Minerva Networks Unveils iTVManager 4.0, a Robust Widgets Engine which Enables Blended Internet and Television Services and Whole-Home Digital Video Recorder Functionality
Minerva Fourth Generation Platform Enables Blended Internet and Television Services and Adds Host of New Capabilities to Leading Open IPTV Software Solution
Widget Engine, Whole-Home Digital Video Recorder Functionality, New User Interfaces, Extended Back-Office Application Interfaces, Advanced Redundancy and High-Availability Features Highlight the Minerva iTVManager 4.0 Release
Minerva Networks, the leading independent provider of open platforms for the delivery of television services to IP connected devices, today unveiled iTVManager 4.0. The Company’s fourth generation platform features a robust Widgets Engine which enables blended Internet and Television services, whole-home digital video recorder functionality, new user interfaces as well as advanced redundancy and high-availability features.
Operators deploying iTVManager 4.0 will be able to innovate at a rapid pace. The new Minerva platform comes with a powerful Widget Engine capable of supporting a broad set of applications including RSS news feeds, stocks, weather and traffic information, visual voice mail, caller ID and popular Web 2.0 services.
“Blending legacy television programming with Internet content and applications is critical for triple-play operators to differentiate their offerings and address the competitive pressure posed by emerging over-the-top services,” stated Mauro Bonomi, CEO of Minerva Networks. “Minerva’s new development environment allows third-parties to easily build converged Television and Internet applications.”
The addition of whole-home digital video recorder functionality, which enables all of the set-top boxes within the home to access media stored in a single shared PVR unit, enhances the appeal of Minerva’s PVR functionality.
“Empowering consumers to enjoy a more flexible and personalized television experience from every device in the home is a key source of competitive differentiation,” stated Chris Rios, Director of IT, Hotwire Communications. “Whole-home DVR provides great value to consumers while minimizing the in-home infrastructure investment.”
New user interfaces, which are selectable by the subscriber, take advantage of the processing power of next generation set-top boxes to deliver animation capabilities in a highly customizable and localizable environment. Multi-language support comes as a native feature of the new Minerva user interface.
The iTVManager 4.0 back-office application programming interfaces (APIs) have been expanded to facilitate the integration with hospitality entertainment systems so that operators can offer targeted services to hotels, resorts and multi-dwelling communities within their service area. To address the stringent needs of large scale deployments the new platform also supports a robust high-availability and disaster recovery configuration which minimizes downtime even in extreme circumstances.
The iTVManager ecosystem continues to expand as new vendors enter the market and existing suppliers release new products. Growth in the Minerva ecosystem gives operators more choices as they can select partners that more closely align with their specific requirements. New set-top box models supported by iTVManager release 4.0 include the Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) family of cost-effective devices.
“Minerva has been able to address many key customers’ demands with this fourth generation platform,” said Christy Batts, Vice President of Telecommunications at CDE Lightband. “Constantly adding new leading edge features, enabling third-party applications and giving its customers choices makes Minerva’s open platform more and more appealing in the rapidly growing IP connected Television market.”
The new Minerva platform is now installed at selected sites around the world. It will be generally available in August 2009.
About Minerva Networks
Minerva Networks is the leading independent provider of open-platform solutions for the delivery of television services to IP-connected devices. More than 170 network operators worldwide use Minerva solutions to deliver next-generation entertainment and communications services. Minerva Networks is headquartered in Alviso, CA. For more information, visit www.minervanetworks.com.
