3SS set to double reach in 2021

Thursday, February 25th, 2021
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3SS’ Technology Reach to Double in 2021

STUTTGART, Germany — 3SS (3 Screen Solutions), leading provider of software solutions for set-top boxes (STB) and multiscreen entertainment, announces that it is on track to see its worldwide technology reach double in 2021 compared with its end-2020 market penetration.

With eight next-generation Android TV projects currently being delivered for major operators in EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific, many of which are yet to be announced, 3SS’ committed deployment pipeline will total at least 25 million homes by end-2021. This is more than a twofold increase on 2020’s 10 million deployed homes total.

“The Android TV OS is now truly mainstream, and operators around the world are building their next-generation TV offerings on it,” said Kai-Christian Borchers, Managing Director of 3SS. “We are extremely proud that so many have chosen our 3READY Product Framework, in particular the 3READY Custom Launcher enabled by Android TV Operator Tier, to help them create hybrid and OTT entertainment services people really love.”

The 2021 doubling of the potential universe of homes powered by Android TV OS and enriched with world-class user experiences via 3SS innovations is made up of several elements. It includes ongoing progress in active EMEA deployments – such as for Proximus, Com Hem (Tele2) and Allente (formerly Canal Digital) – along with others which will go live in the coming weeks. Also, there are additional recently acquired as-yet-unannounced customer projects.

An important factor contributing to 3SS’ 2021 expansion forecast is seven new smart TV projects underway, supporting Samsung Tizen and LG webOS, based on 3READY.

Pierre Donath, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at 3SS, explains: “More and more operators are striving to deliver completely unified experiences, beyond that of the STB; today they are fully embracing smart TV, web and mobile with the goal to provide harmonious, all-encompassing entertainment across devices and viewing contexts.” The 3READY Control Center, which enables real-time UX optimization of all apps, all manageable from one unified location, is helping operators achieve this objective in a streamlined, efficient way.

3SS’ track record in major international Android TV deployments is unmatched. 3SS delivered the world’s first major Android-based deployment, Swisscom TV 2.0, in 2014, since updated to Swisscom TV OS4. Canal Digital OnePlace and Com Hem TV Hub followed in 2018, based on multiple award-winning 3READY. More operators decided to build their products on 3SS technology in 2019, including Uruguay’s TCC and Belgium’s largest service provider, Proximus. In February 2020, it was announced that Norway’s Altibox is deploying 3READY to enhance its upcoming Android TV service.

The company’s growing worldwide reputation, which includes 14 prestigious industry awards principally recognizing the superior UX quality of its deployments, is not the only catalyst influencing 3SS’ anticipated footprint growth. “The 3READY Entertainment Ecosystem, which we launched in April 2020, has already proven highly attractive to operators seeking a technology collaboration environment, with consumer-centric innovation at its heart, to propel their new and advanced Android TV, multiscreen and voice experiences; this has played a fundamental role in our busy 2021 deployment roster,” commented Donath.

The 3READY Entertainment Ecosystem was created to empower operators to rapidly design and launch superior experiences on all devices and enable customer-centric innovation. It is an all-in portfolio of complementary capabilities, technical deployment options, key vendor partnership network and pre-integrations. 3SS’ core goal with the Ecosystem is to enable operators and broadcasters to focus on achieving business objectives earlier and create superior experiences when developing their next-generation entertainment products.

Operators have the flexibility to co-define, co-design and co-develop to meet their roadmap needs. Meanwhile they have the means to deliver churn-resistant TV products that exceed the expectations of subscribers. Next-level video services are made possible through deep complementary technology integrations with close partners on top of open and modular 3READY Product Framework architecture. Time-to-market is accelerated, free from vendor-lock-in, with maximum flexibility and transparency.

Importantly, when working with 3SS, operators benefit from agile development techniques which infuse all of the company’s operations. Embracing principles such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) results in faster, high-quality system deployments, superior levels of efficiency in product development, as well as engaged, highly motivated individuals and teams.

With agile methodologies, in the 3READY Entertainment Ecosystem – with over 12 operator customers and over 60 technology and content partners to date – development is continuous. Testing and quality assurance operations take place simultaneously, and projects benefit from a high level of extended team communication, so deployments are faster and service launches accelerated.

“We believe the 3READY Entertainment Ecosystem is on course to becoming the technology environment of choice for operators worldwide who aspire to give viewers genuinely next-level digital entertainment,” commented Borchers.

“Consumer-centric innovation is what we live and breathe at 3SS; while 2021 will certainly be a landmark year for us, we have an abiding drive and commitment to keep on creating new ways to improve the TV experience for people everywhere,” he added.