--Powers Wholesale VOD for KDDI, Integrates with RGB's DBM
At the IBC show in Amsterdam last month, VOD and interactive TV technology provider, SeaChange International, unveiled a new developer program for its TV Platform offering. TV Platform is an IPTV solution consisting of SeaChange's IMS-compliant modular client-set-top software, TV Navigator, network software and backoffice software. SeaChange bills it as allowing operators to easily brand, launch and bill a wide range of video content and services from the company or third-party developers. According to the company, it is based on an open, industry standards-based architecture that allows it to plug into "best-of-breed options written in HTML, JavaScript, Java, MHP, OCAP or MHEG. Applications currently available for TV Platform, SeaChange says, include VOD, nPVR, DVD-on-Demand and games apps, advanced interactive TV apps, such as walled garden, red button, weather, voting and tcommerce apps, and convergence apps, such as SMS/MMS, caller ID on TV, home media management and video conferencing.
Companies that have agreed to participate in the new TV Platform Developer Program--which SeaChange says is designed to encourage development of applications that leverage the "modularity" of its TV Navigator IPTV middleware--include Freethinking, Integra5, Snap TV, Two Way TV and Verimatrix. Participating companies will receive product support, resources and tools to assist in porting and developing products and services for TV Platform. "We're inviting the industry's proven performers to participate in the commitment SeaChange has for its customers and access market opportunities being created by our TV Platform deployments," Sherry Warburton, VP of engineering and unit manager for SeaChange's TV Navigator operations, said in a prepared statement.
In other SeaChange news:
- The company says that its technologies are powering a new wholesale VOD business from Japanese telecommunications giant, KDDI. The latter--which also offers VoIP, backbone Internet and other IT services to around 60 cable operators across Japan--is now offering operators what it bills as a fully managed, end-to-end platform that will allow them to launch their own VOD services. SeaChange is providing its technologies to KDDI in partnership with Panasonic. "SeaChange has collaborated with Panasonic to combine their core competencies in digital video to help us create an on-demand offering for cable television operators in Japan who might not be able to deploy highly desirable on-demand services fast enough, or at all," a KDDI spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "Our goal is to get operators into the business quickly and let them focus on their own core expertise in programming and marketing to local subscribers, without engaging in the technical complexities." According to SeaChange, KDDI's on-demand services will initially be centrally managed at KDDI network operations centers, though each cable operator who subscribes to the service will be able to expand and enhance its VOD service according to its regional coverage. KDDI will provide movie and TV content for the service (it will launch with 3,000 titles, and plans to grow to around 10,000 titles, including Hollywood and Japanese movies, and local TV programs), and cable operators will be able to add their own local content, which will also be managed through the KDDI central site. SeaChange is providing the service with its MediaCluster VOD servers, its Axiom Core management software, and its TV Backend System software (provides end-to-end management of promotions and business rules). Its integration partner on the project is ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corp. Panasonic meanwhile, is providing the frontend interface for the various cable set-top boxes deployed in Japan.
- The company says that video-processing specialist, RGB Networks, has integrated its recently launched Dynamic Bandwidth Manager (DBM) with the SeaChange VOD system. According to the companies, the integration builds on extensive testing that RGB has already conducted with third-party set-top boxes, session resource managers, and other components in the VOD delivery chain. RGB claims that its DBM improves bandwidth-efficiency by up to 50% in VOD applications, allowing cable operators to deliver significantly more programming, while maintaining picture quality and ensuring that end-users perceive no differences when using trickplay features. The DBM uses RGB's real-time transrating technology to convert SD and HD VOD programs from constant bitrates to variable bitrates in which the bandwidth allocated to each program varies constantly, thus freeing bandwidth to carry additional programs. RGB claims that the DBM is easy to deploy as it processes VOD programs in real time, thus eliminating the need for complex pre-processing and complex integration with VOD servers: operators can simply plug it into existing VOD deployments, RGB claims, as it is compatible with all the major components of an end-to-end VOD system. The DBM will also encrypt VOD programs as they are processed, making it easy for operators to continually add new programming to their VOD line-ups, RGB says. The solution can additionally be used in switched digital video architectures.
Originally Published: October 12, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.39 Part 2B
Click: http://www.itvt.com to subscribe to our free email newsletter, which contains all the news stories you see on this Web site, and additional breaking news and scoops, in-depth features, interviews, screenshots, videos, and other exclusive content you will not find anywhere else.
