DIGISOFT.TV HAS sold more than 1.5 million licences for its Java-based software which enables high-definition revenue-generating applications to be run on television set-top boxes.
The Cork-based company has signed a global partnership with Sun for its software stack based on the Java Platform Micro Edition, which runs on internet protocol (IP) TV set-top boxes.
Australian video rental chain Video Ezy, which controls the Blockbuster franchise in Australia is one of the first customers for the new middleware.
Customers can download digital movies from an in-store kiosk to a USB key or iPod and then play them back at home on a Java set-top box.
The system will be rolled out to more than 1,000 Video Ezy stores in Australia and New Zealand, which serve in excess of eight million customers.
Digisoft has "kept a low profile" for the last 18 months as it developed the new software, according to its executive chairman Tom Higgins.
"Eighteen months ago, we realised one of the biggest bottlenecks for service providers in deploying IPTV was the lack of flexibility and openness of the middleware solutions that were available," says Mr Higgins.
"We went to Sun - which has been a partner of Digisoft for many years - and said together we can make market play and drive down the cost of middleware on set-top boxes."
The combination of the Java-based client software and Digisoft's middleware enables service providers to offer services such as video and music on demand, karaoke, home shopping, network-based recording, time-shifted TV and games.
Mr Higgins said that Digisoft has had an order from a customer for one million karaoke applications, which will require the production of a set-top box with two microphone sockets on the front.
"We have formed partnerships with a number of set-top box manufacturers and that enables the telco or service provider almost design their own," explains Mr Higgins.
While Sun has been a long-term partner of Digisoft, the decision to base the software stack was a strategic one. The Sun-created software language allows applications to be easily ported between platforms.
As Mr Higgins points out there are several million Java applications already in existence "which can now be ported into the TV world".
Digisoft announced the availability of the new software at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show which took place in Las Vegas this week.
"We are a small Irish company but now we are on the world stage thanks to our partnerships with Sun and EDS," said Mr Higgins.
"At the show, we've had very significant manufacturers and telcos coming to us to see the Video Ezy platform we have developed."
Headquartered in Cork, Digisoft was founded in 2000 and employs 45 staff worldwide. The company is backed by Pat McDonagh, the founder of e-learning company Riverdeep.
