MobilityWire

Mixed Signals, Inc., the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, has worked closely with major cable television industry leaders to enable cable operators to identify audio volume issues in programming and commercials, giving them the critical information necessary to quickly fix dramatic volume changes that occur during channel changes and when commercials run.  At the heart of the solution is Mixed Signals’ award-winning Sentry® which now supports the ITU-R BS.1770 audio specification for measuring the loudness of video programs.

Overly loud commercials in particular have become such a nuisance that proposed legislation before Congress would require video service providers to address the issue.  The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act would require video service providers to ensure that commercials not be any louder than the average volume of the programs they accompany.

“For decades, television viewers have made complaints about loud commercials, but what has traditionally been a minor irritant could well become a major headache for television providers in the near term,” said Eric Conley, CEO of Mixed Signals.  “Our goal is to keep our customers – the television providers – ahead of the issue, and with recent enhancements to Sentry, video service providers have a cost-effective solution to continually monitor their entire programming line-up in a scalable way to identify loudness issues when they occur.”

Loudness issues are common for video service providers as volume levels can vary dramatically from channel to channel, program to program and during commercial breaks.  However, current solutions for identifying volume issues can only monitor one or two channels, which makes them far too costly for cable and other multi-channel video providers who deliver hundreds of channels.  Only Sentry can scale cost-effectively to monitor hundreds of channels in real time, enabling service providers to comprehensively monitor all their channels.

The key audio monitoring enhancement to Sentry is its support for the ITU-R BS.1770 audio specification. Developed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the BS.1770 specification is shortly expected to be adopted by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) here in the U.S., which in turn will lead to its use by broadcasters and then cable and other multi-channel video service providers.  Service providers with Sentrys already deployed in their networks can easily add support for BS.1770 via a software upgrade.

Mixed Signals will demonstrate the advanced commercial loudness monitoring and detection capabilities of Sentry in their booth #16043 at the upcoming Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, October 28-30.

About Sentry
Sentry is a comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers.  Sentry accomplishes this through its unique combination of unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network and its real-time, 24/7 operation.  Sentry is proven in deployments with service providers worldwide, including eight of the top 10 U.S. cable operators.

About Mixed Signals
Mixed Signals provides the most comprehensive and scalable digital content monitoring solutions from the source to the edge including digital services, transport streams, ad insertion, switched digital video, video on demand and interactive content. Mixed Signals’ innovative products offer unparalleled visibility into video streams and digital services in real time. The Company’s products are known for their ease of use and deliver critical intelligence about overall network transport stream behavior, trending analyses, and actionable alerts when anomalies are detected. More than any other product on the market today, Mixed Signals monitoring solutions enable cable and satellite television operators, broadcasters, content aggregators and IPTV providers to simplify deployments of new services and applications, and to future-proof and maximize the return on the investment in their digital networks.

For more information visit www.mixedsignals.com or call 310.227.8620.

RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, today announced it has upgraded its Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) to support MPEG-4/H.264 ad insertion. With an increasing number of video service providers now using the MPEG-4/H.264 format, RGB has enhanced its BNP to enable operators to support this advanced codec when implementing zoned and targeted ad insertion. The BNP, RGB’s flagship product, is used by video service providers worldwide to deliver a greater volume of high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) programming using the lowest possible bandwidth, while also generating new ad revenues through the insertion of local ads and digital overlays.

With television advertising expanding worldwide, there is growing demand for ad insertion solutions that enable the delivery of targeted advertising. Tailored to reflect subscriber preferences and demographics, this capability is highly desirable to advertisers. As the most advanced digital video solution available on the market today, RGB’s BNP enables video service providers to easily deliver this highly targeted and personalized video service. The latest BNP upgrade is in response to the growing use of the MPEG-4/H.264 video codec to deliver bandwidth-intensive services in the most efficient manner. With its new capability, the BNP further improves operational efficiencies by allowing video service providers to seamlessly splice revenue-generating ads directly into both SD and HD MPEG-4/H.264 program streams, allowing for an easy transition as the demand for HD increases.

“Video service providers have a lot on their plates at the moment as they move to digital and try to meet subscribers’ growing demand for bandwidth-hungry HD services. The necessary network upgrades to support these services are costly, and financing them can be challenging,” said Jeff Tyre, Director, Product Marketing for RGB Networks. “The BNP’s ad insertion capabilities help providers secure new revenue streams from advertisers eager to reach targeted subscribers, and its support of the MPEG-4/H.264 format gives operators even greater flexibility.”

