Ortikon Interactive News:

--Launches IPTV Middleware Platform
--Teams with G-cluster on ITV Games Solution
--Secures Deal with Baltkom TV

Finnish interactive TV technology company, Ortikon Interactive--which until now has specialized in DVB and MHP solutions--has launched an IPTV middleware platform, dubbed Ortikon Ace IPTV. The platform--which Ortikon says is the result of several years of research and development work, and which it showcased at the IBC show in Amsterdam--supports linear TV and VOD, an EPG, PC games and various interactive TV applications. According to the company, it is open standards-based and compatible with a wide range of set-top boxes; can be integrated with all leading broadcast systems, so that operators are not locked into specific suppliers; and allows service developers to easily adapt their existing Internet content for television and create new content with familiar tools. Ortikon claims that the new middleware platform is especially suitable for service providers that are already offering linear channels and interactive services on cable or satellite and that want to extend their offering to broadband: "We already have pay-TV and ITV services for the cable network and Ortikon's middleware enables us to expand our offering to broadband as well," Mika Arjanne, development manager at Finnish MSO, TTV, said in a prepared statement. "The solution seems to be very cost-efficient and fast to deploy as we can continue using our existing subscriber management and billing systems. Ortikon also has extensive experience of what subscribers expect from TV services and understand the level of quality needed in a broadcasting environment, whether cable or broadband networks." According to Ortikon, TTV is one of several operators that are using the new platform for pilots of new IPTV services.

In other Ortikon IBC news:

• The company said that it has teamed with G-cluster, a company that specializes in technologies for offering high-end games on-demand, on a solution that is designed to allow telcos and cable operators to offer the latest multiplayer console and PC games in both IPTV and MHP environments, on a subscription or pay-per-play basis. According to Ortikon, a "broad portfolio" of games is already available for the new solution, and new games will be added as they are commercially released. The company says that its service platform displays the user interface, and interoperates with the game, subscriber-management and billing servers; G-cluster servers, meanwhile, run the actual games, encoding and streaming the video and sound output to the set-top box and receiving user input (e.g. move left, jump, fire).
• It revealed that Latvian triple-play provider, Baltkom TV, is licensing its EPG management system. Ortikon's PSI/SI and event management system allows Baltkom TV to offer dynamic program information for its EPG automatically. Baltkom TV, which is based in Riga, operates a cable network that reaches around 180,000 households and an MMDS signal that reaches up to 360,000 households.

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