Industry Announcements Home page ›› February 2008 Monthly Archive

February 20, 2008

OPENTV CONTINUES TO IMPACT TELEVISION VIEWING, SURPASSES MAJOR INDUSTRY MILESTONE OF 100 MILLION ENABLED DEVICES WORLDWIDE

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San Francisco, Calif., February 19, 2008 - The television viewing experience has changed dramatically over the past ten years. Passive, one-way delivery of viewing content has evolved into a highly interactive, two-way television experience, due in large part to significant contributions by OpenTV Corp. (NASDAQ GM: OPTV), a leading provider of solutions for the delivery of advanced television and interactive services. Today, OpenTV is pleased to announce that more than 100 million OpenTV-enabled digital set-top boxes and televisions have been deployed worldwide.

Since its first deployments in 1997, OpenTV's technology has been integrated into more digital set-top boxes and televisions than any of its competitors and has an industry footprint that extends today into 100 countries, through partnerships with more than 50 network operators and 40 set-top box manufacturers.

In just over ten years, OpenTV's technology has greatly changed the way people enjoy television around the world, as a result of long-standing partnerships with global leaders including customers such as News Corporation, EchoStar, and Liberty Global; set-top box manufacturers such as Pace Micro Technology and Thomson; chipset vendors such as ST Microelectronics and Broadcom; and conditional access partners such as Nagravision, Irdeto and NDS. As PVR penetration grows and as other technologies such as broadband, video-on-demand and high definition gain popularity among consumers, OpenTV is committed to meeting the growing demands of the industry, enabling operators worldwide to offer advanced services to their viewers. On a global scale, OpenTV supports the largest installed base of PVR devices among middleware providers.

"As we surpass the 100 million device mark, I can proudly state that OpenTV's technology has truly become the cornerstone of digital television services around the world," said Ben Bennett, OpenTV's Chief Operating Officer. "This is no small feat when you consider the size and complexity of the global television industry. We have come a long way since the late nineties when HDTV, DVR's and advanced interactive services were still immature technologies and not fully consumer-grade quality. That has now changed as we see the deployment of much more advanced interactivity being integrated with the traditional viewing experience. Considering that still only ten percent of the world's 1.78 billion televisions are digitally enabled, we have a great market opportunity ahead of us."

Viewer experiences around the world illustrate how 100 million OpenTV-enabled digital devices have changed the way consumers interact with their televisions. In the United States, DISH Network viewers are now voting and polling through their televisions, as illustrated by the recent launch of its DISH Decision 2008 interactive election application. DishTV subscribers in India are playing interactive cricket and FOXTEL subscribers in Australia are selecting and voting for their favorite television shows in Australia. In 2004, nearly nine million BSkyB digital satellite viewers in the United Kingdom, representing 58 percent of the available digital satellite audience at that time, used the BBC's interactive 2004 Summer Olympic Games services powered by OpenTV.

"We have a long-standing relationship with OpenTV and are pleased to be a part of this industry milestone," said Carl Vogel, Vice Chairman of DISH Network. "Through our partnership with OpenTV and use of their technology, we have been able to differentiate our platform in the market. This was most recently illustrated by the launch of our DISH Decision 2008 application, which was a collaborative effort on behalf of our two companies."

Neil Gaydon, Chief Executive Officer at Pace Micro Technology commented: "We have been an OpenTV licensee since the beginning, and we have worked together on some of the world's most exciting digital TV launches. Most recently this work has included a number of high definition PVR developments, including the first Pace/OpenTV/Irdeto partnership for the launch of Turkey's first HD PVR. At Pace, our focus is on delivering great products to our customers every time, but this can only be achieved by working with the best partners in set-top box technology. We are proud to say that OpenTV is just such a partner."

The achievement of 100 million deployed digital devices is truly remarkable when compared against other consumer technology icons. For example, OpenTV's 100 million digital devices surpass the combined units sold of Xbox, Xbox 360, Sony PS3, and Nintendo Wii since their respective launches. In addition, 100 million OpenTV-powered digital devices is more than eight times the number of BlackBerrys sold to date.

"This significant accomplishment is an absolute tribute to OpenTV's people, technology, customers and partners across the globe who have helped make it happen," continued Bennett. "We have a strong roadmap for 2008 and beyond, and look forward to celebrating more achievements in the coming years."

