Amino Flexibility Enables Cablenet to meet the Challenges of Android TV on a Hybrid Architecture
AminoOS gives the Amigo7XC device the flexibility to provide a hybrid solution that enables Cablenet to efficiently launch Android TV and interactive services for Cable and Fiber customers
Cambridge(23 Feb 2021)
Amino, the global media and entertainment technology solutions provider, announced today that Cablenet, the number one cable operator in Cyprus, has begun to roll-out Amigo 7XC Android TV set-top boxes to its cable and fiber customers. Following extensive lab and field tests, the roll-out began in December 2020.
Amino is providing Cablenet with the AminoOS powered Amigo 7XC hybrid device, to support both Cablenet’s cable and fiber consumers, enabling transparent distribution of the same STB model among the different access technologies and allowing it to compete by launching a complete set of Next Generation TV services under Amino’s Android TV certified set-top box.
“When you’re an operator with a complex network architecture, flexibility is critical,” said Amino CEO, Donald McGarva.
“Cablenet, primarily a cable operator until recently, was at the crossroads when it started rolling its FTTH services. The TV service was being delivered to customers through legacy cable STBs until that time, that did not support IP, ABR and DRM technologies. As a result, it quickly became apparent that alternative ways should be investigated that would allow it to continue offering a reliable and high quality TV service minimizing investments on the optical infrastructure. By introducing AminoOS running on our Amigo 7XC hybrid Android TV STBs it managed to solve this issue and additionally minimized any operational costs by using the same solution on both networks. We enabled Cablenet to unify the management of its two networks and enabled the rollout of its Next Generation TV services. Amino is looking forward to playing an important part in Cablenet’s future success,” concluded McGarva.
AminoOS is an ‘operator ready’ solution that provides an extended, enhanced and fully certified version of Android TV that is fully compatible with operators’ infrastructure and networks. Although Android TV gets operators a long way down the road to launching a modern advanced TV service, it isn’t designed to take them the whole way. AminoOS provides the extra functionality required, so that an Android TV service can deliver all the capabilities operators need to succeed in today’s market. In addition, Amino’s SaaS platform, Amino Engage, provides a suite of open standards, across any network, while simplifying OTT app management.
“Being able to deploy a single set-top box that allows us to manage our TV service, overcoming any restrictions imposed by the physical mediums of cable, fiber or pure OTT, will have a really positive impact on the performance, efficiency and quality of service offered to our subscribers,” said Charalambos Moyseos, Chief Commercial Officer – Retail, Cablenet Communication Systems Plc. “I’m also highly excited that we have been able to launch our Next Generation TV services. The combination of the Amigo 7XC and AminoOS enables us to be highly flexible in our network architecture and business model.”
Crucially, AminoOS solves the ‘legacy problem’ through empowering operators to launch modern consumer-centric user experiences and video services while maximizing the value of existing capital and infrastructure investment. For Cablenet, AminoOS already supported existing infrastructure and DRM/Conditional Access solutions, and now continues to support the multiple audio variants present in DVB-C streams.
Amigo 7XC utilizes the power and flexibility of Amino software to provide next-generation services that converge OTT and Cable on Android TV. The Amigo 7XC solution helps Cablenet reduce OPEX and improve functionality by providing a modern Android TV user experience for accessing linear or streaming content over hybrid networks. This merges cable, multicast IPTV and OTT content with a single program guide and modern UX.