Global Connections 09/06/12

SCTE, The Society for Broadband Professionals in the U.K, has a new company, Broadband Training Ltd, aimed at providing students with tutors and training facilities connected with SCTE course material. “When required, Broadband Training Ltd can provide a one-stop-shop for course materials and training,” explains Mike Thornton, chair of SCTE’s Training Committee. “Examinations for students who have completed SCTE courses, either by home study, third-party training or with our tutors will be carried out online. Independent invigilation and the issue of accreditation certificates will still be provided by the parent body SCTE”…According to ActiveVideo Networks, Dutch cableco Ziggo is “the first major European service provider” to use its CloudTV H5 virtual set-top box platform to deliver an advanced VOD user interface from the network cloud….QoE monitoring provider Witbe says it’s using the Belgacom TV service like users do: it is connected to Belgacom set-top boxes in several cities in Belgium. It also logs on Belgacom’s TV Everywhere portal via Web browsers and uses Belgacom’s TV Everywhere app for iOS and Android to "watch live TV and order on-demand content all day long, every day, across all devices”…OTT developer PHXX partnered with MBC to deploy the Reach OTT platform on Shahid.net, which will distribute Arab content and services through the Web portal and an iPad app sometime during the fourth quarter…Intelsat S.A. inked a multi-year deal with Eastern Space Systems Romania (ESS) to provide satellite capacity for a new DVB-S2 video multiplex platform designed to serve Central and Eastern Europe…The ThinkAnalytics Recommendations Engine has been integrated with Cobalt Media Head End and software from Pace, a developer of technologies, products and services for global broadband and broadcast markets. The Cobalt Media Head End attaches detailed metadata to content to support search and discovery…The DTN-X platform from Infinera will be used in Australia-based PIPE Networks Pty Limited’s submarine cable system, dubbed PPC-1. According to PIPE, this is the first deployment of optical super-channels in the Asia-Pacific region. The Infinera platform also will power PIPE’s terrestrial network delivering 500 Gb/s FlexCoherent super-channels to multiple, strategic data centers located in Sydney.