Minerva Networks Unveils Version 4.0 of its iTVManager Platform

IPTV middleware provider, Minerva Networks, unveiled version 4.0 of its flagship iTVManager platform Monday. According to the company, iTVManager 4.0 features a widget engine that it bills as enabling blended Internet and TV services, whole-home DVR functionality, new user interfaces, and advanced redundancy and high-availability features. The company bills the new version of its platform as being designed to enable IPTV operators to innovate at a rapid pace.

According to Minerva, iTVManager 4.0's widget engine is capable of supporting a broad range of applications, including RSS news feeds, stock information, weather and traffic info, visual voicemail, caller-ID, and various popular Web 2.0 services. "Blending legacy television programming with Internet content and applications is critical for triple-play operators to differentiate their offerings and address the competitive pressure posed by emerging over-the-top services, Minerva CEO, Mauro Bonomi, said in a prepared statement. "Minerva's new development environment allows third parties to easily build converged television and Internet applications."

iTVManager 4.0's whole-home DVR functionality enables all the set-top boxes in a home to access media stored on a main, shared DVR. The platform's new user interfaces, meanwhile, are selectable by end-users. According to the company, they take advantage of the processing power provided by next-generation IP set-top boxes, in order to deliver animation capabilities in a highly customizable and localizable environment. They also offer multi-language support, Minerva says.

According to Minerva, iTVManager 4.0 also expands the platform's backoffice API's, in order to facilitate integration with hospitality entertainment systems, so that operators can offer targeted services to hotels, resorts and MDU's within their service area. In order to address the stringent needs of large-scale deployments, the company says, the new version of the platform also supports a robust, high-availability and disaster-recovery configuration, which it claims minimizes downtime even in extreme circumstances.

Minerva claims that the iTVManager ecosystem is enjoying continued expansion, both as a result of new vendors entering the market and existing partners releasing new products for the platform. New set-top box models supported by version 4.0 include the Wistron NeWeb family of devices, the company says. "Minerva has been able to address many key customers' demands with this fourth-generation platform," Christy Batts, VP of telecommunications at iTVManager customer, CDE Lightband, said in a prepared statement. "Constantly adding new leading-edge features, enabling third-party applications and giving its customers choices makes Minerva's open platform more and more appealing in the rapidly growing IP connected-television market."

According to Minerva, iTVManager 4.0 has already been installed at a number of sites around the world, and will be generally available next month.