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 12, 2008

V-FACTOR Offers Complete Quality of Experience (QoE)

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Symmetricom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMM) today announced that Test and Measurement World Magazine selected Symmetricom's V-FACTOR® Q-400 Probe for its 2008 "Best in Test®" Award within the Video Test category. The 2008 Best in Test Awards honor companies that recently introduced new products that offer significant technological advancements in the testing and measurement market.

The V-FACTOR QoE Platform, which includes the Q-400 probe, is a complete quality of experience (QoE) solution that enables rapid identification of symptoms affecting IP-based video, voice and data services in real time, from the core network to the customer premises equipment (CPE). In addition, the audio and video are monitored precisely as the user is experiencing it.

"We are happy to recognize Symmetricom's V-FACTOR® Q-400 Probe as a Best-in-Test winner. With all of the test and measurement products that were released in 2007 to be selected as one of the best is a real honor. We wish Symmetricom good luck as the reader's vote for the Test Product of the Year," said Russ Pratt, publisher, Test & Measurement World.

EVP-GM of Symmetricom's QoE Assurance Division David Cox commented, "We're pleased that Test and Measurement World recognizes that our V-FACTOR Q-400 provides superior technological advancements to the market. We're proud to offer a differentiated solution that monitors the performance of any streaming media including HDTV/SDTV, IPTV, VOD, SDV and VoIP, providing cost-effective and scalable end-to-end performance visibility and perceptual video quality assurance for service providers and cable operators worldwide.

"Our V-FACTOR Platform gives service providers and cable operators the monitoring capabilities they need to improve revenue and profit from increased customer satisfaction while lowering technical support costs," Cox added.

About Symmetricom, Inc.
As a worldwide leader in precise time and frequency products and services, Symmetricom provides "Perfect Timing" to customers around the world. Since 1985, the company's solutions have helped define the world's time and frequency standards, delivering precision, reliability and efficiency to wireline and wireless networks, instrumentation and testing applications and network time management. Deployed in more than 90 countries, the company's synchronization solutions include primary reference sources, building integrated timing supplies (BITS), GPS timing receivers, time and frequency distribution systems, network time servers and ruggedized oscillators. Symmetricom also incorporates technologies including Universal Timing Interface (UTI), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Precision Time Protocol (IEEE 1588), and others supporting the world's migration to Next Generation Networks (NGN). Symmetricom is based in San Jose, Calif., with offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.symmetricom.com.

Symmetricom's QoE Assurance Division provides perceptual video quality monitoring and diagnostic solutions for cable operators, telcos and other CSPs to deliver mission-critical QoE solutions for IP-based services. For more information, visit symmetricom

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

World leading manufacturer of wireless chipsets to integrate Hantro™ hardware video acceleration.

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On2 Technologies, Inc. (Amex: ONT), a leader in video compression technologies, announced today that Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/ NYSE: IFX) has signed a multiple use license agreement for integrating the On2's latest Hantro video accelerators. Configurable to support popular standard and proprietary video formats in resolutions from QCIF up to 720p High Definition, the encoder and the decoder RTL designs will be integrated to several Infineon baseband chipsets targeted for high volume mobile handsets.


Under the terms of the agreement On2 will provide Infineon with several configurations of the codec solution; the format and resolution support are specified during the system integration phase of the chip projects thus providing Infineon with maximum flexibility to ensure they achieve an optimum combination of silicon area utilization and functionality for their target markets.


"Infineon have shipped more than a billion wireless chipsets and is expected to gain significant market share in 2G and 3G markets" says Bill Joll, President and CEO of On2 "This kind of success is testament to their consistent ability to competitively deliver leading edge products of the highest quality. We are extremely proud to be chosen as the video technology provider for their next generation chipsets"


By using On2™ RTL designs, Infineon is able to offload the complex calculations needed for video compression and decompression from the chip's processor core. This makes full motion video record and playback possible, without having high CPU load for video processing. In addition, the solution is extremely power efficient which means that consumers with handsets built on the Infineon chipset can enjoy longer video capture and playback time on a single charge.

"High quality video capability is virtually a pre-requisite for all feature-phone handsets, and integrating support into the baseband chipset is the best way to marry the performance consumers expect with the price they are willing to pay." said Clemens Jargon, Infineon's Vice President and General Manager of the Feature Phone Business Unit. "With the On2's video accelerators, we are able to provide device manufacturers with highly competitive leading edge solutions for entry level through to high-end multimedia handset designs."


Infineon is using the On2 video accelerators in the 3G and higher end 2.5G variants of their 65nm baseband family. First products of this family are sampling now. Infineon has been shipping its communication ICs for more than 15 years to all major companies in the mobile phone segment, including Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2007 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 7.7 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.6 billion) with approximately 43,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 13,500 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).

