Airtel's partners with IBM to create India's first SDP

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Bharti Airtel today partnered with IBM to announce India's first 'Service Delivery Platform (SDP)' system which will expand its reach beyond the normal subscribers.

As per the agreement, with an overall investment of around 100 million dollars, Airtel will generate an integrated environment to incorporate all the content and services under one platform. IBM will develop, manage and operate this Service Deliery Platform.

''The SDP is a recognised market leading global telecom framework, based on open standards and with proven implementations at telecom companies around the world. This will enhance the spectrum of content, application and services and its access possible through multiple channels including SMS, MMS, WAP, Web and broadband. Moreover, huge amount of personalisation would be possible,'' Bharti Airtel President Manoj Kohli told reporters here.

The content providers to Airtel shall also benefit with the SDP by distributing it though multiple channels, Mr Kohli opined adding that they shall be able to test new devices and content services prior to launch.

The subscribers would be able to avail the benefits of SDP after 9-10 months.

The SDP will also enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as large enterprises to access to a large pool of content through mobile, landline and broadband connections.

IBM Asia Pacific General Manager Satish Khatu said the company will bring in lot of Internet protocols (IP) from around the world to make the innovation a success.

Recently, IBM announced to establish a telecom research facility in New Delhi.

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