Portugal Telecom has deployed Harmonic’s IP-based MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) compression and stream processing solutions for its nationwide launch of satellite direct-to-home (DTH) television. The new service is offered as part of Portugal Telecom’s triple-play Meo package and complements its IPTV offering, also powered by Harmonic. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Portugal Telecom is one of Europe’s first telcos to offer a MPEG-4 DTH service. The carrier has built a new digital video headend — which was implemented by Novabase/OctalTV, a leading video system integrator in Portugal. The facility includes Harmonic’s DiviCom Electra 7000 high definition (HD) encoders, Electra 5400 standard definition (SD) encoders, and the ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP distributed statistical multiplexing, DVB scrambling and Forward Error Correction capability. The video service is managed by Harmonic’s versatile NMX Digital Service Manager.
Separately, Harmonic announced a contract to supply Kabel Deutschland (KDG) with its suite of encoding, re-encoding, multiplexing, scrambling, network management, and related training and support services for KDG’s new IP-enabled headend located in Frankfurt. KDG is Germany’s–and one of Europe’s–largest cable operators, serving approximately 9 million subscribers in 13 of 16 German federal regions.
Harmonic said its IP-based digital video solutions enable KDG to intelligently manage content delivery across its MPEG-2 network bringing immediate bandwidth and operational efficiencies. Harmonic’s DiviCom Electra 5000 standard definition (SD) encoders, ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with Mentor re-encoding technology, and DiviTrackIP statistical multiplexers are the key components of KDG’s new headend.http://www.harmonicinc.com
