Strategic alliance between KIT Digital and Harmonic

The agreement between KIT Digital and Harmonic will allow pay TV operators to offer video over multi-device broadband.

KIT digital, a provider of cloud-based multi-screen video solutions and services, and Harmonic, a provider of video infrastructure solutions, announced this Monday a strategic alliance that will enhance its complementary product portfolios to offer an end-to-end multi-screen video architecture optimally managed for maximum performance. The two companies are working together to create solutions that enable television providers to expand their existing reach and deliver effective services based on new multi-platform and multi-device models.

The integrated solution will offer an end-to-end proposition based on KIT's Cosmos technology, its asset management platform, and Harmonic's multi-codec processing power and storage options. This will enable customers to deliver and optimize video services for live linear channels, catch-up and start-over TV and video on demand with a rich user experience.
It will also provide a unified video infrastructure specifically designed to maintain both traditional broadcasting and emerging multi-screen devices with the highest quality and operational efficiency.

It will also mean a platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) or an on-site operational model that adapts to the end customer with the most demanding day-to-day reliability requirements.

Scott Sahadi, Chief Strategy Officer at KIT Digital, commented: "As the lines between traditional broadcast and new media distribution channels are blurring, our clients are demanding an integrated, transparent and cost-effective solution. Clients have recognized the value and synergies of our combined offering. This partnership is a natural evolution of an existing relationship, which we hope to strengthen and expand further over the years."

For his part, Shahar Bar, senior vice president of corporate development at Harmonic, added that “this strategic approach to service and content providers will deliver greater operational efficiency while extending the service offering to consumers thanks to Harmonic's video infrastructure solutions and the impressive digital KIT management platform.”