IBC 2013: WISI Communications showing professional broadband solutions and more
Axel Sihn, CEO of WISI Communications, remarks: “The accelerating merger of TV and IP and the delivery of high resolution content to various fixed and mobile end devices poses an ever-greater challenge to network operators. So at this year’s IBC we are excited to be demonstrating the latest solutions for managing these challenges efficiently and flexibly.”
Under the theme ‘Professional Broadband Solutions’, WISI will show a collection of new products, including the latest version of its next-generation Headend systems Chameleon and Tangram. Also on show is OR 200, a new device combining HbbTV with classical IPTV in a single set-top box. Completing WISI’s innovative product offering are the new optical platform Optopus and WISI’s fibre node and amplifier portfolio.
WISI’s future-proof software based headend system is billed as the ideal solution for network operators, broadcasters and IPTV platform operators. Utilising a single common hardware platform all Chameleon modules are configured and programmed by software only. This offers huge flexibility to the operator, allowing different input signals to be transformed into any appropriate output format and reducing the total cost of ownership of the network headend. Software modules for Chameleon include DVB modulators for different inputs, transmodulators, IP- and ASI streamers, as well as a re-multiplexer. Chameleon won a prestigious SCTE Award in 2013 for Technical Innovation in the category ‘Best digital processing solution’ by the Society for Broadband Professionals (SCTE) in London.
Meanwhile, WISI has extended its Tangram product family with new modules, including the new DVB-IP Gateway IP streamer GT 31, the switch extension board GT 12, the decryption module GT 42, the Edge-COFDM module GT 24, and the ASI Input/Output module GT32. Tangram is a high-density platform for extremely cost efficient ‘Edge’ applications (IP-Gateway, Edge-QAM, Edge-COFDM, Edge-PAL and Edge-FM), and the perfect solution for the ongoing digitalization of networks and the increasing use of IP transmission. For feeding IP encapsulated video into analogue access networks like RF Overlay or HFC, these signals need to be converted in QAM, COFDM, PAL and FM. Tangram offers all the features to required by professional networks, such as redundant power supplies, 1+1 and n+1 redundancy, time sharing, SNMP management, hot plug replacement of modules, fans and power supplies, and many more.
Finally, for the first time at IBC 2013, WISI will show OR 200 – a new set-top box working with the ETSI DVB-IP standard that can process and display HbbTV functionalities and content (multicast TV channels) via IP.