About On2

On2 Technologies (AMEX: ONT) ensures a compelling video experience for any video application anywhere. From low bit rate to high definition, On2 provides optimized video compression technology enabling innovative solutions for application developers, content and service providers, chip vendors, device manufacturers, digital signage companies and beyond.

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

WISH YOU WERE HERE(SM) CAMERAPHONE POSTCARDS ENABLE USERS TO SEND PERSONALIZED POSTCARDS FROM THEIR PHONES

NEW YORK, NY - Travelers now have an easy way to send a personalized postcard and avoid wasting time searching for stamps or a post office. Grandparents can now get their mobile phone-obsessed grandchildren to send them pictures for their refrigerators. What happens in Vegas might no longer stay there.

Wish You Were HereSM cameraphone postcards are real postcards, personalized with a user's photo, and mailed right from a mobile phone. Users simply text "WYWH" to the shortcode "69626" from their mobile phone to start using the service. They can turn that great snapshot taken with their phone into a postcard by just sending the picture to WYWH.mobi and visiting a simple mobile web site to enter a personal caption, message, and address. The WYWH(SM) service then prints and mails the postcard on the user's behalf. No download is required to use the service, which relies only on SMS text messaging and a mobile phone browser like the one found on an iPhone, Treo, Blackberry, or Razr. Mobile browsers are now found on thousands of phone models.

The service launches today with support from several U.S. carriers including AT&T, NEXTEL/Sprint, CellularOne, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile and will soon be available on other major carriers. Customers can make their purchase by charging their wireless phone bill, as millions already do for ring-tones and other mobile content, or they can create an account at WYWH.mobi and pay via credit card or PayPal. The cost per postcard is $1.99 and includes printing, postage, and mailing of the postcard to any U.S. address. Customers can also purchase discounted pre-paid packs to store with their account. Standard text messaging rates apply.

"We hope our new customers will have as much fun and be as engaged as our pre-release users", said Michael Angst, CEO of Stolen Bases (www.stolenbases.com), one of the two companies that partnered to provide the service. "We saw a wide range of uses -- from the couple that sent postcards from the top of the slopes in Aspen to the user who snapped a picture of a broken traffic sign to send to his mayor."

The mobile postcard service will also be available through an affiliate program. This program allows organizations of any size to reserve a keyword and provide branded postcards as a souvenir, promotion, or service.

"We are working on affiliate deals with sports teams, bands, and other event-driven organizations, where quickly sending a personalized, branded souvenir postcard provides a fun, innovative, viral mobile service that can generate additional revenues", said Kris Ramanathan, CEO of netomat (www.netomat.com), the company that provides the mobile infrastructure that powers the service.

"Our first affiliate partner, Family Travel Forum, was pleased that we gave parents a way to manage usage. Their customers rely on them to provide family-friendly travel advice and resources, including tips for kids traveling on their own." added Michael. "Parents can fund, then replenish, their teens' use of the service when sending postcards from camp, concerts, college or Spring Break."

Try it Now! Just text WYWH to 69626.

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

iRiver's Next Gen Mobile & Home Entertainment Devices Powered by SPIRIT Voice & Video Engines

BARCELONA, Spain (Mobile World Congress, booth #2H11) - February 12, 2008 - SPIRIT DSP, the world's leading provider of voice and video software engines, announced today that Reigncom, one of the largest manufacturers of portable multimedia players (PMP) and the parent company of mp3 player manufacturer iRiver, has licensed TeamSpirit® 3.0 Voice Engine Mobile to ensure outstanding voice quality in the new iRiver W10 VoIP-enabled PMP. Previously, iRiver licensed TeamSpirit 3.0 Voice&Video Engine to be integrated into its next-generation Unit2 multimedia home entertainment and communication center.

TeamSpirit 3.0 Voice Engine Mobile will run in the new iRiver W10 gadget. The iRiver W10 series heralds a new era in portable electronics. A luxurious array of features makes the W10 the gadget of choice for all technology-savvy customers. iRiver W10 delivers such "must have" functionality as high-quality, crystal clear voice over IP, MPEG-4 and WMV video streaming and MP3, WMA and AAC audio playback, and it includes a built-in FM tuner and a Wi-Fi Positioning System.

A successful predecessor of the W10, iRiver W7 has recently won CNET's "Best of CES" Award in the category of MP3 and Portable Video Players at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.

