A number of IPTV platform suppliers used September’s annual International Broadcasting Convention as the occasion to make major announcements. A focus on platform openness, end-to-end systems pre-certification and multi-vendor integration characterises the latest releases. Because IBC is in Amsterdam, KPN, the incumbent operator in Holland, was able to give a live demo of KPN’s Mine TV service which uses Siemens’ SURPASS platform and Myrio middleware.

Orca Interactive launched a new subsystem for its RiGHTv platform, called Product Catalog, allowing new content packaging and pricing options. Orca also demonstrated a fixed-mobile convergence application for cross-platform marketing. For example, the operator can sell a mobile ringtone via the TV user interface. Once the TV viewer opts to buy it, the Orca platform sends a message to the user’s mobile phone saying that the ringtone is ready for download. Because RiGHTv uses SMS messaging, the subscriber’s mobile provider can be anyone.

Meanwhile, Minerva Networks highlighted a preintegrated IPTV solution with Entone video servers, Latens content protection and access platforms from Zhone Technologies and Nortel Networks. Following the June release of its LivingRoom 2.0 product, Kasenna launched PortalTV 2.0, which supplements the set-top box client and applications server of Kasenna’s LivingRoom 2.0 with Kasenna’s MediaBase XMP video server and vFusion network management systems.

SeaChange International, long a player in the cable VOD space, introduced the SeaChange TV Platform, a single system that replaced a 2005 IPTV offering which was made up of modules that it had acquired, developed internally and OEM’ed. SeaChange has been responding to IPTV RFPs for more than a year.

Meanwhile, OpenTV’s Core2 platform will be sold by Innovative Systems, pre-integrated with IMS Application Server, caller-ID and voicemail management systems from Innovative and set-top boxes from Amino. OpenTV has traditionally been a middleware supplier to satellite and cable operators.

Several platforms developed in-house by service providers were also shown at IBC, including Dreampark (in use in the Nordics), Zignal (in use at Magnet in Ireland) and Ortikon (from Finland).

Virtually all of the middleware companies have made their platforms interoperable with external encoding, content management, content protection, OSS/BSS systems and CPE elements using standardised open interfaces, in an effort to cater to the IT requirements of larger operators.