MediaFirst brings next-gen pay TV to China

• Inspur and Ericsson forge multi-year strategic partnership to deliver next-generation TV services to China, the world's largest pay TV market
• Shandong Cable Network will be the first operator to benefit from the collaboration and offer an unparalleled, personalized TV experience to its 20 million subscribers
• The companies will develop a leading-edge, open, intelligent, and agile cloud-enabled TV platform for operators based on Ericsson's MediaFirst solution suite

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Inspur Software Group, a leading cloud computing and big data service provider, have forged a multi-year strategic partnership to deliver innovative TV services at web speed to China, the largest pay TV market in the world.

Ericsson and Inspur will collaborate to develop a best-of-breed, cloud-enabled TV platform for operators in the burgeoning Chinese market using Ericsson's award-winning end-to-end MediaFirst solution suite.

Shandong Cable Network, the largest operator in the Asia Pacific region and one of the largest in the world, will be the first to deploy the new TV platform in China. The new service will deliver live and on-demand TV content to 20 million subscribers in 17 cities across the Shandong Province.

Elisabetta Romano, Vice President and Head of Media Solutions, Ericsson, says: "Now, more than ever, consumers want and expect TV on their terms. A personalized, multi-screen offering is considered table-stakes for operators who want to succeed in a marketplace like China, which is home to 245 million subscribers. Together with Inspur, we see a huge opportunity to help operators to unlock this fiercely competitive market, maximize the value of their networks and transform their businesses by providing a relevant, next-generation viewing experience in the fastest way. The agreement with Shandong Cable Network further strengthens our position as leading innovators in TV and media and trusted partners in China."

Cui Wei, Head of Digital, Business Unit Media at Inspur, says: "Ericsson is a long-established and trusted partner of Inspur. Ericsson's global scale and expertise, and award-winning MediaFirst solution suite is a great fit for our extensive portfolio, capabilities, and local know-how. Our aim is to serve the Chinese market and empower operators by offering a transformative multi-screen TV solution that offers flexibility, scalability and agility to adapt to consumers' changing needs; advanced analytics tools to increase revenue opportunities and reduce churn; and a world-class delivery and service model that enhances service velocity."

Huang Ping, CTO, Shandong Cable Network says: "Our customers have access to an unprecedented amount of choice and content through their mobile devices. The increasing demand for round-the-clock, personalized video services that are easy to discover, engage with and enjoy is at an all-time high. We needed an intelligent, market relevant solution that can enable web speed transformation and cutting-edge innovations and help us to stay ahead of the curve in China's dynamic TV market. Ericsson and Inspur meet these needs and will provide us with a world-class TV platform to deliver the next-generation TV experiences that our subscribers want and deserve."

As part of the agreement, Inspur will integrate Ericsson's end-to-end MediaFirst solution suite within its media portfolio. It will deploy Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform on Inspur's advanced set top box and home gateway solution, and Ericsson MediaFirst Video Storage and Processing Platform (VSPP) on Inspur's market leading hardware solution. This will enable Inspur and Ericsson to deliver cost-effective, high performance solutions to customers that leverages both companies' best-of-breed software and hardware. Ericsson and Inspur also intend to roll out additional TV and media solutions to operators across China in the future.

Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform is a software-defined, next-generation, cloud-based TV platform that provides a converged multiscreen experience including Pay TV in-home, TV Everywhere and OTT services. It embraces all content sources and delivery networks. Underpinned by Ericsson's DevOps approach, the platform offers flexibility, scalability and agility to adapt to consumers' constantly evolving behaviors and needs.

Discover Ericsson at NAB Show 2017

Ericsson is an award-winning, global leader in TV and media products and services, with a proven track record in planning and delivering TV and media business transformation for over 25 years. Working with customers around the globe, our extensive TV and media portfolio covers media enrichment, processing, publishing and delivery. Every day, people on all continents watch television programs prepared, managed and broadcast by Ericsson staff based in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the US.

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About Inspur

As a leading service provider of cloud computing and big data, Inspur is capable of providing total solutions at IaaS, PaaS and SaaS levels. Inspur has developed rapidly in cloud data center, digital media and other areas with perfect product lines and total solutions. The sales volume of Inspur servers ranks fifth in the world and first in China. Inspur K1, first key application host independently researched and developed by China, makes China the third country with core technologies of high-end servers after the United States and Japan. The media cloud including television operation support system and digital set-top box is widely applied to China's broadcast and television industry, and is available in Southeast Asia and North America and other places.

Inspur owns three listed companies, including Inspur Information, Inspur Software and Inspur International. Inspur's four business groups - cloud data center, cloud services and big data, software and integration and enterprise software - provide IT products and services for over 100 countries and regions in the world, and caters to the entire range of needs of information of government and enterprises.

About Ericsson

Ericsson is a world leader in communications technology and services with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Our organization consists of more than 111,000 experts who provide customers in 180 countries with innovative solutions and services. Together we are building a more connected future where anyone and any industry is empowered to reach their full potential. Net sales in 2016 were SEK 222.6 billion (USD 24.5 billion). The Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on NASDAQ in New York. Read more on www.ericsson.com.