Penki TV

IBM and Widevine Technologies, today announced they are helping Skynet, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) arm of Penki Kontinentai group, to provide premium TV content to all 25,000 Skynet users in Lithuania.

Skynet turned to IBM and content protection partner Widevine for the technology needed to better secure content for television and Video on Demand (VoD) distribution. To meet consumer demands, Skynet will launch a new service later this year, with basic and premium television channels to will compete with mainstream cable, satellite and other IPTV providers in region. Skynet will deliver PayTV services to set top boxes at their “PenkiTV” subscribers and are planning to expand service delivery to PCs in the very near future.

As the primary information technology (IT) vendor and technology integrator for the deal, IBM manages design, delivery and maintenance for the digital video headend from Cisco and content protection from Widevine. Using Widevine, Skynet ensures content providers that content is secured, offering them the critical access to premium content required to make their service attractive, regardless of consumer device.

“IBM and Widevine have delivered an excellent, turnkey video headend and multiplatform content protection solution that offers us the flexibility to deliver PayTV services to a wide range of consumer platforms,” said Idrakas Dadasovas, General Manager of Penki Kontinentai group. “Working with IBM allowed us to speed up our time to market delivery of the solution.”

IBM's ability to manage the transformation to IPTV is an essential ingredient for those providers who don't have extensive technology and business consulting expertise in-house. IBM worked with Skynet on middleware and VoD pilots, consulted with Skynet on IPTV and delivered and integrated Penki TV's digital video headend equipment. IBM is currently providing consulting for Skynet regarding various IPTV areas.

“IBM's IPTV services are designed to help service providers win market share, reduce customer churn, and increase average revenue per user,” said Olavi Patja, Global Manager for IPTV and Triple Play infrastructure services, IBM Global Technology Services. “IBM and Widevine are helping Skynet build a reliable and secure IPTV infrastructure so it can offer the most popular content and best choices in Lithuanian programming, delivering an optimal experience to PenkiTV customers.”

IBM Converged Communications Services for IPTV and triple play infrastructure delivers technical consulting, integration and implementation services. The IPTV infrastructure solution incorporates best-of-breed IBM hardware, software and services along with Cisco products to provide a complete solution, standard components include: IBM BladeCenter and xSeries Servers; software products from IBM WebSphere, Tivoli and Lotus brands; and Cisco end-to-end IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) solutions. The new solution also leverages open source technology.

The agreement was signed in Q2 2008.