Brix Networks and HwaCom Systems Deliver Industry's First Set-Top Box With Integrated IPTV Quality Agent

Brix Networks, the leading provider of converged service assurance solutions, and HwaCom Systems of Taipei Hsien, Taiwan, today announced the integration of Brix Networks' IP television (IPTV) Quality Agent into HwaCom's HC-100 set-top box (STB) that gives service providers the unique ability to collect valuable video performance information and metrics on an unprecedented scale, and provides crucial, at-home visibility into providers' IPTV services.

HwaCom's STB with the Brix IPTV Quality Agent lets service providers monitor IP video and network quality -- including highlighting the performance of the IPTV and multicast infrastructure, performing continual or on-demand diagnostics of the STB, and quantifying the user channel change experience -- for operational, troubleshooting, and customer care applications. 

Brix Networks is exhibiting at this week's IPTV World Forum 2007 show, being held March 5-7, at the Olympia in London, in booth 123. 

Brix is also now part of HwaCom's IPTV ecosystem, which includes system elements from headend, middleware, video servers, network equipment, and set-top boxes with software applications. Additionally, the companies plan to develop other comprehensive IP video quality testing solutions for HwaCom's STBs in the future. 

According to Steve DesRochers, vice president, solutions, at Brix Networks, "Providers have undertaken very costly infrastructure additions and upgrades to support new IPTV services, and are now under enormous pressure to ensure successful IPTV rollouts. As a result, having visibility into endpoint devices like HwaCom's STBs allows service providers to verify installations, continually improve operational efficiencies, reduce troubleshooting resolution times, validate performance and quality levels, and ensure the overall success of their IPTV services."

Ericsson completes the voluntary public cash offer for Tandberg Television

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) has received favorable rulings from the relevant competition authorities to acquire all outstanding shares in Tandberg Television (OSE:TAT). Furthermore, no material adverse change has occurred.

Consequently, all conditions in the terms and conditions set out in the offer document, dated February 26, 2007, have been met and Ericsson will complete the offer in accordance with the offer document.

Settlement for the shares submitted in the voluntary public cash offer is expected to take place on or about April 25, 2007. As soon as possible following settlement, Ericsson will proceed with a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in Tandberg Television as required under chapter four of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. 
In parallel, Ericsson plans to initiate a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares in Tandberg Television in accordance with paragraph 4:25 of the Norwegian Public Limited Companies Act. Such compulsory acquisition of shares is expected to take effect soon after the announcement of the mandatory offer. In addition, Ericsson intends to arrange for a delisting of the Tandberg 

Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world. 

French IPTV users speak out

A study of around 2,000 IPTV subscribers in France reveals the latest attitudes towards the service and their own TV consumption patterns. The research was conducted by IPSOS on behalf of Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft TV. The German telco operates the Club Internet IPTV service in France, as part of its T-Online France division.

The research comes nine months after the launch of the Club Internet service, based on the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform. Results show that since the introduction of IPTV in France across all service providers, a number of viewers have significantly changed the way they interact with their television. On average these viewers watch around four hours of TV a day and now benefit from the flexibility and accessibility of IPTV services. 

Seventy per cent of users polled state that IPTV makes watching TV more enjoyable; 61 per cent like the way in which IPTV offers more control over when to view certain programmes; and 43 per cent believe that 

"The study clearly shows that we are entering a new era of TV viewing," said Marie-Christine Levet, CEO of Club Internet. "The Microsoft TV technology that powers our IPTV service offering empowers consumers to choose not only what they want to watch on TV but when and how they want to watch it. This heralds a new TV era where the viewer is the sole master of his TV consumption."

Almost half of those polled have subscribed to additional TV channels and packages since they started using IPTV services, compared to only a quarter that chose paid-for content from a previous TV service. Furthermore, 87 per cent of Club Internet viewers polled makes use of the personal video recorder in contrast to only 34 per cent of other IPTV subscribers.

