--Enhances Evo DVR Software
--Signs Deals with Coventive, RealPage, Sumitomo
Canadian IPTV middleware and applications provider, Espial, has generated a fair amount of news over the past few weeks:
- At the IBC show in Amsterdam, the company announced that it has enhanced its Evo DVR software with new features such as the ability to record multiple programs simultaneously and an advanced conflict resolution engine. The company also used the show to launch a new HD interface and mobile convergence capabilities.
- The company says that Japanese set-top box manufacturer/systems integrator, Coventive KK, has signed an agreement to license its Evo Client software, which is part of its flagship Evo IPTV Service Platform (note: Espial claims to have shipped over a million Evo subscriber licenses worldwide). According to Espial, Coventive selected Evo Client (which the company claims features a small footprint and open architecture) to power its multimedia set-top boxes, which are based on a system-on-a-chip design. The company claims that the combo makes for low power consumption and board minimization. The first Coventive boxes to feature Evo Client are being used by an undisclosed Japanese company that operates a broadband VOD service in hotels and hospitals. The latter company will customize the user interface of its service using Espial's SkinTones development kit. "Coventive is an important partner for Espial in the high-growth Japanese television market," Shoji Nishimura, Espial's country manager for Japan, said in a prepared statement. "This licensing agreement will help to expand Espial's market presence with subscribers and service providers alike."
- The company says that RealPage, a provider of software and services to the multi-dwelling-unit industry (note: the company claims to serve over 20,000 apartment communities across the US), which has yet to announce any specific plans to begin offering IPTV, has licensed its Evo IPTV Service Platform (includes the company's Evo Server, its Evo Client middleware, its Evo Future-Proof Framework, and various apps such as Evo EPG and Evo VOD). "We were very impressed with the Evo IPTV Service Platform and selected Espial after evaluating several other middleware choices," RealPage CEO, Steve Winn, said in a prepared statement. "While we are not ready to announce any specific plans in the IPTV arena, we expect Espial to be a strategic partner moving forward." According to Espial, RealPage chose its IPTV solution because it facilitates the creation of new applications and the customization of user interfaces, and because it allows multiple domains and channel line-ups to be managed from a single service node.
- The company says that Sumitomo Electric Networks, a Japanese supplier of broadband access equipment and an existing Espial customer (it has shipped over 250,000 Espial-equipped set-tops to Japanese service providers, including the NTT Group), has licensed an additional application of its Evo IPTV Service Platform for use with its IPTV set-tops. According to Espial the application--which it says it cannot talk about in specifics "due to customer confidentiality reasons"--builds on Espial modules previously licensed by Sumitomo (including Evo Browser and Adobe Flash Plug-In), and "enables Japanese service providers to deploy next-generation digital TV functionality, meeting a critical requirement for continued wide-scale adoption of IPTV in Japan."
Originally Published: October 12, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.39 Part 2B
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