NTT

Earlier this month (see the article published on itvt.com, January 12th), broadband video platform provider, Ooyala, announced that it had entered into a partnership with NTT Smartconnect--a subsidiary of Asia's largest telco, NTT Holdings--to sell a localized, co-branded version of its flagship Backlot video platform in Japan. On Wednesday, the company launched the new Japanese version of the platform, together with a Japanese Web site.

Broadband video platform provider, Ooyala, will today announce that it has entered into a partnership with NTT Smartconnect--a subsidiary of Asia's largest telco, NTT Holdings--to sell a localized, co-branded version of its flagship Backlot video platform in Japan.

Japanese incumbent telco, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), announced Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Silicon Valley-based Ooyala, to launch a "joint exploration of the business potential and technologies related to interactive video advertising." Ooyala, which was founded in 2007 by former Google employees, Bismark Lepe, Belsasar Lepe and Sean Knapp and which last year announced that it had raised $8.5 million in a funding round led by Sierra Ventures, offers an interactive video platform which it claims, among other things, automates video object recognition and tracking, and allows the creation of clickable objects within a video, enabling viewers, for example, to access more information on products featured in a commercial or show.