"Our goal has been to make the TV experience personal, connected to the things you care about, and intuitively easy to use--despite its advanced capabilities," said Elena Branet, Senior Marketing Manager for Microsoft TV. "The study shows that consumers clearly value TV's new capabilities as we see a change TV watching behaviour amongst IPTV users."

However, although IPTV allows consumers to watch TV on a number of devices, 92 per cent said they continue to watch on their existing TV sets.

Globecomm Introduces SkyBorne Enterprise, Integrating Cost-Effective IPTV Broadcast Technology Into Enterprise Networks 

April 17, 2007, Hauppauge, New York - At NAB 2007 in Las Vegas, Globecomm announced the introduction of SkyBorne Enterprise, which integrates cost-effective IPTV broadcast technology into enterprise networks. SkyBorne Enterprise removes bandwidth restrictions on rich media applications by integrating cost-effective IP broadcast technology into the existing enterprise network. From business television and distance education to surveillance or digital signage, SkyBorne Enterprise brings the flexibility, security and savings of IPTV to business and institutional communications. 

SkyBorne is Globecomm's solution for satellite-based IPTV content acquisition and management, subscriber management, packaging and delivery to the end user. Compared to traditional "business TV," IPTV requires less bandwidth and turns video into a flexible, standards-based medium that integrates smoothly into enterprise networks. SkyBorne Enterprise uses satellite to bring business and institutional networks the cost and performance benefits of IP video and rich media content, while making satellite as simple as "another port on the router." Once a SkyBorne Enterprise solution is in place, it also offers 

Growing Network Capabilities

SkyBorne Enterprise has been designed to solve the challenges faced by enterprise network managers when it comes to handling video, rich media and high-bandwidth applications. With SkyBorne Enterprise, video, high-resolution graphics, large file transfers and similar applications are routed to a satellite overlay, easing congestion problems. Depending on a company's needs, SkyBorne Enterprise can be configured as a one-way or two-way solution and can provide business continuity protection for one or many locations. And because it is IP-based, there is no limit to the kinds of traffic it can carry.

SkyBorne Enterprise also offers unsurpassed control and security for rich-media applications. SkyBorne's management tools make it possible to broadcast or deliver files network-wide or to specific locations, and to update or replace archived content at any or all locations. Its encryption and authorization controls ensure that only authorized users have access to each content element. SkyBorne Enterprise also supports live as well as recorded programming transmitted directly from a studio or the field to desktops and displays throughout the enterprise.

Companies can save on bandwidth costs by multicasting content for storage and playback at remote sites. Content becomes available for playback 24/7 throughout the enterprise without continuous bandwidth demand.

Systems Plus Services

SkyBorne Enterprise is an integrated system-plus-service offering that deploys satellite terminals at a company's remote locations, provides satellite bandwidth and network management, and offers 24/7 help desk and field 

"BTV has traditionally been used for training and internal corporate communications," said Globecomm Vice President Keith Hall. "With SkyBorne Enterprise, these traditional applications become much more cost-effective, and the business case for new applications like digital signage and audio become more compelling." 

SkyBorne IPTV Platforms

Globecomm introduced its SkyBorne pre-engineered IPTV Regional Headend (RHE) at NAB 2006. It is designed for telephone companies, broadband carriers, enterprises and other new entrants into video services. In a single, cost-effective, customizable package, the SkyBorne RHE provides content acquisition, content management, subscriber management, content packaging and delivery to the carrier's distribution network. Optional features include systems for advertising insertion and video on demand, which generate additional revenues for carriers. In the same year, Globecomm built the Super Headend for SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME satellite distribution service. 

On April 16, Globecomm introduced SkyBorne Mobile, which extends the company's SkyBorne IPTV platform to deliver television programming to mobile and handheld devices. SkyBorne Mobile is a flexible, scalable media processing center for mobile TV, designed for cost-effective entry into mobile video services but using standards-based technologies to provide a clear forward path for growth. 

