Infraconcepts, a Holland-based company, will start delivering SmarTV, Sweden's first broadband video-on-demand (VOD) network, to 1,500 households outside Stockholm, in Sollentuna from Q3 2002.

Parent company Infraconcepts has selected a VOD solution from SGI and Thirdspace for delivering SmarTV, according to a company release. The solution will allow SmarTV to cost-effectively scale up to support the whole community of 22,000 households. SGI and Infraconcepts are building similar services in other cities around Sweden, which are expected to be operational by early next year. A nationwide deployment is scheduled during 2003, says the release.

SmarTV will initially deliver video-on-demand movies, broadcast TV and Internet surfing via a broadband connection to a TV set equipped with a broadband set-top box, supplied by Kreatel Communications AB, of Sweden. Services will include hundreds of channels of scheduled television, on-demand movies and music; the ability to capture and time-shift thousands of hours of television programming to create a personalized TV schedule; electronic retail and banking services; e-mail and Internet access; and, of course, telephony. Later, SmarTV will include a variety of e-shops, such as bookstores and even "e-pizza." The citizens of Sollentuna will be able to order a movie and a pizza at the same time, via the TV set. The pizza will be delivered to the subscriber's doorstep within 30 minutes.

SmarTV's broadband VOD offering is the first in Europe on this scale while similar solutions have been implemented on this scale in Asia, including Chunghwa Telecom's Multimedia-on-Demand project. Chunghwa Telecom serves 20,000 homes in metropolitan Taipei and also relies on the powerful and scalable SGI(R) technology.

SGI and Thirdspace delivered what is rapidly becoming an industry-standard turnkey solution for offering interactive services to households worldwide. The VOD solution is based on the SGI(R) Origin(R) 300 server platform and Thirdspace OVS video server software as well as the Thirdspace Application Layer, known as OVA, which handles all business logic in the system. The three components form the most scalable interactive TV platform available.

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