NTT Cyber Communications Laboratory Group and EXPWAY, have announced that Plala Networks Inc., a pioneer IPTV service provider in Japan, has deployed its 4th MEDIA IPTV service using a technology jointly developed by NTT Cyber Labs and EXPWAY for its Electronic Program Guide (EPG).

This Metadata System is based on rich XML-based metadata format allowing enhanced description of content for easy access, navigation, and viewing of content. EXPWAY brought NTT its expertise in the management of metadata and efficient compression of EPG with BiM format. While allowing comprehensive EPG service, the system improves EPG data transmission and saves costly network bandwidth.

According to Plala Networks : “The metadata system allowed us to adopt a new graphic user interface directly using metadata instead of the conventional interface using HTML and Javascript languages. One of its merits is the greatly improved user-interface of our set-top-box. The new interfaces of our set-top-box have several original functions because the function of our set-top-box is not restricted to the specifications of the browsers. Future set-top-boxes will each have original interface designs with each advantage, and our set-top-box functions can be incorporated into digital appliances like digital TVs because our metadata format is compliant with the standard specification for Japanese digital TVs. Our metadata system can not only suit our IPTV channel service, VOD, and Karaoke services, but can also let us offer flexible sales types, such as PPV, SVOD, and packages. Moreover, the metadata system helps us make the best of our content; it has made it possible to deliver our premium football programs as VODs right after their livecast, allowing viewers to enjoy our services according to their viewing habits.”

Said Antoine Weil, CEO of Expway: “EXPWAY is very proud of the tight collaboration built with NTT over the past five years and happy to see a first concrete application being deployed in Japan over a broadband network. I believe that the jointly developed Metadata System brings the necessary richness for Plala Networks users to access the wide range of services as well as a very high performance level to reduce network overload”.