Kasenna Teams with HP and Intel to Successfully Complete the First 'One Million Subscriber' IPTV and Video-On-Demand Service Benchmark Test

Sunnyvale, CA - April 16, 2007 - Kasenna, the IPTV Company™, today announced that it has teamed with HP and Intel to complete a one-million-IPTV-subscriber benchmark test for broadcast television and bandwidth-intensive Video on Demand (VOD) services. The benchmark test proved that an IPTV infrastructure developed by Kasenna, together with HP and Intel, can support one million subscribers.

The IPTV-infrastructure test-bed, built around Kasenna's Portal TV product suite, consisting of the LivingRoom® middleware platform and MediaBase video server software, utilized industrystandard HP ProLiant servers powered by Intel® low-power Dual-Core Xeon® processors. The test was conducted in a simulated access network environment at the HP Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME) Solution Center in Grenoble, France.

An Executive Summary and Engineering report with detailed results of the benchmark test is available at www.kasenna.com/1m and www.hp.com/go/iptv. Carriers and service 

providers are invited to visit the HP CME Solution Center in Grenoble, France, for a guided tour, to witness the test, and to run customized tests for a variety of simulated traffic patterns.

As part of the certification process, the test center stress-tested the PortalTV infrastructure using a traffic model that subjected it to peak traffic patterns typical of Friday or Saturday evening consumer viewing. The test bed, which can be tuned to specific subscriber and traffic scenarios, is designed to allow service providers to test the infrastructure for their own user-generated traffic patterns - both traditional and anticipated traffic - and a variety of stand-alone, centralized, and distributed-content distribution architectures as a means of proving the resiliency and scalability of the IPTV infrastructure before deployment. The network supports a multi-user configuration in which multiple HP ProLiant DL380 G5 or BL480c servers running LivingRoom middleware software, each supporting up to 120,000 active subscribers, may be tested.

"As an independent Market Analysis Group, MRG recognizes the value of independent, objective IPTV benchmark testing such as that spearheaded by Kasenna, HP and Intel," said Gary Schultz of MRG, a firm providing market analysis of new technologies for the communications industries. "Although scalability of VOD is crucial to the IPTV industry, objective benchmark testing has been missing. MRG congratulates Kasenna, HP and Intel for removing the veil of mystery about what it takes to scale IPTV to subscriber levels of one million while achieving fast channel change."

"Intel is pleased to extend the breadth of its leading Dual-Core Xeon® processors to this industryfirst application for service providers," said Doug Davis, Vice President, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel. "HP and Intel together deliver an industry-standard processor technology and platform optimized for IPTV. Intel's Dual-Core® architecture makes possible za smaller-blade form factor and lower power consumption-reducing physical 

Kasenna's LivingRoom IPTV middleware platform provides scalable service delivery using portalbased Web services, while the Kasenna MediaBase video content streaming, distribution, and delivery platform provides scalable on-demand video delivery from disk- and RAM-based servers. Kasenna's LivingRoom platform is easily customized to quickly add new features, services, and applications - providing service providers unprecedented control and flexibility in offering their own branded services and in delivering a user experience that is customized to the content delivered to the consumers.

"For service providers struggling with IPTV roll-outs due to the poor scalability of their firstgeneration, pre-compiled application-based middleware and second-generation proprietary client/server middleware, this historic HP-Kasenna-Intel one-million-subscriber test using Kasenna's third-generation platform based on open, web-services-based Service Oriented Architecture is a harbinger of an IPTV infrastructure that scales gracefully from hundreds to over one million subscribers," said Kumar Shah, CEO of Kasenna. "Together with HP and Intel, I want to invite carriers and service providers to witness this test and leverage the results of our rigorous and comprehensive testing efforts to deploy a proven, scalable and resilient IPTV infrastructure." 

