Cloud UIs Gain Momentum in Europe; Drive New TV Experiences

- T-Labs, the R&I arm of Deutsche Telekom, successfully tests CloudTV™-powered virtual STB; Ziggo to expand to unmanaged devices; Glashart (now part of KPN) brings CloudTV™ to IPTV

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ActiveVideo® today announced significant expansion of Cloud UIs in Europe, including increased adoption of its CloudTV™ software platform for the delivery of television user experiences from the cloud to any device in the home by cable and IPTV providers.

At IBC, ActiveVideo cited new CloudTV capabilities and the pay-TV industry's need to remove cost and time-to-market obstacles to consistent, branded UIs on every device as key factors underpinning a sharp increase in market activity. In addition, ActiveVideo cited four key developments that are continuing the market momentum of cloud UIs:

• The ability of CloudTV to deliver cloud-based user experiences directly to unmanaged devices, without a cable or IPTV set-top box;
• The successful completion with T-Labs, the R&I arm of Deutsche Telekom, of field trials for the virtualization of the set-top box, and delivery of Cloud UIs to HDMI dongles and other devices;
• A planned expansion by Ziggo of cloud-based VOD services to customers using CI Plus 1.3 conditional access modules; and
• The first deployment in Europe of CloudTV by an IPTV service provider, by Glashart Media, now part of KPN.

ActiveVideo will be demonstrating CloudTV-powered services at IBC (Booth 3.B13) September 13-17.

"CloudTV addresses the resource limitations and device fragmentation that are barriers to deploying or upgrading services," said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo.  "European operators such as Ziggo, Glashart Media and Deutsche Telekom's T-Labs are taking a leading role in using the power of the cloud to remove the operational bottlenecks that historically have prevented them from delivering advanced user interface paradigms."

Highlights
CloudTV decouples the user interface from device limitations, enabling the delivery of consistent, branded interfaces on any device. By moving the execution of applications to the cloud and streaming the UI to HDMI dongles, T-Labs is enabling any set-top box or connected device – including devices that lack an internal browser – to present ultramodern user experiences to viewers.  T-Labs has successfully tested both the robustness of the technology and its acceptance by users at technical internal units in Germany and with "friendly users" in the network of OTE, a Greek telecommunications provider.

In the first European IPTV deployment of CloudTV, Glashart Media is delivering advanced user interfaces, VOD services and apps.  Glashart is transitioning its cloud-based IPTV services from a first-generation platform to CloudTV™ H5 without the costs and time to market of device-based solutions.  Because the platform upgrade is taking place entirely in the cloud, Glashart Media has eliminated the capital and operational expenses of replacing set-top boxes in consumers' homes and modifying infrastructure throughout the network.  Glashart Media began the transition in January and anticipates having all cloud-based services on CloudTV H5 by the end of the year.

Supporting Quotes

Gil Rosen, vice president, new media, Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs):
"CloudTV brings TV to the Internet age with interactivity, personalization and speed of development. All while reducing overall costs and enabling a seamless on-screen experience. Working with partners such as ActiveVideo, we have proven how a virtualized STB can support the rapid launch of new TV services and contemporary, graphically pleasing TV user interfaces – even on older devices."

Niels Jonkman, business manager, Glashart Media (Now part of KPN):
"CloudTV has been essential to Glashart Media's ability to achieve key success metrics, including an annual doubling of subscribers and VOD take rates of three items per subscriber per month. The performance enhancements of CloudTV H5 and the ability to work with the deep pool of HTML5 web developers are enabling us to accelerate innovation of new services, to drive increased customer penetration and to enter new market areas."

Supporting Resources

Glashart Media (Now part of KPN) Case Study
Cloud UIs: Managing Latency Without Compromise
Ziggo Video Testimonial
Ziggo IBC Award Video
Ziggo Case Study

About CloudTV™
Using highly optimized browser technology, CloudTV massively scales to render the complete UI in the cloud to enable consistent multiscreen delivery of advanced user interfaces. The CloudTV H5 platform streams user experiences with low latency in either H.264 or MPEG2 via IP or QAM networks to any STB, CI Plus television or connected device. The cloud-based execution and rendering enables rapid, cost-effective development of complex animations and functionality for any connected device, regardless of processing capability. 

CloudTV is available on more than 10 million devices in the United States and abroad with Cablevision Systems, Ziggo, Oceanic Time Warner Cable and other operators and with Comcast in a multi-stage trial in one of the country's most competitive markets.  In addition, Charter Communications is using CloudTV to support its cloud-based UI strategy. CloudTV also is on Philips-brand NetTVs and is powering advanced user experiences for Net2TV, a virtual service provider.

About ActiveVideo
ActiveVideo® is a Silicon Valley company that harnesses the power of the cloud to accelerate multi-platform television experiences. The company's anchor technology enables Pay-TV Operators, Online Video Providers and CE Manufacturers to deliver advanced user experiences – irrespective of device dependencies - by rendering the UI in the cloud. The company's flagship platform – CloudTV™ - frees the service provider from device dependencies that limit reach and fragment user experiences across diverse device platforms. Using a "write once, deploy everywhere" approach, CloudTV eliminates the need to write content services for countless device makes and models, resulting in lower operational cost and faster time to market. ActiveVideo is based in San Jose, CA, with offices in Los Angeles and Hilversum, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.activevideo.com; find us at www.facebook.com/ActiveVideoNetworks; follow us at www.twitter.com/activevideo.