The World Economic Forum today announced 36 Technology Pioneers for 2006, selecting BitBand as one of these Technology Pioneers. Technology Pioneers are companies that have been identified as developing and applying highly transformational and innovative technologies in the areas of energy, biotechnology, health, and information technology. This year's class of companies has been selected not only because of the cutting-edge work undertaken by the companies, but also because their work has potential long-term impact on business and society.

BitBand is a leading provider of video content distribution and delivery solutions over IP broadband networks for Telcos based on BitBand Maestro Content Distribution and Video network Management Suite and BitBand Vision appliance Video servers. BitBand's Video On Demand and TV On Demand applications offer viewers additional dimensions of home entertainment, while providing Telcos and Service Providers with new ways to attract customers. The company develops its solutions employing a unique IPTV approach in order to maximize benefits to both end-users and service providers.

The World Economic Forum is an independent organization committed to improving the state of the world. Funded by the contributions of 1,000 of the world's foremost corporations, the Forum acts in the spirit of entrepreneurship in the global public interest to further economic growth and social progress. The Forum serves its members and society by creating partnerships between and among business, political, intellectual and other leaders of society to define, discuss and advance key issues on the global agenda.

"The creative innovations produced by our Technology Pioneers hold the promise of significantly affecting the way business and society operate," said Peter Torreele, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum. "As a global knowledge hub, we see the Technology Pioneer community as key contributors to this dialogue and to the mission of the! World Economic Forum."

"BitBand's expertise and innovative technology is driven through serving some of the world's largest IPTV deployments," said Ervin Leibovici, BitBand CEO. "We are proud to receive this prestigious recognition as a technology pioneer and are thankful to the World Economic Forum for the recognition. We continue to be sharply focused on delivering a new TV experience to consumers, one that allows easy access to a virtually endless video content repository in a personalized and intuitive way, enabling 'the TV of tomorrow' in entertainment consumption habits."

You can read the interview with Bitband's CEO, Ervin Leibovici, here.