SUNW: Sun Microsystems Powers Multimedia-on-Demand Service for Chunghwa Telecom

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that the Taiwan telecom giant Chunghwa Telecom has chosen its Sun Fire servers and the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) - the most advanced OS on the planet - to power its Multimedia-on-Demand (MOD) back-end server platforms. This solution provides improved scalability and reliability for the MOD platform, allowing users to choose from a number of interactive services.


"As carriers look to expand their service offerings to customers, they need a comprehensive IT platform that's both reliable and scalable," said Joe Pai, General Manager of Sun Microsystems Taiwan. "Sun's Solaris OS and Sun Fire servers provide the efficient and stable back-end platform that customers like Chunghwa Telecom need to deliver new, online interactive services."

Chunghwa Telecom's MOD multimedia system services have been online since March of 2004. The services already have more than 223,000 users, and the system has undergone IT service structural and facility scale expansions to meet increasing demand. Today, there are 80 Sun Fire V490 and V480 servers running the Solaris OS deployed throughout Taiwan in the major northern, central and southern regions. Chunghwa Telecom attributes the success of its service to the stability and efficiency of the Sun solution.

Chunghwa Telecom relies on Sun's solution as the central operating platform for the MOD service. Yi-fong Chang, Multimedia department managing director of Chunghwa Telecom Northern Taiwan Business Group explains that MOD users access the main menu portal program to choose what TV program or online service they need. The user then chooses from a number of different interactive services in the portal, including movies, stock market listings, banking and ATM services, music and children's educational functions. All of these options route through Sun servers and backup databases to connect with user demand, requiring highly efficient and stable systems operations.

Yi-fong Chang further stated that beginning January 1, 2007, Chunghwa Telecom will provide High-Definition Television (HDTV) on a trial basis. This will provide users with an even higher quality product for the films and variety of interactive services offered, and is expected to attract an additional 550,000 subscribers. In order to meet these growth requirements, Chunghwa Telecom looked to Sun Microsystems to provide the technology to meet its MOD service stability needs.

About Chunghwa Telecom

CHT completed its corporatization on 1 July 1996 under the direction of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications according to the Telecommunication Act and Memorandum of Chunghwa Telecom Corporation. Incorporated with a registered capital at NT$96.477 billion, CHT chiefly provides telecommunication and information-related services. Its scope of services covers city call, long-distance calls, international calls, GSM, data communication, Internet services, broadband networking, satellite communication, intelligent network, mobile data and multimedia broadband. As the most experienced and largest integrated telecommunication operator in Taiwan, CHT is one of the most important partners for international telecommunication cooperation, with distinctive achievements in promoting global real-time communication, improvement social life, and enhancing economic efficiency.