Content Encounter Phase II makes its European Debut at Management World Nice

Operators and vendors to test and demonstrate best practices in monetisation, content delivery, advertising and innovative services. New participating commercial partners are Amdocs, BT, Call Genie, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, EBIZmobility, Subex and Telcordia

Morristown, NJ – May 12th, 2008 – The TM Forum announced today the second phase of its highly acclaimed Content Encounter initiative which will be demonstrated at Management World, Nice, 18 – 22 May 2008. Content Encounter shows how different organisations involved in providing digital commercial products and services can deliver and charge for those products and services successfully. Relevant to service providers, content providers, advertisers, telecom software and hardware vendors, and system integrators, the TM Forum has created a fully functioning eco-system enabling the development of best practices and standards for all companies involved.

Amdocs, BT, Call Genie, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, EBIZmobility, Subex and Telcordia are the new participating commercial partners joining the original sponsorship team of AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, BEA, Cognizant, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola and Westwood One. Content Encounter showcases digital media solutions for both immediate operational management challenges and opportunities for innovation.

“Innovations like ShapeShifting media will create new revenues and drive long-term management needs across our converging industries,” Says Dan Marks CEO BT Vision, “BT is pleased to support Content Encounter by introducing the ShapeShifting media innovation as an example of the way we can use a 21st century network to deliver not only existing media but also enable new forms of personalised entertainment experiences that will differentiate broadband media services from those delivered via broadcast.”

Phase I of Content Encounter identified interfaces and data models that needed to be standardised for the plethora of parties involved in the overall delivery of service to communicate effectively. Phase II adds enrichment to this work and includes a revenue management and billing framework. Alongside this, the TM Forum and participating organisations continue to investigate and develop new methodologies for assuring the end-to-end quality of experience in this complex environment.

Visitors to Content Encounter II will see several key aspects of the commercialisation of services for the digital media market in action. These will include:

- Serving targeted, highly relevant advertising based on end-user preferences
- Delivering content anywhere, anytime and on any device, with high-value adaptation
- Targeting content based on user preferences, consumption, location, presence to deliver the most personalised content experience
- Creating a consistent experience across all devices and channels
- Managing content as a resource for new, sticky service bundles that boost subscriber loyalty
- Monetising user-generated content, mash-ups, social networking, the Web 2.0 experience with a converged and automated infrastructure
- Promoting superior quality of experience using key quality indicators

Jim Warner, head of Content Encounter, TM Forum, said: ‘In Phase II, we see the realisation of commercializing content of all kinds. Our new sponsoring partners have brought critical products to the mix to enable this development. In Phase III, we will make some of this work publicly available while still pushing ahead to develop standards for this ever-changing landscape. ‘

About the TM Forum
With almost 700 member companies in 72 countries, the TM Forum is the world’s leading trade consortium focused on enabling digital services. Serving the information, communications and entertainment industries, the Forum provides leadership, strategic guidance and practical solutions to improve the way that services are created, delivered and charged. Members include the majority of the world’s service providers, network operators, software suppliers, equipment suppliers and systems integrators.

The Forum currently facilitates over 80 technical projects and provides extensive training, conferencing and information services to its members. Through its initiatives to help providers move to low cost, high quality ‘lean’ processes, the Forum helps its members automate business processes and work seamlessly across various parts of the service delivery chain. The organisation provides industry benchmarks, guidebooks, process and software frameworks and downloadable software standards. These give service providers the direction and specific roadmaps to achieve much greater business efficiency and operational flexibility.

For further information regarding the TM Forum, related programs such as the Prosspero initiative and its Management World conferences, please visit www.tmforum.org

Further information on the TM Form Content Encounter Initiative
Content Encounter sets the standard for collaborative working in the industry: the TM Forum has brought together service providers, content providers, the advertising industry, telecom software and hardware suppliers and integrators. It also builds on the work done by other TM Forum groups working in areas such as Service Delivery Framework, Billing Map and IMS as well as the core TM Forum frameworks, the Applications Map (TAM), the Process Framework (eTOM) and the Shared Information Framework (SID) model.
For service providers, digital media provides an opportunity to build personalised content into service offerings, tailored to each customer’s experiences. Content Encounter provides vital information on automating the key processes in this environment. These include acquiring and delivering content, guaranteeing the quality of service for each subscriber experience. It also shows how to monetise new services, including charging of advertisers and allowing users to receive sponsored services, while fully incorporating user choice and privacy.

For content developers and providers, communications networks are valuable channels to market for content, unlocking new possibilities in interactivity, localisation and personalisation. Content Encounter enables content providers to see how innovative forms of ‘ShapeShifting’ media can be created and how meta-data about content, rights and rules can drive how content can be used and revenues shared.

For advertisers, telecom networks provide a link to ‘hard-to-reach’ consumers and business users as well as an opportunity to take advantage of real-time information to customise the message and the medium. Content Encounter enables advertisers and advertising networks to learn about how they can incorporate user preferences and real-time information about the user and their environment, such as location and presence.