Direct One Builds Next-Generation IP Network to Serve Romanian Video Market With Cisco Technology

Direct One Prepares for a Market of 800,000 Simultaneous HD Video Connections by 2013

Bucharest, Romania(17 Jun 2010)

Cisco today announced the completion of Direct One SA's IP next-generation network (IP NGN) based on Cisco technology. Direct One, a Romanian data carrier with extensive national coverage, is building the first content delivery network in Romania.

The new infrastructure helps enable Direct One to offer a full range of data carrier services, including Ethernet and IP connectivity for the wholesale telecommunications market, as well as video content management and delivery services for the media and broadcast industry.

Several television channels have already chosen Direct One's national distribution platform for streaming live or catch-up programs. With the high scalability and storage capacity of the Direct One platform, the path to interactive television is now open in Romania.

Key facts/highlights:

• Direct One offers video-content delivery and data-transport capabilities on a wholesale basis at more than 50 points of presence across Romania. 
  
  
• In December 2009, MediaDirect, a Direct One subsidiary, launched www.mediadirect.ro the first Romanian video-on-demand Web portal based on streaming technology. The portal offers on-demand movies for rental on a pay-per-view basis. 
  
  
• Based on MediaDirect's video-management technology, Direct One has built a content delivery network, a reliable and complex services package for ingesting, encoding, aggregating and delivering video content over the IP NGN network. The content delivery network is able to bring the aggregated content of the publishers directly into operators' networks, even in remote areas. As a result, consumers can access content in a faster and more reliable way, be it as streaming television, catch-up TV or video on demand. The solution is optimized for both fixed and mobile broadband networks and provides high definition (HD)-equivalent video quality (1080p/720p). 
  
  
• For the network core and aggregation, Direct One opted for Cisco 7600 Series Routers, while the access component was designed with Cisco 4900 Series Switches. On the basis of the IP/MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) technology, Direct One is able to offer services such as video content delivery, Layer 2 point-to-point or multipoint-to-multipoint transport, VPN (virtual private network) and Internet connectivity, on a wholesale basis. The project was implemented by Datanet Systems, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner in Romania. 
  
  

Supporting Quotes:

• Marian Pantazescu, chief executive officer, Direct One 
  
  "We chose Cisco on the basis of our trusted relationship and its proven experience regarding the successful implementation of carrier-level networks and video content delivery. We considered the quality of people, support services, and the maturity and flexibility of the proposed technology."
  
  "Since 2008, we have been actively looking at video traffic growth on the Internet, which is the main driver for bandwidth demand worldwide. We chose, as a strategic direction, to support this growth by integrating an advanced video management solution based on our high-capacity, nationwide IP distribution network that is optimized for video transport. We estimate consumption of 800,000 simultaneous, full-HD video connections by 2013 in Romania. We already handle large quantities of data over our national network, and the right technology to manage large quantities of video content is delivered by Cisco. As a result, the media industry has now at hand an end-to-end professional solution, enabling it to move video content from traditional, linear TV programs online. We plan to expand the model in other countries in the region, as well." 
  
  
• Giovanni Di Filippo, managing director, Cisco Emerging Markets East 
  
  "Video is clearly emerging as the primary driver of IP traffic growth. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, by 2014 the sum of all forms of video (TV, VoD, Internet video, and peer-to-peer) will exceed 91 percent of all global consumer traffic. Direct One clearly recognized this trend, and, with its next-generation network, is ready to launch new services and bring video to Romanian consumers for entertainment, education, information and collaboration." 
  
  

About Direct One

SC Direct One SA is a private Romanian independent company, which has developed a high capacity and high-availability data communications network on a national level, as well as the first Content Delivery Network in Romania. Direct One is the controlling shareholder in MediaDirect Technologies.

About MediaDirect
SC MediaDirect Technologies SRL is a Romanian company that has developed the platform for implementation of the newest digital technologies for the management of video materials to be published online. Currently Media Direct is offering video management services to the main media players in Romania.

About Cisco 
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