Multimedia Polska Launches Video-on-Demand Service Powered by Harmonic's Video Server and Software Suite

Harmonic’s Armada® Intelligent Asset Management and StreamLiner® VOD Servers Deployed in First Commercially Available Cable VOD Service in Poland

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Multimedia Polska S.A., a leading cable and IPTV service provider in Poland with more than 600,000 subscribers, has deployed Harmonic’s on-demand solutions for its new video-on-demand (VOD) service launched in September 2007. Multimedia Polska is the first cable operator in Poland to roll out VOD, and the service, initially available in six cities, will be available to their entire digital cable subscriber base by the end of the year. Multimedia Polska is also an existing customer of Harmonic’s optical transmission solutions.

The solution implemented by Multimedia Polska includes Harmonic’s StreamLiner® video servers and Armada® intelligent asset manager for dynamic adaptive distribution of assets based on popularity and available resources. The VOD network is a distributed system with nearly 20 regional sites across the country linked using IP-based connectivity. The ability to create a VOD system in a combined cable and IPTV environment, working within a diverse partner ecosystem, was an important factor in the selection of the Harmonic on-demand solution.

“Harmonic was uniquely able to support the needs of our hybrid network architecture simultaneously servicing cable subscribers via the HFC network and IPTV subscribers via the DSL network,” said Bartlomiej Kasinski, VOD Project Manager for Multimedia Polska. “The StreamLiner servers are scalable and easy to manage, and we are impressed with the ability of the Armada software to dynamically manage the movement of content based upon regional popularity over our wide area network.”

The addition of the VOD service strengthens Multimedia Polska’s service offering, increases revenue potential and can positively impact customer satisfaction. Moving forward, Multimedia Polska intends to provide a greater variety of value-added services to its subscribers, including high definition (HD) VOD, time-shifted television and other interactive services.

“Harmonic’s on-demand solutions are ideal for a wide variety of applications in multi-delivery environments such as Multimedia Polska’s, from traditional VOD to catch-up and look-back TV, as well as network PVR,” said Shahar Bar, Director of On-Demand Solutions for Harmonic Inc. “Our dynamic content distribution technology enables MMP to expand its services with more assets, users and services while optimizing network utilization. We are proud to be working with MMP to support and enhance their innovative service offering.”

Harmonic’s comprehensive on-demand video delivery platform encompasses the MediaPrism™ software suite for real-time and offline content preparation and ingest, Armada’s intelligent asset distribution and the StreamLiner video servers. For cable VOD networks, Harmonic offers market-leading edge processing with the Narrowcast Services Gateway™ (NSG) family of edgeQAMs and a range of HFC broadband transport solutions.