"Our next-generation iRiver W10 wouldn't be a success without high-quality voice communication, demanded by subscribers and required by service providers. With SPIRIT's software, we are able to ensure excellent service perception and satisfaction of subscribers' modern demand for ubiquitous communications," said Justin Hwang, VP Products of Reigncom. "We do emphasize the quality of our products. In every minor detail, we look for the most advanced and reliable solution. SPIRIT turned out to be the best choice."

"With SPIRIT's help, iRiver has successfully added communication functionality to the W-series of its fancy gadgets. By marrying a VoIP phone with a multimedia player and navigator, iRiver keeps pace with the newest market trends and strong subscriber demands born when Apple added GSM functionality to the iPod," said Alex Kravchenko, VP Sales of SPIRIT DSP. "We enjoy our ongoing relationship with Reigncom and are pleased to support another break-through of Reigncom's development team. SPIRIT is dedicated to helping market leaders like Reigncom transform their devices into communication gadgets of tomorrow."

TeamSpirit 3.0 Voice Engine Mobile is part of TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine Mobile, which is a complete solution that delivers rich voice and video experience for mobile OEMs. Due to sophisticated algorithms, the engine enables best-of-breed voice, as well as 3-way video conference calls with 10 fps on a low cost 200 MHz mobile phone for 3G VT and V2oIP (voice and video over IP) applications. The engine provides longer battery life, thanks to extremely low MIPS consumption. TeamSpirit Mobile is specifically designed for next generation mobile devices like dual mode phones (cellular + WiFi), WiFi phones and Portable WiFi devices, softphones on mobile platforms, IP voice and videophones and 3G mobile phones (with video telephony support).

TeamSpirit 3.0 Mobile is available on all ARM9 and ARM9E based processors (XScale, OMAP and others), along with ARM AudioDE and TI C64x.

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 11, 2008

GIPS Showcasing Mobile VoIP Technology at Mobile World Congress,

Global IP Solutions (GIPS) the leading provider of high quality VoIP media processing today announced that RADVISION, the industry's leading provider of products and technologies for unified visual communications over IP, 3G and IMS networks has partnered with Global IP Solutions to integrate GIPS' VoiceEngine™ Embedded products to provide the media processing for RADVISION's portfolio of products for the development of client premises equipment (CPE).

"GIPS provides the media processing technology behind the best IP multimedia products and services. By teaming up with GIPS, RADVISION is able to provide our customers with a complete one-stop shop solution for high-quality VoIP solutions and across-the-board connectivity -- from desktops to 3G mobile networks," said Jacob Bridger, RADVISION's vice president of Business Development, Technology Business Unit. "RADVISION's client product line which includes our Multimedia Terminal Framework (MTF), SIP and SIP IMS developer's suites, our 3G-324M toolkit and 3G VT Application will all benefit from GIPS high-quality media processing engines."

"RADVISION has a strong portfolio of carrier-grade unified communications applications. Developers can seamlessly integrate applications that offer the highest quality VoIP capabilities, which is powered and enhanced by GIPS renowned media processing technology. RADVISION's partnership with GIPS' will allow their customers to deal with today's competitive pressures quickly," said Global IP Solutions' Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Roar Hagen.

RADVISION's products allow application developers to focus on functionality, application development and user interaction when developing CPE devices such as mobile handsets, integrated access devices (IADs), wireline & Wireless Terminals and IP Set-Top-Boxes. RADVISION's products combined with GIPS VoiceEngine media processing provides a complete enabling technology framework covering call control, signaling and media processing in a unified package.

About RADVISION

RADVISION (NASDAQ: RVSN) is the industry's leading provider of market-proven products and technologies for unified visual communications over IP, 3G and IMS networks. With its complete set of standards-based video networking infrastructure and developer toolkits for voice, video, data and wireless communications, RADVISION is driving the unified communications evolution by combining the power of video, voice, data and wireless - for high definition video conferencing systems, innovative converged mobile services, and highly scalable video-enabled desktop platforms on IP, 3G and emerging next-generation IMS networks. For more information about RADVISION, visit http://www.radvision.com

About Global IP Solutions
GIPS provides best-in-class voice and video in end-to-end IP communications with robustness against packet loss for service providers, enterprises, applications developers, network equipment, gateway and chip manufacturers. GIPS' customer list includes Nortel, Samsung, WebEx, Yahoo!, AOL, EarthLink and other key players in the VoIP market. GIPS is a member of the Intel® PCA Developer Network, Motorola Design Alliance, Symbian Platinum Partner Program and Texas Instruments' third party developer network. GIPS is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Stockholm, Boston and Hong Kong. More information at http://gipscorp.com

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 7, 2008

Narrowstep Appoints Barak Bar-Cohen as President and Chief Operating Officer

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Princeton, NJ / London, February 7, 2008 - Narrowstep Inc. (Nasdaq: NRWS), the TV on the Internet company, today announced the appointment of Barak Bar-Cohen as President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Bar-Cohen previously served as General Manager of European Operations for Narrowstep, and will continue to be based in London.

