Opera Software, a global leader in Web browser technology, announced its partnership with Orca Interactive, a world-leading developer of middleware and applications for IPTV. Orca Interactive will now support Opera 8.5 for Devices with its RiGHTv open middleware platform for delivering and managing interactive TV services. Operators and service providers choosing Orca's RiGHTv solution can now include the full-featured and fast Opera Web browser and its advanced support for Web technologies on their devices.

Orca Interactive selected Opera for its high performance execution of advanced Web applications, such as AJAX, and for its leading standards compliance to ensure interoperability and superior browsing speed on devices. As a complement to RiGHTv's Service Delivery Platform architecture, Orca Interactive seeks to partner with best-in-breed solutions such as Opera to accelerate delivery of advanced IPTV applications and services and minimize integration overhead, thereby reducing the costs for operators building and managing services on their IPTV network.

"The combination of Opera and Orca is excellent for operators looking to deliver the highest quality end user experiences and accelerate time to market," says Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President, Opera Software. "Opera's high performance, TV optimized support for the latest Web standards enables powerful and flexible IPTV set-top box solutions such as Orca's RiGHTv."

Opera for Devices was announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, and is currently being shipped in products from companies including Archos, NDS, Nokia, Thales and Amino. Opera for Devices 8.5 is based on the same core as the latest Opera version for desktop computers and has rich and fast support for the full Internet. Opera adds flexible TV-optimized rendering, remote control navigation support and other features to enhance the living room experience.

"By partnering with Opera we are simply giving operators and service providers more options for better solutions that increase subscriber loyalty and revenues," says Yosi Glick, vice president of marketing and business development, Orca Interactive. "Our applications give our customers the necessary tools to offer a wide range of services that address varying trends and consumer needs. Opera's fast performance and support for advanced Web technologies and applications will be an asset to RiGHTv's capabilities."