Electronics Production |
STREAM chosed Kreatel
Kreatel Communications has been selected to supply set-top boxes, software platform and development kits for STREAM, a pioneering on-demand IPTV project in Hull.
STREAM will launch in spring 2006 with two channels. Learning STREAM gives pupils and parents access to on-demand video-based learning materials that support the schools' curriculum. Video materials will be broadcast into school classrooms and into homes, packaged with support
materials and assessments. Seven schools are part of the first phase of Learning STREAM, with childrens' centers, adult education venues and Further Education colleges scheduled to be added later.
Business STREAM is a channel that enables small and medium sized enterprises to promote their products and services online through tailor-made company profiles. The channel will also provide coverage of local business events and celebrate good news stories. Health and Community channels will be added to STREAM over the next two years.
Hull has created its solution building on Kreatel's software platform, and uses Kreatel IP-STB 1720 for hardware. The IP/DVB-T hybrid set-top boxes make it possible to in addition to the STREAM channels also give users access to free-to-air digital terrestrial broadcasts.
"We selected Kreatel for STREAM because they offer exactly the platform that we are looking for. With the Kreatel IP-STB System and Application Development Kit, we are with reasonable effort able to develop our own advanced interactive applications", says Mark Jones, Managing Director
of Broadband Capital Ltd. "With Kreatel's structured software approach, we can continue our development and benefit from technical developments without having to replace existing implementations."
"STREAM is a very interesting project that demonstrates the important applications our technology can support in the public sector. The educational approach is commendable as it helps both children and adults to learn at their own pace through the same system", says Lars Bengtsson, CEO at Kreatel. "Hull drives digital development as they have high demands on technology and a visionary view on services. They launched broadband interactive television already in the late 1990s, and
they now once again lay the path for using technology in an innovative way."
STREAM has been developed in Hull by Broadband Capital Ltd, a company created by Hull City Council in June 2005 to develop innovative interactive television services for the public sector. The projects are funded to 2007.