"With February's release of our technology upgrade, which will include a new advertising platform, more community tools, as well as cross-browser and cross-platform support, I feel our technology is once again leading the industry. We have also streamlined the operations and removed roughly $7M in costs that began to be reflected in the last quarter. We will continue to focus on driving sales and I can think of no better executive to focus on sales and the day-to-day execution than Mr. Bar-Cohen," said David C. McCourt, Chairman and Interim CEO.


Mr. Bar-Cohen brings over 12 years of international experience and operations knowledge to Narrowstep in the telecommunications and media industries. His experience includes numerous senior operating and financial management positions across these industries, including Vice President of Customer Service, Marketing and Public Relations at RCN, the largest competitive triple play provider in the US, Vice President of Investment Banking at Zannex Investment, an international investment house based in Tel Aviv, and Senior Associate at Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, a US-based economic consulting firm. Mr. Bar-Cohen holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. To view Mr. Bar-Cohen's complete bio please visit: http://narrowstep.com/about/narrowstep-management-team.aspx.

"Delivering TV-quality streaming video across our platform is at the core of what we do best," said Barak Bar-Cohen. "With our new suite of ad serving tools, enhanced community features, upgraded content distribution network, and industry-leading viewing times, Narrowstep offers a powerful solution for driving commercial success."

Narrowstep is based in Princeton, New Jersey and London and provides the most comprehensive solution for managing, distributing and commercializing video on the Internet securely in TV-like quality. Narrowstep's platform supports over 180 channels, with clients including some of the largest broadcasters and telcos in the world including ITV Local, Virgin Media, the Sci-Fi Channel and Telefonica.

For more information about Narrowstep, or call 609-945-1760.

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 6, 2008

Tele2 Selects Digital Fountain's ToughStreamTM Solution to Further Improve its High-quality IPTV Services

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ToughStream Enables Error-free, High-quality IPTV Service, Regardless of Network Conditions

FREMONT, Calif. - February 6, 2008 - Digital Fountain, Inc., a leading provider of advanced standardized solutions for digital media delivery, today announced that Tele2 Nederland, the first IPTV provider in the Netherlands, has selected ToughStream Solution to further improve their IPTV service. After successful trials, ToughStream is now live and operational on Tele2's IPTV network, providing protection against "glitches," or visible errors that naturally occur when delivering real-time media over IP networks.

ToughStream is a software solution that eliminates video and audio degradation caused by packet loss, latency or out-of-order delivery. These effects are normal and prevalent conditions on all IP networks because IP is, by design, a "best effort" delivery protocol. Because it is a software-based solution, ToughStream is highly configurable, and easy to deploy on any IPTV network. An extraordinarily scalable solution, ToughStream has negligible hardware requirements while providing high QoE including fast channel change times.

"If you want your IPTV customers to start looking around at cable, satellite or DVB-T, give them a poor picture. Nothing drives high churn rates more than a TV image which is worse than your neighbors'. IPTV operators are starting to realize that video quality is THE issue, not channel change speed, or new EPG interface, not even price. It's video quality," said Peter White, principal analyst with Faultline, Rethink Research's digital media service. "There are three ways to drive up video quality. You can resend IP packets, or use extra bandwidth, but both of these are expensive options. The first thing to look at is a leading edge error correction system like ToughStream."

ToughStream is powered by Digital Fountain's DF RaptorTM technology. DF Raptor has been adopted by several IPTV standards, including DVB-IPTV (Digital Video Broadcasting - IPTV) as well as several mobile multimedia standards including 3GPP MBMS and DVB-H. Other standards bodies are currently evaluating DF Raptor as a best practices standard for high-quality IPTV and mobile multimedia service delivery.


