Backed by Columbia Ventures Corporation, a global investment company headquartered in Vancouver, Washington state, Magnet Networks will establish a fiber network in the Dublin area to provide speedy Internet, digital telephony, TV and video-on-demand (VOD) to new home owners. The company is initially investing EUR 5 million into the project, and it is hoping that over 70,000 households will make the switch within two to three years.
The first customers are already being connected and the initial service will include a package with a wide range of digital TV channels, an electronic program guide (EPG) and VOD.
A second phase of the project is planned for launch during 2005. It will include a significantly expanded selection of channels and films, along with a new user-interface experience, games and other services.
As part of the agreement with Industria, a leading broadband solutions provider,
Orca Interactive will provide the video server, encoder and content protection for the deployment. It will be Orca’s first contract as chief contractor, and will allow it to utilize its successful RiGHTv program, which will simplify the system integration and lowers risk and costs.
The addition of Orca’s RiGHTv to the services in Dublin with Magnet is a great fit with the turnkey services offering from us, says Industria CEO Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson. RiGHTv is a flexible solution allowing us to install, upgrade and customize to the look and feel and functionality that our customers require. This ensures a lower cost of ownership and faster time to market. The system also has flexible interfaces for integration to the billing system from Industria that plays a central role in the overall solution.
