On March 25-27, the world’s largest event dedicated to IPTV technologies – IPTV World Forum 2009 – will take place in London. This year, the Penki Kontinentai Group is planning to take part in this (already fifth) Forum along with the world’s largest IPTV hardware and software manufacturers and service providers.

The Lithuanian company that participates in the Forum for the second time will introduce the IPTV Middleware, which is integrated with the interactive television “Penki TV”. The Lithuanian Middleware differs from its analogues in its functionality and technological opportunities.

The Lithuanian software allows providing both regular IPTV services (such as virtual video rental, virtual movie theatre, e-commerce, and e-voting). With its one will be able to use TV to operate the Smart House. In addition, this software is easy to integrate with various additional service modules.

“This year we are planning to introduce a special innovation. We named it Five TV Home Media Gateway. It is a virtual system, which enables the user to transfer the video, audio and photos stored in his or her computer onto the TV screen by using a TV application. In addition, by using a special password, users will be able to connect to a friend’s or neighbour’s TV application and view its content,” says Saulius Paukštys, the Head of Strategic Planning and Programming Department the at Penki Kontinentai.

In his opinion, the visitors should also be interested in the updated “Penki TV” graphic interface based on the Adobe Flash Lite 3 technology. It allows the user to create 3D effects and animation, integrate Flash technologies and so on. According to Mr. Paukštis, it is a very modern technology, currently used by only few IPTV service providers.

This year the IPTV World Forum 2009 visitors will be able to both familiarize themselves with the latest technologies and participate in specialized conferences and seminars, where discussions concerning the IPTV business models and marketing development prospects will be developed.

According to the Forum organizers, over 50 IPTV operators from more than 30 countries of the world are expected to take part in the event this year. Last year, it was visited by over 5 thousand head officers of various ranks representing 76 world countries.

According to the data of the business information company Informa Telecoms & Media, at the end of 2008 there were 19.9 million of IPTV users in the world, and that is 7.5 million more than at the end of 2007. Meanwhile, the worldwide amount of the FTTH technology-based Internet access points securing IPTV broadcasts at the end of 2008 was 48 million.

Please visit “Penki Kontinentai” stand No. 140 for further information.