About Digital Fountain

Digital Fountain is a leading provider of advanced standardized solutions for digital media delivery, even in the most challenging network environments. Digital Fountain solutions are currently deployed in advanced IPTV, CDN, and mobile delivery applications throughout the world, and have been adopted by leading global standards bodies, including DVB, and 3GPP. Many other standards bodies are currently evaluating DF Raptor as a best practices standard for digital media delivery. Partners and customers include leading global companies such as Cisco Systems, Sumitomo Electric Networks, Northrop Grumman, KDDI, SK Telecom, Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Radio, Sony, Nokia, and many more. For more information, please visit www.digitalfountain.com.


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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 5, 2008

Amino sets the standard with one-millionth AmiNET110 sale

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IPTV vendor shapes global MPEG-2 standard definition Set-Top Box market

Cambridge, UK, February 5, 2008-- Amino, the world leading IPTV platform supplier, today announced that it shipped its millionth AmiNET110 Set-Top Box (STB) in H2'07.

The AmiNET110 has become the benchmark MPEG-2 standard definition product for the IPTV industry. With nearly half a million AmiNET110 STBs distributed in 2007 alone, Amino offers an award winning compact STB, ideal for multicast and video on-demand applications.

"The success of the AmiNET110 is a clear indicator that Amino benefited from its position as an early innovator in the growing IPTV market. Our sales were largely supported by dominance in MPEG-2 which continues to be a suitable technology in countries where telcos have good network infrastructure," said Bob Giddy, CEO at Amino. "The AmiNET110 leads the IPTV field, and this achievement shows that our customers can maintain their competitive edge."

"Consumers demand an IPTV solution that works, so we had to deliver a proven, reliable IPTV service that not only would perform faultlessly, but also would provide new exciting interactive applications. The AmiNET110 has been the perfect choice," said Jorge Atton, CEO of Telefónica del Sur in Chile.

The AmiNET110 STB provides an elegant and powerful means of delivering sophisticated interactive digital television including multicast and on demand video along with Internet access. A USB interface is provided to support functionality such as games controllers. It also offers Ethernet input and flexible audio/video outputs, together with S/P-DIF and an RF Modulator output.

"We will see increased shipments of both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC IP STBs throughout 2008," noted Shane Walker, Industry Analyst, IMS Research. "Despite the rapid rate of change in this developing industry, Amino continues to rank as one of the top IP STB suppliers in the world."

The success of the AmiNET110 has allowed Amino to expand its STB range and led to the development of the AmiNET125, a multi-codec IP STB designed to deliver IPTV and Internet TV services together with added value applications such as VoIP. This innovative mix of performance and flexibility won the CSI 2007 Product of the Year Award in the category Best IPTV Technology.

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About Amino Communications
Amino Communications (www.aminocom.com ) supplies the AmiNET™ series of set-top boxes (STBs), renowned for their low-cost and reliability. The AmiNET range materially reduces service operators' capital expenditure, whilst offering the full range of specification required; MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoding standards, standard and high definition TV, personal video recording and home networking. The high performance coupled with the innovative design of Amino's set-top boxes, has brought the series industry accolades and the company a leading position within the IPTV market.

The AmiNET series of IPTV STBs has been used in commercial deployments and trials in over 80 countries worldwide. Amino's principal customers are telecommunications, broadcast and hospitality service operators. Generally, AmiNET products are supplied with the IntAct™ IPTV software stack pre-loaded.

Amino Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amino Technologies plc. listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM, symbol AMO. Amino's HQ is based near Cambridge, UK, with offices worldwide.

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

February 4, 2008

Tomorrow Move Networks (www.movenetworks.com) will be streaming the Primaries LIVE.

Changing the way Americans view politics: Similar to FDR's fireside chats in the 1930's and to the Web, White and Blue site in 2000, on Feb. 5 for the first time, the Presidential Primaries will be streamed live online, bringing political content to Americans in a never before explored format.

Move Networks will shape this event for ABCNews.com as they provide all-day, free live coverage of Super Tuesday. As you know, the buzz around these primaries has been HUGE, not only for their political impact but also for culturally transitioning the way Americans view politics and get their political news.

For LIVE Video Coverage

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About IPTV Evangelist

IPTV Evangelist (ipTVe) is the ultimate guide to the people and the companies that are defining the red-hot iTV and IPTV markets. Founded by streaming video pioneer Gilbert B. Hammer, IPTV Evangelist combines the latest iTV and IPTV news and analysis with interviews with key players. As the title of the site implies, Gilbert is passionate about the space, which he views as the next-generation for online and mobile entertainment for its creative integration of new and improved forms of communication, storytelling and community.

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