San Jose technology company ActiveVideo, a provider of virtual set-top box solutions for top pay-TV operators including Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR), is touting improvements in scalability and efficiency for its CloudTV product that it says can lower operators' data center capital expenditure to as low as $1 per subscriber.
When running on servers equipped with Intel QuickSync Video, ActiveVideo claims CloudTV can deliver a 40 percent improvement in per-session price performance, with one data center rack able to deliver cloud-based pay-TV program guides to 1 million set-tops. The company also touts a 10-fold increase in real-time video transcoding sessions.
"As the cloud becomes the hub for delivery of advanced user interfaces, online video and interactive ads, scalability has been a principal concern for pay-TV operators," said Ronald Brockmann, CTO of ActiveVideo, in a prepared statement. "Working with Intel and next-generation server partners such as Kontron, we are accelerating the ability of virtual STB functionality to enhance the user experience on every set-top box, while at the same time reducing capex and opex."
"Virtualization of STB functionality and the ability to bring HTML5 content to the television are transforming viewing experiences for consumers," added Eric Mentzer, VP of the Platform Engineering Group and director of strategy and operations for the Visual and Parallel Computing Group at Intel Corporation. "ActiveVideo's CloudTV software platform and the ecosystem of next-generation servers with Intel Iris Pro Graphics together are creating real-life application efficiencies and performance that will make cloud-based services vastly more available for the pay-TV industry."
For more:
- read this ActiveVideo press release
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