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SkyStream Selected by Heartland for IPTV Delivery; SkyStream Provides Hybrid Headend System with 100 Percent Investment ProtectionSAN DIEGO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 9, 2005 -- SkyStream(R), a leader in IP video delivery, announced here today that Heartland Communications has selected SkyStream's Mediaplex-20(TM) digital headend to provide IPTV services to its subscribers throughout Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. Heartland now offers its subscribers the triple play of video, voice and data services, including 120 video channels through its IPTV service, using a hybrid MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Mediaplex headend. "SkyStream's unique ability to protect 100 percent of our initial headend investment was a key factor in our decision to use the Mediaplex for our IPTV service," said Todd Heinrich, chief operating officer for Heartland. "With other headends, we'd have to invest in MPEG-2 today and completely replace the MPEG-2 portions of the headend -- making our initial investment worthless and associating a much higher cost with our video delivery. SkyStream's able to protect our investment for MPEG-4 migration, so we're able to make the move when we're ready without being pressured by concerns over loss of investment and high cost to migrate." While Heartland wanted to deploy MPEG-4 video compression from the start, it wasn't able to fully invest in an MPEG-4 headend in the initial stages of its video deployment. Heartland needed equipment that would easily migrate from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 in the future, while allowing it to maintain 100 percent of its headend investment. SkyStream was able to provide Heartland with a hybrid MPEG-2/MPEG-4 headend system, allowing Heartland to do real-time MPEG-4 encoding and MPEG-2 transrating today and easily migrate to complete MPEG-4 in the future. The Mediaplex's unique submodule architecture allows Heartland to convert its MPEG-2 transraters into MPEG-4 transcoders and add additional media processors to support real-time MPEG-4 transcoding in the future -- maintaining 100 percent of its original headend investment. "Service providers recognize that MPEG-4 compression is the direction telco TV is headed, but not all carriers are able to make the leap to investing in a full MPEG-4 headend in the initial phase of their video rollouts," said Andy Lovit, vice president of worldwide field operations for SkyStream. "We're able to provide a clear migration path to MPEG-4, while protecting our customers' original headend investment -- allowing them to deploy video services today with the knowledge that their equipment can easily and very cost-effectively be upgraded to even more advanced video compression standards." About Mediaplex-20 Headend SkyStream's Mediaplex-20 system is a carrier-class, complete video headend in a single chassis that enables a new level of converged services over any last mile (ADSL, FTTH, and CATV). It's the industry's first fully integrated video headend to deliver MPEG-4 AVC encoding and transcoding. With its highly dense capacity of 48 MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 AVC encoders, SkyStream's Mediaplex headend can distribute hundreds of high-quality video channels for large-scale video delivery in multiple formats and rates to millions of subscribers at the same time. The Mediaplex-20 system also provides video multiplexing and demultiplexing, routing, video rate-shaping, stream replication, and ATM to IP conversion. The Mediaplex-20 video headend has more than 100 field-proven deployments in 18 months. About SkyStream SkyStream provides IP video delivery platforms that enable service providers to transform their business by offering IPTV and MPEG-4 video services. SkyStream's products -- which include zBand(TM) content delivery software, Mediaplex-20(TM) and iPlex(TM) switched digital video headends and the Source Media Router series of IP encapsulation solutions -- lower OPEX and CAPEX costs by 40 percent to 50 percent and optimize video delivery over any last mile network. SkyStream is the fastest-growing provider of IP video solutions with more than 300 customers. SkyStream's Web site can be found on the Internet at www.skystream.com. |
