fortinet FortiGate multi-threat security appliances to its new updated HiNet managed security service offering. With the addition of FortiGate appliances to its managed security service offering, Chunghwa Telecom can help broadband customers protect their networks against increasing Internet threats by offering broad unified threat management.

HiNet is a business unit of Chunghwa Telecom and with annual sales of US$6.21 billion Chunghwa Telecom is the leading and largest telecom service provider in Taiwan. HiNet provides fixed line, mobile and Internet and data services to more than three million residential and business customers in Taiwan.

Pleased with its previous deployment of Fortinet systems for its corporate network, Chunghwa Telecom’s HiNet business unit selected Fortinet’s unified threat management security appliances for its Security Fleet 2.0 offering. As the latest promotion from Chunghwa Telecom’s broadband services, the Security Fleet 2.0 service is aimed at providing broadband customers with robust protection through the integration of multiple security applications – including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention (IPS), virtual private network (VPN), Web filtering and anti-spam -- onto a single platform.

“With the superior performance of the Fortinet FortiGate security appliances, we can provide our enterprise customers with broad protection, consolidated for ease of management and maintenance. Additionally, Fortinet’s appliances support 3G/3.5G wireless network connections, which will enable more flexibility and scalability for enterprises,” said Ban-He Liu, HiNet director of Data Communication Business Group, Chunghwa Telecom.

“We are very pleased that Chunghwa Telecom has chosen Fortinet’s FortiGate security platform as part of the new HiNet Security Fleet 2.0 service,” said Jens Andreassen, vice president of Fortinet Asia Pacific. “Fortinet FortiGate appliances are ideal for managed security services business models because the consolidated approach allows for customers to pick and choose which functionalities they need. The integrated approach to network security, complementing Chunghwa Telecom’s offerings, will provide their customers with a robust and simplified security solution.”

FortiGate systems deliver real-time network protection through the integration of essential security applications and services – including firewall, antivirus, VPN, IPS, anti-spam, Web content filtering and traffic shaping – that can be deployed individually, or combined as a UTM solution. All FortiGate systems are kept up-to-date automatically by Fortinet's FortiGuard Network, which provides broad updates that help provide protection against the most damaging threats commonly found in email and Web traffic such as viruses, worms, vulnerability exploit attempts and other unwanted network traffic - around the clock and around the world.

ICT Vital To Economic and Social Development

Benefits of ICT Could Be an Aid to Issues Such As the Global Rice Crisis

21 May, Kuala Lumpur – Dr. Johnsee Lee, leader of Taiwan delegation for WCIT 2008, reinforced the importance of ICT during The Great Debate, a one hour lively debate which was moderated by CNBC Anchor, Arnold Gay. Dr. Lee was part of a panel of distinguish speakers that included Dr. John Gage, Chief Research and Director of the Science Office at Sun Microsystems and Professor Howard A Schmidt, Eminent Cyber-Security Expert to discuss various aspects of ICT.

During the debate, the panel of speakers discussed several issues such as the value of ICT, Cyber Security and Green ICT. Even though it was named The Great Debate, the panel displayed a general consensus on the various issues, reinforcing their shared belief that ICT will be of a positive impact on global economic and social development.

Dr. Lee, who is also the President of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the largest industrial technology R&D organization in Taiwan, was quick to highlight the importance of ICT even when posed with the question on the value of ICT as the world faces a severe rice shortage. “Having food on the table is definitely important; it is the basic to survival. The magnitude of the shortage is definitely acknowledged, however as we address the issue of food shortage, we must not discount the fact that ICT could be of benefit even to this crisis.

“As the world addresses the issue, concurrently, we should also be exploring how ICT capability could provide long time sustainable living especially for those in the developing countries as it is a key enabler of education and information, “he added.

Dr. Lee’s view is supported by both Dr. Gage and Professor Schmidt who reinforced the view that ICT is a key tool to education and information, vital for economic and social development.

Another issue that was discussed during the debate was Green ICT. Dr Lee said “We at ITRI have spent much time and investment on Green ICT; we are aggressively researching to develop even more energy efficient chips. We also practice aggressive recycling where possible. However, it is important to highlight that we, as global citizens, should all take on a proactive approach towards sustainable development even for the ICT industry.”

Dr Johnsee Lee led a 50 member strong Taiwan delegation which consisted of industrial and research representatives from Chunghwa Telecom, the Information Service Industry Association of the ROC, Tatung, and ITRI to the WCIT 2008.

