Minerva's IPTV Middleware Replaces Kasenna's at CDE Lightband

IPTV middleware and applications provider, Minerva Networks, says that it has deployed its flagship iTVManager solution to power the Clarksville (TN) Department of Electricity's IPTV service, CDE Lightband. iTVManager replaced middleware from Kasenna which--CDE Lightband president, Ken Spradlin, was quoted in the local newspaper, The Leaf Chronicle, as saying--had not worked as advertised (note: Kasenna was recently acquired by Espial--see [itvt] Issue 7.95 Part 1). According to Minerva, CDE Lightband was seeking a solution that supported HD and PVR, but wanted to retain its investment in Amino set-top boxes and Kasenna video servers, and to be able to change middleware without truck-rolls. Minerva claims to have implemented 25 similar switchovers in North America, in which it replaced four different types of middleware, and says that its professional services team has a proven process for doing so: according to the company, the process is designed to ensure limited or no downtime for existing IPTV subscribers, to minimize or eliminate truck-rolls, and to reuse existing IPTV infrastructure. "We were losing too many customers from a lack of key features," Christy Batts, CDE Lightband's interim VP of telecommunications, said in a prepared statement. "We had to find a replacement. Minerva was able to switchover with no downtime. More importantly, we were able to use the existing infrastructure, which saved us a tremendous amount of money."