ADB to Supply Advanced IPTV DVR's to SureWest in North America

GENEVA, Switzerland and CHICAGO, USA — Advanced Digital Broadcast (SWX: ADBN), a leading supplier of digital TV systems and software solutions for interactive television, announced today that it has been selected to supply high definition (HD), Advanced Video Coding (AVC) ADB-5810WX IPTV digital video recorders (DVRs) to leading independent communications holding company SureWest Communications (NASDAQ:SURW). SureWest has been delivering communications services for over 90 years – its family of companies represent an integrated network of highly reliable advanced communications products and services. The company’s bundled residential and commercial offerings include an array of advanced IP-based digital video, high-speed Internet, local and long distance telephone, and wireless PCS services. Its fiber-to-the-premise IP-based network features 50 high-definition channels and symmetrical Internet speeds of up to 50 Mbps.

Currently available, the new DVR units enable SureWest to offer customers a host of new features including access to both HD and standard definition channels, the possibility to pause, rewind and playback live television and the ability to record two MPEG-4 HD channels while watching another from the integrated hard disk drive. ADB’s 5810WX is fully compatible with SureWest’s digital television service.

“SureWest selected ADB as a result of its proven ability to supply reliable, state-of-the-art technology”, commented Bill DeMuth, SureWest’s senior vice president and chief technology officer. “This is another crucial step in the continued success of our leading-edge IPTV service. Thus, it was imperative that we sought an experienced and credible supplier with a very strong reputation for technical excellence in the IPTV market to support our service expansion. The customer response has already been excellent and we are extremely enthusiastic that the launch of our DVR service will enhance our product portfolio, optimize revenues and provide our customers with a clear migration path to more advanced and competitive digital entertainment services”.

The ADB-5000 series DVR was recently awarded ‘Best IPTV Customer Premise Technology’ at the ‘IPTV World Series Awards’ held at the IPTV World Forum (www.iptv-forum.com). It is a state-of-the-art unit, incorporating SD and HD television reception, is based on MPEG-2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and enables access to a powerful range value added IP services such as Video-on-Demand and video conferencing. It can also act as a ‘home server’ at the heart of a home entertainment network.

The DVR was one of the first in its category to achieve DLNA® and UPnP™ certifications, ensuring that it can share content, such as video, pictures and music seamlessly with other certified devices within the home.

“ADB is delighted to support SureWest for the launch of a new digital video recorder for their IPTV service”, said Jim Lomax, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Marketing at ADB. “Our 5800 series digital video recorder is rapidly becoming the defacto choice for IPTV operators wishing to extend their product portfolios. As a proven product for reducing subscriber churn and increasing customer revenues, we firmly believe that the unit will enable SureWest to successfully expand their IPTV business”.

Product shipments have already commenced.