The theme for the Taiwan showcase at WCIT 2008 is Smart Living. During the 3 days global forum, ITRI, the Institute for Information Industry and Chunghwa Telecom received much interest for their showcase of 10 advanced ICT applications from foreign delegates. The Taiwan Pavilion was awarded the Grand Prize for Best Country Pavilion by PIKOM at WCIT 2008.

Chunghwa Telecom Chooses Adobe Flash Technology for New Channel Me Data Service

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA –May 21, 2008 -Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and Chunghwa® Telecom (TAIEX 2412, NYSE: CHT) announced that Chunghwa Telecom has launched its new Channel Me service, powered by Adobe® Flash® Cast™ software, to deliver engaging multimedia information and entertainment services. Subscribers will receive personalized and automatically updated information virtually anytime and anywhere via their mobile device.

As the largest mobile operator in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom joins pioneering operators such as Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo, who license Adobe Flash Cast to differentiate their brands in the mobile marketplace and generate new revenue streams by migrating customers to enhanced data service plans.

Adobe Flash Cast enables mobile operators and other service providers to deliver personalized intuitive data services through branded mobile channels created using Adobe Flash® technology. Starting immediately, Channel Me subscribers will have access to five standard channels, including News, Weather and Horoscopes, Entertainment and Sports, Food, and Life.

By the end of Q3 2008, a set of premium channels with content from leading media brands (including movie ticketing and music) is expected to be available.

With an intuitive user interface and automatically updated content, the immersive multimedia experience will enable Chunghwa Telecom to set a new standard for mobile data services in Taiwan.

“As the largest operator in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom is the thought leader for delivering next generation wireless services to our customers,” said Shyue-Ching Lu, president, Chunghwa Telecom.

“Adobe Flash technology is key to Chungwha’s strategy to lead the industry with innovative services and to unite the mobile ecosystem in Taiwan around our network, so we can meet the growing demand for our applications to scale across multiple screens.”

“Chunghwa Telecom will be the first operator in Taiwan to provide services based on Flash Cast technology,” said Gary Kovacs, general manager and vice president, Mobile and Devices at Adobe. “We continue to see growth in personalized data services around the world, and are excited to work with operators like Chunghwa Telecom to help them scale their mobile service offering and bring rich and unique mobile experiences to their subscribers.”

Adobe mobile solutions enable service providers, device OEMs, and content providers to deliver more engaging mobile experiences across devices and operating systems by leveraging the Flash ecosystem, which includes the Adobe Flash authoring tool, Adobe Flash Lite™ software and an established community of more than one million designers and developers.

Flash Cast is already a great success in Japan. Today, more than 15 million customers subscribe to NTT DoCoMo’s data services, which offer more than 80 channels since its launch three years ago.

Pricing and Availability
Channel Me is available immediately via a simplified subscription fee and initially supported by more than twenty mobile devices from Nokia, Samsung, and HTC, including the newly announced HTC Touch Diamond. The basic channel service is expected to be available for NT$40 (US$1.30) per month. Premium channels will be offered for NT$20-100 (US$0.65 – $3.23). The monthly fee provides unlimited usage of Channel Me data services. There are no additional data traffic fees for using the service. For more information, please visit http://channelme.emome.net.

Get Smart with the latest Taiwanese ICT innovations for your Life Style

Visit WCIT2008 Taiwan Pavilion and stand a chance to win ASUS Eee PC

TAIPEI, May 13 2008, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the largest application research and development organization in Taiwan, will be taking part in this year’s World Congress on Information Technology, the premier global ICT forum, in Kuala Lumpur.

Together with Information Technology Service Association of ROC and Chunghwa Telecom, ITRI will be showcasing the latest state-of-the-art ICT applications under the theme of ‘Smart Living’ at the Taiwan Pavilion at WCIT 2008. The innovations on display fall under three broad categories - Digital Home, Intelligent Life, and Mobile Services & Applications. Highlights include Pocket Channel, an application which offers functions that are similar to that of an SNG van, employing unique one-to-many streaming video technology. Pocket Channel converts a mobile phone or a PDA into a video transmitting tool, giving users the chance to capture and send videos in real time to a network of friends and family members. Another application Home Messenger integrates an array of security features into a monitoring system. Finally, witness the world’s leading integration of RFID chips into mobile phones, making it a viable tool for electronic payment and security access.

Dr. Johnsee Lee, President of Industrial Technology Research Institute and leader of Taiwan delegations highlights, “We hope our showcase will enforce Taiwan’s leadership in the high-tech industry. We would like to invite the delegates at WCIT 2008 to experience the cutting-edge innovation that have been developed by ITRI for the various segments such as security and health.”

The Taiwan Pavilion opening is open to delegates on May 19 2008, Monday at 11:15 a.m.