Swisscom selects Harmonic for enhanced multiscreen services

Swisscom has chosen Harmonic’s ProMedia Live multiscreen transcoding platform and NMX Digital Service Manager to provide high-definition video streams for its web TV and mobile TV services. The deal will enable Swisscom to increase the number of live channels it delivers.

The ProMedia Live application features Harmonic’s H.264 codec technology, allowing Swisscom to transcode and deliver SD and HD video in various mobile and internet formats. It transcodes baseband SD and HD or MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 content to multiple H.264 streams optimised for adaptive bit-rate streaming formats, including Apple HTTP Live Streaming, Microsoft Smooth Streaming and 3GPP.

The ProMedia Live transcoders are managed by Harmonic’s NMX Digital Service Manager, a software-based network management system that provides control over the complete network. This enables Swisscom to create, modify and manage service lineups.

“Over the last two years, our web and mobile subscribers more than tripled to beyond 300,000, and our IPTV subscribers skyrocketed to 600,000 users – compelling us to adopt a high-performance solution to handle the increased volume of streaming video,” said Volker Dietzel, head of TV and portal development at Swisscom. “Harmonic’s scalable solution allows us to keep pace cost-effectively with the explosive growth in subscriber numbers and streaming sessions by delivering more high-quality live channels to mobile viewing devices than any competitor in our market.”