SaskTel picks VOD vendor

Software provider Kasenna said today it is providing its MediaBase XMP software to manage, distribute and deliver video content for Saskatchewan Telecommunications’ video-on-demand service that was launched yesterday.

SaskTel initially launched an IP-based broadcast service last year over its existing digital subscriber line network, but it did not include any VOD capabilities. In addition to MediaBase, the telco is using Sun servers, Alcatel middleware, and a combination of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies access equipment, to offer true video on demand to 11,000 subscribers in nine Canadian cities.

“This is really one of our most important telco accounts,” said Greg Carter, vice president of marketing for Kasenna. “Their idea is to leapfrog the competition with VOD.”

SaskTel, which has publicly said it wants to reach 50,000 subscribers by 2005, is deploying the servers in two clusters, which allows it to use a centralized interface while conserving some bandwidth over its backbone. On the access side, the servers are using Gigabit Ethernet transport to deliver MPEG-2 video at 2.3 Mb/s.

Kasenna, which recently won a similar contract with SureWest Communications, is banking on the move to IP transport to fuel much of its telco customer growth. In one scenario, Carter said, telcos could deploy both a traditional broadcast/VOD service to a set-top box but also offer PC-based VOD as a separate service.

“We have this as a trend where you have multiple services, but a single backend VOD system,” he said.