History of Innovation

Innovation is what drives an industry forward, disrupting the established practices, introducing new opportunities and spicing up life on either side of the monthly invoice. All too often, it is the young companies, the new guys on the block, who talk of innovation; after all who has more to gain from a re-definition of the rules than those who are late to the game? Ask any software developer- it is always easier to develop something new when you are not weighed down by legacy code and when you don't need to consider previous models.

At Orca, through over a decade of providing solutions for IPTV, we have believed that innovation, for a service provider, is the engine to growth and, just like a train engine, once you stop feeding the fires, forward momentum is lost and is difficult to regain. That is why we have been driven to innovate constantly and consistently, building innovations into our products and striving to give our customers the edge they need in a market which is so dynamic, that tomorrow's biggest threats were mere rumors yesterday.

In 2003, when our customers needed the ability to adapt the User Interface to reflect their brand identity, their customers' cultural preferences and the dynamic of their market, we were the first IPTV middleware to offer a fully functional SDK, giving them the freedom to efficiently create their own interface with their subscribers.

In 2004, when operators needed greater flexibility in selecting STBs to support MPEG-4 and PVR capabilities, we offered them the ability to port their UI transparently to new browsers on new STBs within a few weeks.

In 2005, when our customers wanted a faster, more attractive look-and-feel than what HTML could provide them, we incorporated Flash into the SDK, so they could be in position to take advantage of the pending support of Flash in IPTV STBs.

In 2006, when NPVR was technically doable but practically impossible due to rights issues, we provided customers with multi-dimensional flexibility in network recording, including Catch Up TV, Start Over TV, Pause Live TV and a multitude of business models to support them.

In 2008, when networks constraints were threatening their growth opportunity, we became the first IPTV middleware to offer a combined solution for IPTV over managed and un-managed networks.

In 2009, when operators over the world were wondering how to make efficient use of the vast amounts of content they were offering their subscribers, we offered them COMPASS, a comprehensive Content Discovery solution that presents subscribers with personal recommendations on Live TV and On Demand content.

For us, innovation is not a buzzword or a gimmick; it is a tradition that we are committed to and proud of. We thread innovation throughout our products, in order for these new ideas and concepts to become an integral part of the service and we fine tune them until they are as efficient as they are attractive. So let the new guys talk the talk of innovation; we are happy to continue walking the walk.