"As service providers gear up to offer broad-ranging IPTV services, they are increasingly concerned about the scalability of the IT components of their IPTV infrastructure and whether they will support the anticipated ramp-up of subscribers," said Peggy Dau, Worldwide Director, CME Broadband & Media Solutions, HP. "HP, Kasenna and Intel worked together to define a 

model to test and prove the scalability of the Kasenna LivingRoom and MediaBase applications on HP ProLiant servers. We believe this benchmark will provide confidence to service providers that are deploying IPTV services."

SES AMERICOM and Home2US Ink Agreement to Broaden Delivery of Popular TV Programming From Around the World to Growing Ethnic Audiences

PRINCETON, N.J. & HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9,2007--Focused on quenching growing demand for homegrown television among burgeoning immigrant and ethnic audiences across North America, SES AMERICOM and Home2US today announced a joint marketing agreement to deliver popular international programming to more viewers across a variety of media.
The agreement brings together Home2US, the fastest-growing Direct to Home (DTH) international content provider in the U.S., with America's premier IPTV distribution 

"By marketing the Home2US international content on IP PRIME, the popular news and entertainment shows of distant homelands can be enjoyed by millions of immigrants and ethnic audiences in the U.S. on a wide range of new and innovative technologies," explains Bill Squadron, senior vice president of media partnerships for SES AMERICOM. "Our IP PRIME infrastructure will allow content providers to reach their consumers wherever they are, with quality, reliability and rights protection."

"Home2US has built its business of delivering popular international programming to diverse ethnic audiences in the U.S. aboard SES AMERICOM's reliable and secure AMC-4 satellite," said Emrah Ozkan, president and CEO of Home2US, which now offers 40 international television and radio channels and networks throughout North America. "IP PRIME now enables us to broaden our reach across multiple distribution channels with a growing lineup of the best content from around the world."

Autonomy’s Virage Automates Copyright Infringement Detection for Online Video

Cambridge, UK and San Francisco, Calif. - April 5th, 2007 - Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise and proponent of Meaning-Based Computing, today announced the release of Virage Automatic Copyright Infringement Detection (ACID). Virage ACID enables copyright owners such as broadcasters, production houses and publishers to maintain control of their Intellectual Property by automating the detection of illegal distribution of copyrighted material on the Internet.

Using Autonomy's unique Meaning-Based Computing, which includes patented image and audio analysis technology, and powered by the Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), ACID offers a fast, accurate and scalable method of detecting breaches of copyright, wherever they are located and whatever format they are in. By automatically detecting any rich media that infringes an organization's copyright, Virage ACID eliminates the need for content owners to spend hours trawling through video sharing websites, or manually scanning p2p file contents. 

In addition, Virage ACID's functions are particularly valuable for organizations that see Internet distribution of user-generated or 

hosted content as critical to their business model. Instead of relying on copyright owners to alert hosting agents to offending material (a legally contentious strategy), content hosts can take a more proactive approach by scanning material as it is uploaded and quarantining content that may be breaching copyright. This real-time approach can deliver extensive return on investment as hosts can avoid potentially expensive legal disputes by removing risky content before it is posted. In addition, this is done without frustrating users with the lengthy delays between uploading and posting that more manual processes inevitably cause.

Unlike many Digital Rights Management solutions, the system does not rely on watermarking and so is not undermined by random noise or format and codec changes.

Furthermore, Virage's ACID module is not restricted to one form of data. Being totally independent of media format, ACID can not only detect whether distributed video infringes copyright, but also whether audio content ripped from a copyrighted video or audio track that is overlaid on legitimate video has been uploaded.

"With the explosion in interest around video sharing and distribution over the Internet, copyright owners must act rapidly to stay ahead of the rising tide of illegal copies of their content. With Autonomy's Meaning Based Computing technology and image and audio analysis expertise, ACID is a powerful solution to help media companies protect their assets, and video sharing websites to reduce their risk, while reducing administrative overheads for both," commented Dr. Mike Lynch, CEO, Autonomy.