Ziggo Selects CloudTV Platform From ActiveVideo Networks; to Deploy Navigation Entirely From Cloud

- ActiveVideo to Demonstrate Ziggo Beta, Comcast UIs at IBC

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ziggo has selected for deployment the CloudTV™ virtual set-top box platform from ActiveVideo Networks™, establishing Ziggo as the first major European service provider to deliver an advanced VOD user interface entirely from the network cloud.  The announcement was made by ActiveVideo Networks at the IBC conference and exhibition here.

Under the agreement, Ziggo, the largest cable system operator in the Netherlands, will leverage the ActiveVideo CloudTV H5™ platform to enable rich, consistent user experiences to Ziggo subscribers.  The initial deployment will include video-on-demand (VOD) navigation and guide functionality -- including enhanced search, discovery and previews -- to existing set-top boxes. 

CloudTV is unique in its ability to uniformly deliver a single, graphically-rich UI to a variety of devices. For Ziggo, as well as other service providers and the CE industry, the CloudTV H5 platform ensures superior scalability and service velocity of user experiences rendered entirely in the cloud.

ActiveVideo Networks is demonstrating a beta version of the Ziggo VoD interface, as well as navigation UIs that are in trial with Comcast in the United States, on the CloudTV H5 platform at Stand 1.A52 at IBC.

"Service providers deploying advanced navigation, guides and other content need long-term, flexible solutions that will support any current or future device," said Ronald Brockmann, managing director for ActiveVideo Networks in Europe.  "The selection of CloudTV will allow Ziggo to deliver rich, engaging services without replacing existing set-top boxes."

About Ziggo
Ziggo is a Dutch provider of entertainment, information and communication through television, Internet and telephony services. The company serves around 3.0 million households, with almost 1.8 million Internet customers, more than 2.2 million customers for digital television and 1.4 million telephony subscribers. Business-to-business customers use services such as data communication, telephony, television and Internet. The company owns a next-generation network capable of providing the bandwidth required for all future services currently foreseen. More information on Ziggo can be found on: www.ziggo.com

About CloudTV
Designed to support all digital STBs, CI Plus televisions and connected devices, the scalable CloudTV H5 platform utilizes highly-optimized HTML5 browser technology running in remote servers to execute and render complete user experiences in the cloud.  The fully-formed user experience is then streamed to the user's device. Subscribers control the experience by using their remote controls to send key presses to the remote server, controlling the application.  The latency between a customer key press and the UI response is minimal. 

This innovative, patented technology makes it possible to create and deliver the same pixel-accurate applications and user experiences across any digital set top box or connected device.  In-home device capabilities are irrelevant to the application designer because the application is fully executed and rendered on the cloud-based server, instead making it possible to create complex animations and functionality without worrying about device capability. 

Designed to interface seamlessly with existing cable operator network infrastructure, the "total cloud" approach can be deployed at low cost without changing or adding a single device in the home, thus achieving unparalleled service velocity.  As television operators move more and more to a unicast distribution network, they can take advantage of the CloudTV platform to drive personalized, on-demand video to every customer.  CloudTV is available on approximately 10 million screens in the United States and abroad with Cablevision Systems, Oceanic Time Warner Cable and other operators, as well as on Philips-brand NetTVs.

About ActiveVideo Networks
ActiveVideo Networks™ has created CloudTV™, a virtual set-top box platform that enables the development and streaming of rich Navigation, Advanced Guides and TV Content to any set-top box, CI Plus television or connected CE device. CloudTV is a low-bandwidth, low-latency, high-scalability solution that allows unequalled time-to-market speed and cost-effectiveness in the deployment of new television experiences The CloudTV approach of placing the intelligence in the network, not the device, powers an open development and publishing environment for content creators, service providers, and CE manufacturers to quickly and easily create new television experiences for their viewers. ActiveVideo Networks is based in the heart of Silicon Valley, 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; view our videos at www.youtube.com/AVCloudTV.

SOURCE ActiveVideo Networks