Harmonic announces that Portugal Telecom has deployed Harmonic’s market-leading DiviCom Electra MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoders to power its meo nationwide IPTV service. The digital video headend includes the Electra 7000 high definition encoders and Electra 5400 standard definition encoders, and was implemented at Portugal Telecom by Novabase/OctalTV, a leading video system integrator in Portugal. The Harmonic solution seamlessly delivers high quality broadcast video including picture-in-picture and is a component of the Microsoft MediaRoom multimedia and IPTV software platform as part of an overall system designed and integrated by Alcatel-Lucent.

IP-centric technologies are making it possible to create a dramatically new experience for the viewer as well as simplifying the video infrastructure for the operator. The new video service based on the latest generation, ultra-efficient Electra encoders will enable Portugal Telecom to provide consumers with a compelling pay TV service alongside their existing voice and data offering. A pioneer in delivering telco IPTV headend solutions, Harmonic has successfully deployed the DiviCom encoders to power more than 38,000 TV channels for telco, satellite and cable operators around the world.

“The DiviCom Electra HD and SD encoders provide superior picture quality for our H.264 video service at ultra-low bit-rates. As a result, we can satisfy consumer demands today and benefit from an infrastructure that also makes it possible to deliver more advanced digital video services,” said Alberto Claro, Headend Manager for Portugal Telecom’s meo IPTV service.

“High quality HD and SD video delivery is now a critical requirement for telcos to compete with other operators who are expanding their service offerings,” said Thierry Fautier, Director of Telco solutions for Harmonic Inc. “Harmonic’s encoder technology brings not only a high quality video experience but also enables new services and business advantages such as high quality HD delivered to more subscribers, watch and record DVR capabilities, and a multi-room experience. These capabilities were critical for Portugal Telecom to differentiate from existing offerings in the market.”

Novabase and Harmonic have partnered on several projects in Portugal to enable service providers to deliver compelling video services. Harmonic counts more than 40 leading telcos as its video headend customers— including a significant number of joint Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent implementations.