“As ad insertion becomes more prevalent in Europe, the ability to support MPEG-4/H.264 in both HD and SD is critical to launching this revenue-generating service and ensuring a future-proof solution,” said Hans Kornmann, CEO, Divitel, a significant systems integrator in the Netherlands. “Operators in the Netherlands are leading the European market in the deployment of ad insertion, and we see this as an excellent opportunity to partner with RGB as this application grows into other parts of Europe.”

Able to simultaneously process more than 500 video streams in its one rack unit platform, the BNP is the highest density solution for digital video grooming, statistical multiplexing, transrating, digital program insertion (DPI) and digital overlays. This unprecedented stream processing density dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of deploying HD and other increasingly sophisticated services. Enabling this industry-leading processing density is RGB’s innovative Video Intelligence Architecture™ (VIA), which is at the heart of the BNP and RGB’s other products.

About RGB Networks
RGB Networks is revolutionizing video, delivering leading-edge video processing solutions that address the complexities of the changing video delivery model. With advanced solutions for bandwidth optimization, content repurposing and addressable advertising, RGB’s products enable operators to deliver the next generation of highly personalized video services, which are relevant to individual subscribers and delivered anytime to any device. The company’s products are based on its unique Video Intelligence Architecture™ (VIA), enabling them to process an unprecedented number of video streams with the highest video quality. RGB’s scalable solutions dramatically reduce the cost to deliver both broadcast and unicast services, and help operators maximize their existing network infrastructure. More than 7,000 RGB products are deployed in the field by over 170 service providers in 25 countries worldwide. Learn more at www.rgbnetworks.com.

Mixed Signals, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, announced today that Network Products Guide, the industry’s leading publication on information technologies and solutions, has named Mixed Signals’ Sentry® as the winner of the 2009 Product Innovation Award for the best test, measurement and monitoring solution. This annually venerated award recognizes and honors vendors from all over the world with innovative and ground-breaking products that are bringing essential and incremental changes while setting the bar higher for others in all areas of information technology.

“Innovation is clearly an important factor to greater success and has the most impact on staying competitive,” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Network Products Guide. “We chose Mixed Signals’ Sentry as the best test, measurement and monitoring solution, because it enables video service providers to quickly identify and diagnose the most complex visual and audio problems that can ruin consumers’ TV experience. Such errors are increasingly common as service providers’ networks become more complex in order to deliver more HDTV, video-on-demand (VOD) and other advanced video services.”

Sentry is a comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this through its unique combination of unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network and its real-time, 24/7 operation. Sentry is proven in deployments with service providers worldwide, including eight of the top 10 U.S. cable operators.

“This Network Products Guide’s award acknowledges our continued success in keeping our advanced monitoring solution ahead of the technology curve,” said Eric Conley, CEO of Mixed Signals. “We have tremendous expertise in digital video and are always adding new capabilities to Sentry to ensure it remains the best video monitoring product in the world.”

To read more about Sentry and the Product Innovation Awards, please visit http://www.networkproductsguide.com/innovations/.

About Network Products Guide Awards
Network Products Guide is a media sponsor of Interop and Technosium Executive Alliance Forums engaging Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). As the industry’s leading technology research and advisory publication, it plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology. You will discover a wealth of information and tools in this guide including the best products and services, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit www.networkproductsguide.com.

About Mixed Signals
Mixed Signals provides the most comprehensive and scalable digital content monitoring solutions from the source to the edge including digital services, transport streams, ad insertion, switched digital video, video on demand and interactive content. Mixed Signals’ innovative products offer unparalleled visibility into video streams and digital services in real time. The Company’s products are known for their ease of use and deliver critical intelligence about overall network transport stream behavior, trending analyses, and actionable alerts when anomalies are detected. More than any other product on the market today, Mixed Signals monitoring solutions enable cable and satellite television operators, broadcasters, content aggregators and IPTV providers to simplify deployments of new services and applications, and to future-proof and maximize the return on the investment in their digital networks.

For more information visit www.mixedsignals.com or call 310.227.8620.

Aicent, Inc. (www.aicent.com) announced today that Network Products Guide, the industry’s leading publication on information technologies and solutions, has named mBridge a winner of the 2009 Product Innovation Award. This venerable annual award recognizes and honors the innovative and ground-breaking products from vendors from all over the world that are bringing essential and incremental changes and are setting the bar higher for others in all areas of information technology.

