Envivio On Demand Connects IPTV PVRs to Consumer Mobile Devices and PCs

Monday, February 15th, 2010
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Gives Subscribers On Demand Access to their Recorded Content for Viewing On the Go

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Envivio Inc. today introduced Envivio On Demand, a new set of solutions that enable operators to turn their subscribers’ recorded content into premium on demand assets that can be made available to mobile and PC screens for later viewing, on the go. Envivio On Demand solutions extend broadcast and IPTV services beyond the living room, enabling them to reach consumers anytime they access a network with a device that can display video.

Envivio On Demand is debuting at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, February 15-18 and will be demonstrated in Stand 2H12. It is already being deployed by major carriers worldwide to expand their services.

“Smartphones and PCs are quickly becoming equals to the TV when it comes to consumer entertainment,” said Boris Felts, VP Marketing, Envivio. “Envivio On Demand solutions give broadcast and IPTV operators the opportunity to extend their services to these other screens using the content that people want most — the programs they have chosen to record. Cost-effective and easy to deploy, Envivio On Demand enables operators to increase revenue and reduce churn by offering innovative new services that let people take their content on the go. This creates an exciting opportunity for competing in a changing landscape of entertainment consumption.”

Solutions based on Envivio On Demand are deployed entirely in the operator’s network, requiring no costly, support-intensive customer-premise equipment and giving the operator greater control. This approach enables the operator to instead invest incrementally in valuable network capacity as needed to match increased subscriber uptake.

When a user requests the recording of a program on their PVR, a request is also sent to the operator’s Envivio On Demand system at the headend to simultaneously transcode the program into the appropriate formats for the end user’s other devices. The content is available immediately after recording completes for viewing by the consumer via streaming or download. The generated asset can be watched as it is being downloaded to the device. Envivio’s new 4Balancer™ automated load balancing tool optimizes the use of encoding resources to ensure seamless, uninterrupted operations of all encoding/transcoding operations. Envivio 4Manager™ provides high-level service supervision for full control and monitoring of equipment.

Content is prepared by the Envivio 4Caster™ C4 encoder/transcoder, which supports a wide variety of codecs including H.263, MPEG4-SP, and VC-1, as well as Envivio’s leading H.264 Elite and Extreme codecs. This variety combined with support for the widest range of network protocols enables video streams to be optimized for the full range of portable devices and provides the best viewing experience on any device, from an iPhone to an HD laptop computer screen. Envivio On Demand supports encryption for Windows Media, Silverlight and iPhone to protect premium content regardless of end device.