Advanced Monitoring Allows Citizens to Provide Exceptional Service

Vancouver, CANADA, August 29th, 2014 – Inca Networks today announced that TV and communications provider Citizens Telephone Cooperative in Virginia, has selected the Inca 4400 Modular Series™ high-density, real-time transcoder to power HD and SD video for its MPEG-4 HD and SD IPTV service.

The Inca 4400 Modular Series real-time transcoding solution provides Citizens with “any-to-any, any-to-many” support for HD and SD, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video transcoding of up to 24 HD or 60 SD channels, in a compact and power-efficient one rack unit (1 RU) chassis. The platform’s high density enables Citizens to meet growing demand for digital TV services, while lowering capital and operating expenses through reduced power consumption and rack space.

Citizens chose to deploy the Inca equipment to process and deliver their own content, rather than continue to use an expensive content aggregator. This not only gave them more control but also allowed them to upgrade to MPEG-4 technology from their existing MPEG-2 encoders. Today, Citizens uses Inca’s 4430 Modular Transcoders to transcode satellite and broadcast content to MPEG-4 and deliver superior quality IP video to subscribers.

“Video is a challenging business so we needed an affordable solution that supported our legacy equipment and future proofed us for growth. We chose Inca for our IP video processing needs and are better off financially now that we process and deliver our own content,” says Greg Sapp, General Manager at Citizens.

One of the key deciding factors for Citizens choosing Inca was their All Seeing Eye (ASE). The ASE provides end-to-end, real-time monitoring of all the IP video streams in the headend leveraging the embedded analytics in all Inca products. This allows any member of the Citizens’ team to interactively oversee their network using any web browser, and to quickly troubleshoot any issues.

“With the All Seeing Eye, we can proactively monitor our system instead of waiting for a customer to call and report a problem. With the ability to view all the channels in a mosaic interface, we not only improve our level of customer service but also increase operational efficiency,” says Sapp.

According to Terry Martin, Citizens’ Central Office Lead Technician, another one of Inca’s key advantages is the equipment’s modular design, giving the telco the capability to grow into OTT and HLS formats down the road as customer expectations shift.

“Our strength is that we marry the convenience and simplicity of modular, scalable hardware with the agility, intuitiveness, and control of our VidiOS™ software,” says Jeff Campbell, CEO of Inca Networks. VidiOS™ is Inca’s advanced processing and monitoring engine included in every Inca product, which offers both active stream tools and integrated status monitoring and reporting to manage the headend more efficiently.

Citizens uses the All Seeing Eye and two Inca VidiOS Probes to monitor and manage their entire system from one central location. The Inca equipment interacts seamlessly with Citizens’ existing headend and field gear to deliver nearly 200 television, premium movie, and digital music channels.

About Citizens

Citizens began a century ago as a member-owned telephone co-op serving the mountainous region of Southwest Virginia. Today, the cooperative has grown into a regional full service communications provider, delivering landline telephone, VoIP, IPTV video, web and email hosting, DSL and FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) to customers across seven counties.

About Inca Networks

Inca Networks, a WISI company, is reinventing the future of multiscreen video delivery. Inca offers industry-leading Intelligent Video Delivery™, a revolutionary software-centric solution for intelligent, real-time processing of linear and multiscreen television content. At its core is VidiOS™, an advanced software processing and monitoring engine that provides deep visibility and control of all video flows, combined with powerful, modular hardware. Inca’s IP video solutions address all aspects of next-generation video, including high-density MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 HD and SD transcoder modules for linear and multiscreen adaptive bit-rate (ABR) and HTTP live streaming (HLS) services; demultiplexing and remapping of MPTS video from satellite and off-air sources to SPTS streams in digital cable, DSL and fiber to the home (FTTH) IPTV networks; multi-viewer mosaic and status monitoring software, digital music service demuxing, and modular ASI to IP conversion.

In July 2015, the Wilhelm Sihn jr. (WISI) company of Germany acquired Vancouver’s Inca Networks Inc. Founded in 1926, WISI is one of the world’s pioneers in broadband reception and distribution technology. Today, WISI’s field of business is the development, production and distribution of products and solutions in the following areas: automotive antenna and cabling, components for broadband networks, fiber optics for broadband, digital signal reception, processing and modulation for TV and radio, in-house multimedia. Inca Networks sells and distributes WISI’s Tangram and Chameleon platforms to the North American, Caribbean and Latin American markets. Video providers around the globe use Inca to easily and affordably deliver content to any screen on any network, all with a superior customer viewing experience and a second-to-none view of the network.

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For more information please contact Rosalinda Thorleifson, Tel. +1-604-418-9715 rosalinda.thorleifson@incanetworks.com