“Innovation is clearly an important factor to greater success and has the most impact on staying competitive,” says Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Network Products Guide. “Aicent’s mBridge allows operators to provide the absolute best MMS delivery, even to non-enabled MMS phones, which proves not only product innovation but also ground-breaking technology benefitting the entire mobile community.”

mBridge MMS Virtual Delivery is the newest version of Aicent’s multimedia messaging service (MMS) that enables global carrier partners to offer subscribers a way to easily send multimedia messages to any non-enabled MMS phone, including the iPhone, across any network, any time. mBridge works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages from a web URL link embedded in an SMS notification, allowing subscribers who send the message to use their normal sending procedures.

“Winning the best mobile service solution for this year’s Product Innovation award is further validation that new approaches to solving the communications challenges brought about by a fragmented mobile marketplace are not only possible but will meet the high expectations of our customers,” said MK Chang, vice president of product marketing at Aicent. “As services like MMS swiftly gain momentum in the market, we look forward to offering the best solutions to help our carrier customers meet the messaging and data needs of their mobile subscribers.”

To read more about Aicent’s mBridge, please visit http://www.networkproductsguide.com/innovations/ or visit Aicent’s MMS products page at http://www.aicent.net/products_services/mms/.

About Network Products Guide Awards
Network Products Guide is a media sponsor of Interop and Technosium Executive Alliance Forums engaging Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). As industry’s leading technology research and advisory publication, it plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology. You will discover a wealth of information and tools in this guide including the best products and services, roadmaps, industry directions, technology advancements and independent product evaluations that facilitate in making the most pertinent technology decisions impacting business and personal goals. The guide follows conscientious research methodologies developed and enhanced by industry experts. To learn more, visit www.networkproductsguide.com.

About Aicent, Inc.
Serving more than one billion mobile users around the world, Aicent Inc. is a leading provider of data network services and solutions for global mobile operators. To enable interoperability between Aicent customers and other networks, Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges, connecting to over 50 operators, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering arrangements, the Aicent network reaches nearly all GPRS/3G operators around the world. Aicent also operates integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.

Mixed Signals, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, has been selected by Red Herring Magazine as a finalist for this year’s “Red Herring North America 100” award, a prestigious list honoring this year’s most promising private technology ventures in North America. Red Herring Magazine is a highly regarded publication tracking global technology business and its awards are recognized for finding and promoting many of the most promising technology companies in North America today.

“We want to thank Red Herring for naming us a finalist in the Red Herring North America 100 awards,” said Eric Conley, CEO of Mixed Signals. “We continue to focus on providing world class monitoring solutions to our customers. These solutions provide television service providers with a competitive edge and significant cost savings, which is critical in today’s economic times.”

Mixed Signals specializes in digital content monitoring and its products are relied upon by leading television service providers – including eight of the top 10 U.S. cable television operators – to deliver video programming with the best possible quality and uptime. Recognizing that quality of experience (QoE) and service availability would become a vital competitive advantage as cable, satellite and telecom carriers vie for subscribers, Mixed Signals developed a comprehensive solution for quickly identifying and finding the root cause of video and audio impairments that degrade the viewing experience. Unlike competitive products, Mixed Signals’ products have been designed specifically to address the unique requirements of digital video and audio.

“This year was especially difficult,” said Alex Vieux, Publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “There were so many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products that we had a difficult time narrowing it down to 200. Now we’re faced with the arduous task of selecting the final 100. We know that this year’s crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to go far.”

For over 10 years, The Red Herring 100 North America award, open to private technology companies headquartered in North America, is given to the top 100 tech companies based upon technology innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the telecom, communications, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, biotech and clean tech related industries sent in their submissions to qualify for the award. The CEOs of the 200 finalists companies are invited to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Conference in San Diego, where the Red Herring Top 100 will be announced at a special Awards Ceremony.

About Red Herring
Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world’s best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine; an online daily technology news service; technology newsletters, and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider’s access to the global innovation ecosystem, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. For more information, visit www.redherring.com

About Mixed Signals
Mixed Signals provides the most comprehensive and scalable digital content monitoring solutions from the source to the edge including digital services, transport streams, ad insertion, switched digital video, video on demand and interactive content. Mixed Signals’ innovative products offer unparalleled visibility into video streams and digital services in real time. The Company’s products are known for their ease of use and deliver critical intelligence about overall network transport stream behavior, trending analyses, and actionable alerts when anomalies are detected. More than any other product on the market today, Mixed Signals monitoring solutions enable cable and satellite television operators, broadcasters, content aggregators and IPTV providers to simplify deployments of new services and applications, and to future-proof and maximize the return on the investment in their digital networks.

For more information visit www.mixedsignals.com or call 310.227.8620.

RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, today announced it has exceeded $100 million in lifetime shipments, with 2008 proving to be the company’s most successful year to date. Despite tough economic times, the video market continues to grow and cable television operators are demanding products that enable them to recover bandwidth to deliver more high definition (HD) and video-on-demand (VOD) services. Additionally, operators want unique, high density solutions for ad insertion that enable them to adapt to the changes ahead.

In just over three years RGB Networks has shipped 6,000 units to 140 customers in 24 countries. The company expects the worldwide demand for its bandwidth optimization and ad insertion solutions to remain strong through 2009 given the current pressures on operators to deliver more high-bandwidth services and generate new revenues.

“Passing the $100 million milestone is a notable achievement,” said Jef Graham, CEO of RGB Networks. “We now have a broad solution set of six product lines, all focused on bandwidth recovery and ad insertion for the global cable and telecom markets. We are in a great position to continue to grow aggressively both domestically and internationally.”

Having raised new funds early in 2008, RGB is extremely well capitalized, allowing for continued development of the company’s products. The company expects to become public when the market again opens for technology initial public offerings (IPOs).

About RGB Networks
RGB Networks delivers extremely high-density, flexible video processing solutions that enable video service providers to deliver highly targeted and personalized video content at considerably lower costs than conventional solutions. Based on its unique Video Intelligence Architecture™ (VIA), RGB’s VIA product family simplifies management and delivers scalable, multi-function capability in a single, programmable platform, allowing video service providers to leverage existing infrastructure, while building an advanced foundation to meet the needs of the rapidly growing market for personalized video services.

For more information about RGB Networks and its unique video processing solutions, please visit www.rgbnetworks.com.

Aicent Inc. (www.aicent.com) announced today that Smart Communications, the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider, has selected mBridge to enhance multimedia message service (MMS) delivery for their over 35.2 million subscribers.

MMS lets mobile subscribers send messages with pictures and videos as easily as they do text messages. As a large majority of new mobile phones come equipped with both still and video cameras, mobile operators have experienced increased demand for rich content messaging from customers.

SMART is using both Aicent’s MMS Gateway service along with the enhanced mBridge Virtual Delivery. The MMS Gateway Service provides SMART with a convenient and efficient way to rapidly establish global MMS interoperability with reliable, cost-effective commercial MMS delivery and termination capabilities, while mBridge takes the service one step further by offering subscribers a way to easily send multimedia messages to any non-enabled MMS phone, including the iPhone, across any network at any time. With mBridge, SMART subscribers can now send pictures and videos to friends and family anywhere in the world.

The growing popularity of MMS messaging has rapidly made it an in-demand service for global mobile subscribers. Aicent’s mBridge solution easily allows carriers like SMART to upgrade their messaging infrastructure to enable their subscribers with global MMS delivery, extending multimedia message delivery to phones not equipped to receive MMS messages as well as to subscribers on networks that currently do not support MMS.

Aicent’s mBridge solution complements Aicent’s MMS Gateway service. The MMS Gateway service provides SMART seamless MMS interoperability with over 200 wireless operators on the industry’s largest MMS eXchange while Aicent’s mBridge virtual delivery capability extends MMS delivery to non-interconnected networks.

mBridge works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages from a web URL link embedded in an SMS notification. Subscribers who send the message use their normal sending procedures. A new feature of mBridge extends this service even further by letting the subscriber browse the text parts and images on the web or a PC using the same URL, and then download the message if desired via the mobile phone.

“The success Smart Communications has had with our mBridge service proves not only how committed they are to continually offering the most cutting-edge services to their customers, but also how efficient mBridge is for flawless MMS delivery, ” said Lynn Liu, president and CEO of Aicent. “As MMS continues to swiftly gain momentum in the market, SMART can now easily meet this demand from subscribers, enabling them to maintain their leadership role as one of Asia Pacific’s most advanced wireless service providers.”

About Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART)
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider with 35.2 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-December 2008. Of its total subscriber base, 20.9 million subscribers are served under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold and Smart Infinity and another 14.3 million subscribers are served through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp., under the brand Talk ‘N Text. SMART has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also offers a 3G service, Smart 3G. Its Smart Link and Blue Ocean Wireless services provide communications to the global maritime industry. Another subsidiary, Smart Broadband, Inc., offers a wireless broadband service, Smart BRO. SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines’ leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. For more information, visit http://www.smart.com.ph/.

About Aicent, Inc.
Serving more than one billion mobile users around the world, Aicent Inc. is a leading provider of data network services and solutions for global mobile operators. To enable interoperability between Aicent customers and other networks, Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges, connecting to over 50 operators, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering arrangements, the Aicent network reaches nearly all GPRS/3G operators around the world. Aicent also operates integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.