(17 January 2007 5:20 pm)

MUMBAI: Shin Broadband Internet in Thailand has awarded a contract for a next generation Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) push video on demand service in Asia to International Datacasting Corporation to provide IDC's Datacast XD Content Management and Distribution software.

The contract calls for the initial roll-out phase of the system with options for expansion as the service reaches full deployment.

Shin Broadband Internet pushes High Definition (HD) movies over the Shin Satellite Ipstar system across Asia to low cost consumer Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) located in user's homes. IDC's Datacast XD software will be used to manage the delivery of this content on this network.

IDC is also responsible for the project management and system integration of the project which also utilizes Irdeto encryption for content security inside the STBs which are manufactured by Homecast of Korea.

Ipstar is a new satellite network that provides business and residential Internet service throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The total number of satellite user terminals provided by Shin Satellite is currently over 70,000 and growing.

The new PUSH-VOD service uses excess Ipstar satellite bandwidth when available to push HDTV movies onto the local hard disk drive of the Homecast STB, storing digitized movies for later use. The new PUSH-VOD subscription service ensures that users receive new movies daily and operation of the STB is similar to the way a consumer plays back movies from a PVR/DVR at any time.

The STB utilizes the most modern MPEG AVC/ H.264 video compression technology available to provide the highest quality video possible along with multi-channel sound. The STB inside of the customer's house is connected to the TV and to the Shin's Ipstar terminal.

Ron Clifton the President and CEO of International Datacasting Corporation said "Shin Satellite is one of the most advanced service providers in Asia and we are delighted that they selected our technology and recognized our skills and experience in integrating IPTV systems of this type.

Our Datacast XD technology was originally developed to meet the needs of satellite, cable and IPTV customers for a broad range of multimedia file transfer and streaming applications. The inclusion of Datacast XD in a consumer set-top-box has opened new doors for this product line in a rapidly growing market and hopefully this opportunity will be the first of many such consumer applications."

Teerayuth Boonchote, Vice President of Ipstar, said that "Shin Satellite and our sister company Shin Broadband Internet are excited by the potential of this new service offering to our Ipstar customers which we will initially roll-out in Thailand. A success in Thailand means we'll expand the service throught our Asian footprint.

IDC was chosen because they have demonstrated commitment and performance in terms of their proven Datacast XD content delivery technology which is easily integrated into set-top-boxes and because they have an excellent history of successful systems integration projects."