Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd. (TCS), a global IT services provider, and Orca Interactive, a global leader in the IPTV market, announced a partnership to offer worldwide IPTV system integration and service development over RiGHTv, Orca's IPTV middleware.

As part of the partnership, the Broadband and Broadcasting Group in TCS will introduce Orca's technology to potential customers around the world and will implement projects incorporating Orca's RiGHTv Telco-grade middleware applications. RiGHTv enables the delivery of a wide range of IPTV services such as broadcast TV over IP, VOD (video-on-demand), NVOD (near VOD), PVR (personal video recording), pay-per-view, games, T-commerce and other interactive services. RiGHTv is in use at Atlas Communications in India, as well as with a worldwide base of operators including Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), Bezeq (Israel), iVISJON (Norway), FiberCity (Philippines) and Magnet Networks (Ireland).

TCS will work with Orca's customers to execute the development and customization of advanced interactive TV services using Orca's SUI SDK (subscriber user interface software development kit). Orca's SUI SDK enables system integrators, operators and third-party vendors to differentiate their IPTV offerings by adding applications, modifying the solution's look and feel, and porting the SUI to additional set-top-boxes.

"We foresee a huge demand worldwide for personalized TV and interactive services through the TV - such as video on demand, home monitoring, shopping, gaming, etc. By working with Orca, we are confident that we will continue to lead the market with cutting-edge technologies," said Behram Sethna, vice president of Broadband and Broadcasting Group, TCS. "We provide operators with a customized solution in a timely manner, empowered by Orca's highly productive SI-enabled products."

"We are proud to work with TCS, one of the world's largest IT service providers," said Alon Laor, vice president of worldwide sales and professional services, Orca Interactive. "TCS's network integration expertise, combined with Orca's flexible and scalable solutions, will enable operators to realize the full revenue-generating potential of IPTV."

The Broadband and Broadcasting Group in TCS addresses the nascent IPTV and Triple-play interactive services market that is emerging as a result of the convergence of the telecom and entertainment industries. The group formalizes and capitalizes on the vast experience of TCS in the multimedia, telecom and media industries over decades to provide best-of-breed consulting and software development services to all stakeholders in the rich media content value chain: content owners (creators and aggregators), content service providers (Telcos and cable operators, and content packagers), technology providers (set-top-box, home networks, middleware, VOD, DRM vendors) and consumers.

According to Multimedia Research Group's IPTV Global Forecast (March 2005), the IPTV market will reach 25.3 million subscribers and $7.2 billion in revenue in 2008, up from 1.9 million subscribers and $635 million in revenue in 2004. Adding to that growth is the forecasted number of DSL subscribers expected to increase from 109 million in 2004 to 204 million in 2008, a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent.