Zappware to Provide Interactive TV Solutions to IPTV Operator in the Former Yugoslavia

Belgian interactive television technology provider, Zappware (note: the company last year appointed Patrick Vos, who had headed up its international sales efforts, as CEO, in what it said was part of an ongoing strategy to focus more on international markets--see [itvt] Issue 8.23 Part 1), announced Tuesday that it has signed a deal with an undisclosed "telecom operator active in two countries belonging to what was formerly known as Yugoslavia."

According to the company, the new deal will see it providing the unnamed IPTV operator with a number of applications from its iView for Operators suite (note: iView for Operators is billed by Zappware as an integrated suite of off-the-shelf services that is available for a broad range of set-top box and middleware combinations, and that allows operators to customize the look-and-feel of those services and to maintain them in-house), including EPG, VOD, and network PVR apps. It says that the apps support such features as pause-live-TV, start-over TV, catch-up TV, reminders, favorites, user profiles, application skinning, search and parental rating. The deal will also see Zappware providing the operator with its iView backend platform for application management: the platform includes iView Portal for managing application content, and iView Interaction Manager for logging application usage and generating viewer statistics. In addition, the deal includes delivery of a VOD backoffice platform by Zappware partner, eventIS. "Zappware has a proven track-record of delivering reliable IDTV solutions in the cable market since its founding in 2001," Zappware CEO, Patrick Vos, said in a prepared statement. "With this new deal we prove that we are also able to serve the IPTV market. By delivering a suite of off-the-shelf products from our iView product line, we can guarantee this operator a reliable solution with a short time-to-market."

In other Zappware news: The company says it has attracted a group of new investors to fund implementation of its local and international strategies. According to the company, the new investors group has been formed around private capital providers, Michel Akkermans and Jurgen Ingels, and their investment vehicle, Clear2Pay. Ingels has now been appointed to Zappware's executive board. "By welcoming an investors' group around Michel Akkermans and Jurgen Ingels alongside [existing] investor company LRM [note: the latter specializes in investing in companies in Belgium's Limburg region], we have created a second stable pillar of investors to support Zappware," Zappware's Vos said in a prepared statement. "We are very impressed by the expertise of Akkermans and Ingels in guiding companies through productization and international expansion. Given the combination with LRM, we now have a very synergetic stakeholder structure to act both locally and internationally. We are convinced that we will now be able to approach the international market--which we have been entering the past two years with success--at an accelerated pace." Added Jurgen Ingels: "Zappware is a beautiful example of a Flemish company with technology which can be commercialized worldwide and with the potential of becoming a major player in the market of digital TV software. We want Zappware to benefit from our expertise in order to realize that. That means that we want to help the company grow, attract risk capital and possibly do acquisitions."