WTS Uses Orca Middleware

RA'ANANA, Israel -- Orca Interactive (LSE-ORCA), a global market leader in providing IPTV middleware and applications, today announced its entry into the U.S. market and first U.S. customer win with W.T. Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of West Texas Rural Telephone Cooperative. The solution provides W.T.Services with integrated, carrier-grade IPTV services including live television broadcast, pay-per-view and video on demand (VOD). Marking its entrance into the U.S. market, Orca Interactive is also announcing the opening of a U.S. office.

W.T. Services’ advanced new IPTV services, powered by Orca’s RiGHTv middleware, also include Caller ID over television, enabling W.T. Services’ triple play subscribers to conveniently identify incoming calls on their TV screens, and Emergency Alert System (EAS) notification for advance warnings and immediate, direct alerts about critical events in the region.

Orca Interactive supplied W.T. Services with its advanced RiGHTv middleware through Optibase, the prime integrator in this project in collaboration with CHR Solutions, a premier telecommunications consulting firm. Additional value chain technology partners include BitBand, the video server supplier, Widevine, the content protection provider, Trilithic the Emergency Alert System (EAS) provider, Quintrex, the billing and CRM solution provider, Metaswitch, the softswitch supplier and Tribune Media Services, the EPG data provider for a complete end-to-end IPTV solution.

With enhanced flexibility, Orca Interactive’s User Interface (UI) SDK and Service Delivery Platform (SDP) architecture will enable W.T. Services to benefit from UI customization, smooth UI porting into new set-top boxes and application hosting in fast time-to-market and low operational costs. W.T. Services is expected to launch its new offerings in July 2007.

“In building a comprehensive network of fiber-to-the-home in our communities, we strive to offer the residents of rural Texas all of the services that can be found in metropolitan areas,” said Thomas A Hyer, President of W.T. Services “We can achieve this with Orca’s RiGHTv IPTV Middleware, which provides us with a flexible and reliable IPTV Platform for offering services such as: national television channels and local feeds, as well as an advanced suite of personalized services including VOD and Pay Per View.”

“This announcement marks a significant milestone for Orca Interactive as we officially extend our footprint into the dynamic U.S. IPTV market”, commented Haggai Barel, CEO of Orca Interactive. “Launching our U.S. division with a customer the caliber of W.T. Services reflects on our commitment to the North American market , in delivering readily deployable solutions. We expect other leading industry players to follow suit as we continue to drive new revenue opportunities across the U.S. with our cutting-edge, highly reliable IPTV technology.”

Orca Interactive Ltd.