May 9, 2018 — Dübendorf, Switzerland: Insys Video Technologies announced today that the company’s comprehensive InsysPLAY platform was chosen by Austrian television provider ORS to power a significantly enhanced OTT video service for ORS subsidiary simpliTV. The InsysPLAY platform provides simpliTV viewers with a richer, distinctive user experience and expanded selection of content across a broader range of consumer devices, all while giving ORS an extensible foundation for future features and growth.
simpliTV previously offered its customers basic live streaming of just eight channels, which were only available on iOS and Android devices. With the new InsysPLAY-powered simpliTV OTT service, viewers can watch well over 40 live channels from multiple providers on a wide array of platforms – from tablets and mobile phones to TVs and web browsers – while enjoying powerful features including catch-up TV, nPVR, pause/resume across multiple devices, and intelligent content recommendations.
InsysPLAY is a flexible, modular OTT platform that enables media enterprises to easily manage, monetize, distribute and promote their content through client-branded websites and apps. For the simpliTV project, Insys supplied a complete OTT solution including back-end and front-end application software, server hardware, Dell EMC storage systems and eight instances of the AWS Elemental Delta video delivery platform. The new simpliTV service went live in April.
“InsysPLAY offers a very wide array of capabilities and options,” said Gunter Povolny, Project Manager at ORS. “The ability to make tailored use of a platform that is already proven to operate in a proper way significantly reduced the risk of implementation associated with a project of this scale.”
A highlight of the enhanced simpliTV service is its new floating video player, which seamlessly integrates with intuitive yet unobtrusive EPG functionality to deliver immersive viewing experiences even while browsing programming. Leveraging over a decade of experience in researching and designing user experiences (UX) for the optimal presentation and discovery of media content, Insys tailored the rich UX foundation and options built into the InsysPLAY platform to meet ORS’ specific requirements and vision.
“The incredible flexibility of the InsysPLAY platform enables us to put a variety of ever-evolving business models into operation for the future,” said Michael Zettl, Head of Product Management at simpliTV. “The user-tested, easily-distinguishable and modern interface design provided by InsysPLAY ensures that the value offered by the simpliTV service is easily accessible to our subscribers.”
Beyond the consumer-facing benefits that InsysPLAY brings to the enhanced service, the platform also enables robust operational and management functionality for ORS behind the scenes. API integration between InsysPLAY and AWS Elemental Delta enables ORS to offer catch-up and nPVR recording, just-in-time packaging, and DRM functionality in the simpliTV service.
InsysPLAY also monitors ORS’ AWS Elemental Live encoders, and interfaces seamlessly with simpliTV’s existing business systems for subscriber management and E-commerce. Complementing the InsysPLAY platform’s built-in analytics, the simpliTV deployment also integrates with Nice People at Work’s YOUBORA suite to provide ORS with advanced visualization and business intelligence.
“The simpliTV project is one of the most comprehensive and feature-rich projects we have deployed to date,” said Insys CEO Krzysztof Bartkowski. “By opting for our proven and flexibly configurable platform rather than a fully-custom implementation, ORS was able to launch the service with confidence and will benefit from ongoing enhancements as we develop new features. We’re thrilled that ORS placed their trust in us, and proud of the end result that we’ve delivered.”
For more information about InsysPLAY, please visit www.insysvideotechnologies.com. For more information about ORS, please visit www.ors.at. For more information about simpliTV, please visit www.simpliTV.at.
About Insys Video Technologies GmbH – Insys (www.insysvideotechnologies.com) is one of the fastest-developing video integration companies in Europe, offering comprehensive implementation of OTT projects from strategy and design through to development, deployment and maintenance. For over 10 years, Insys has implemented online video projects for satellite providers, telecommunications operators, television broadcasters and motion picture distributors. More than four million consumers use video services powered by Insys’ modular InsysPLAY platform or InsysGO white label solution.
About ORS group - The ORS group consists of Österreichische Rundfunksender GmbH & Co KG - Austrian Broadcasting Services (ORS) and its subsidiary ORS comm GmbH & Co KG (ORS comm). ORS was founded in early 2005, originating from ORF's Broadcast Engineering. In 2012, simpli services GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of ORS, was founded for the dissemination of the TV product simpliTV. In 2015, ORS comm acquired a stake in the video on demand platform Flimmit. In recent years, ORS group has evolved from a transmitter network operator into a "Digital Content Gateway" and as a reliable partner, guarantees perfect "content transport" via cable, IP, satellite and antenna.
