UPC Broadband Selects Motorola and TANDBERG Television for Video on Demand Service

UPC Broadband has selected solutions from Motorola, Inc (NYSE: MOT) and TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, to power its Video on Demand (VOD) services in The Netherlands. Already deployed in several locations across The Netherlands, the Motorola and TANDBERG Television solutions power the delivery of on-demand content that is expected to reach over 500.000 UPC video subscribers this year.

“Video On Demand is one of the corner stones of the UPC Digital TV platform. It is essential that we select technology providers such as Motorola and TANDBERG Television willing and able to integrate this service into our overall digital architecture,” said Eric Lennon, Chief Technology Officer of UPC Broadband. “To our customers this should appear as a seamless addition to their normal digital service with highly quality and availability expected by them.”

Highly scalable platforms

Motorola has delivered its B-1™ video server, a highly scalable platform that provides high-performance streaming of MPEG-2 video content. By separating storage of programming from streaming, the B-1 video server allows UPC to independently scale its content libraries and streaming resources at a fraction of the cost of legacy servers. This ensures UPC’s customers can choose from a greatly increased selection of their favorite programs, whenever they want.

TANDBERG Television was the lead integrator on the project and a team of TANDBERG Television VOD-engineers and systems architects has worked closely with UPC’s engineering team to provide systems integration, including the incorporation of best-in-class technologies and devices from a number of third party vendors. TANDBERG Television has delivered its OpenStream® Digital Services Platform, the industry’s leading open VOD back-office solution. OpenStream allows UPC to deploy its on-demand services using VOD servers, applications, billing systems and other system components of their choice and to roll-out an open and scaleable system that will meet its on-demand needs today and grow with its future requirements.

The prestigious deployments confirm Motorola’s and TANDBERG Television’s ability to help customers such as UPC to deliver next generation TV services. It also demonstrates how European operators are moving towards open systems to support their VOD-rollouts.

About UPC Broadband (UPC)
UPC Broadband is a Pan-European provider of television, broadband internet and telephone services. These services are provided in 10 European countries to approximately 10 million customers. UPC is the European cable division of Liberty Global, Inc., the leading international cable operator offering services to connect its customers to the world of entertainment, communications and information.