--Also Secures its First North American IPTV Deal
Geneva-based set-top box vendor, Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), has generated a fair amount of news over the past few weeks:
- Israeli satellite TV operator, Yes, has selected the company's ADB-7820S set-top box for its launch of HD services, which is slated to take place later this year. The companies have a longstanding relationship that has seen Yes use ADB equipment for the past five years or so: "ADB has supported Yes in supplying state-of-the-art digital television equipment for over five years, and having worked closely to launch a significant number of set-top boxes into the market, we believe that these new units will enable Yes to successfully develop its digital satellite television business, accessing revenues afforded by premium quality services such as high definition and video-on-demand," ADB's SVP of sales and marketing, Karl Tempest-Mitchell, said in a prepared statement. According to ADB, the ADB-7820S incorporates MPEG-2 and H.264/MPEG-4 advanced video coding, and includes such advanced features as a single-chip microprocessor, an HDMI interface, and an Ethernet interface that supports such services as VOD.
- Spanish telecommunications giant, Telefonica, has selected the company's hybrid, high-definition DVR, the ADB-5810TWX, as the first DVR to be offered on its IPTV service. Telefonica will be the first operator to deploy the box--which was launched at the recent IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam--in volume. The deployment builds on an existing relationship between ADB and Telefonica: "We are delighted to have been selected by Telefonica to develop and supply this new and innovative product," ADB's Tempest-Mitchell, said in a prepared statement. "ADB has established a close working relationship with Telefonica since the launch of their highly successful IPTV service, supporting them with award-winning set-top box technology. We believe that the new units will enable Telefonica to expand their service portfolio and increase revenues, while providing their customers with a very attractive, personalized television service including high-definition and digital video recording." According to ADB, the ADB-5810TWX supports both SD and HD reception, and both MPEG-2 and H.264/MPEG-4, and sports a 160GB hard drive, as well as a powerful processor that enables fast channel decoding and rendering of applications such as EPG's. Designed specifically for the hybrid IPTV market (i.e. for deployments that combine broadcast linear TV with IP-based on-demand TV), it supports such services as VOD and video conferencing, and can also act as a "home server" in a home entertainment network.
- Telefonica has also tapped the company to supply its ADB-3800W-SD IPTV set-top box to its Chilean subsidiary, Telefonica Chile, which claims to be the first telco to deploy IPTV services in Latin America (note: its new IPTV service expands upon its existing satellite service). The units are integrated with Telefonica's Imagenio middleware and application software, in order to support interactive TV services, and are the first products of their kind to be certified and launched on a Telefonica service in the region. "We are happy to have appointed ADB as one of our key suppliers," a Telefonica Chile spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "ADB's experience in supplying state-of-the-art products in very short timescales, coupled with their knowledge of Telefonica and its technology roadmap, positioned the company to supply our product needs." The ADB-3800W-SD is a standard-definition set-top that supports both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compression (note: MPEG-4 is the main compression format being used by Telefonica Chile for its new IPTV service), and that, among other things, features a single-chip microprocessor and an HDMI interface.
- Germany's T-Com Innovation has chosen the company's new ADB-3810TW set-top box (which was also unveiled at the IBC) to power a consumer pilot of a broadband TV service. According to ADB, the pilot is designed to test consumers' acceptance of a new interactive TV concept that is based on Internet standards; it involves a limited number of subscribers, and has been specifically designed to test a number of new services distributed over the Internet to set-tops running HTML and Javascript-based software. For the purposes of the pilot, the ADB set-tops have been integrated with Quative's IPTV service delivery platform. "With this interactive TV pilot, we are testing innovative service concepts based on ADB's 3810TW hybrid IPTV set-top box with a limited number of subscribers under real operating conditions," Thomas Staneker, SVP of T-Com Innovation, said in a prepared statement. ADB bills the 3810TW as an advanced, hybrid IPTV/Internet TV set-top that supports both SD and HD reception, using MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Among other things, the box, which employs ADB's Linux-based operating software, supports video conferencing, Internet radio and Web browsing, and offers a DVB-T frontend for the reception of digital terrestrial services.
- A deal with Germany's Grundig will see ADB providing the latter with a range of digital terrestrial products, including HD set-top boxes, DVR's and HD IDTV modules (for integration directly into Grundig television sets), for distribution throughout Europe. According to ADB, the first products with which it will be supplying Grundig will be deployed in the second half of this year. The first unit to launch will be the ADB-3800T set-top, which will be followed towards the end of the year by an upgraded DTT platform, the ADB-3810T. The latter will be integrated with MHP software from ADB's corporate stablemate, Osmosys, ensuring that it can support advanced interactive TV services. Both units feature SD and HD support, based on MPEG-2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. "We are very pleased to be working with ADB to bring new DTT products to market," Grundig CEO, Hans-Peter Haase, said in a prepared statement. "ADB has been instrumental in leading the digital terrestrial and MHP market in Europe--we needed a technology partner who we could trust to meet operators' requirements in a very short lead time and ADB has proved to be that unique partner."
- The company has secured its first commercial IPTV deployment in North America, with the launch by North Dakota Telephone Company (NDTC) of its ADB-3800W high-definition IPTV set-top box. The deployment sees the box running Minerva Networks' iTVManager software, which will support a range of revenue-generating services in both standard- and high-definition, using both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compression. According to ADB, the boxes have also been launched on over 30 Independent Operating Company (IOC) networks throughout North America. "We have been waiting for availability of a fully functional and certified MPEG-4/AVC set-top box for some time," an NDTC spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "We expected a standard-definition unit at this point, so we consider the high definition/AVC capabilities of the ADB-3800W to be a huge bonus. The solution will ensure that our set-top boxes are future-proof and allow us to launch our service and upgrade to HD services without changing hardware." The deployment was secured for ADB by its distributor, Border States Electric, which services the independent telco market in the US Midwest region.
Originally Published: October 12, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.39 Part 2A
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