MwareTV: The Next Generation of OTT Solutions

Imagining a world without on-demand entertainment in the 21st century is nearly impossible. Keeping aside the magnanimous successes of individual over-the-top (OTT) platforms and video-on-demand (VOD) services like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu, digital content delivery organizations have never before experienced the traffic they do today. Consequently, the pandemic of 2020 created the perfect opportunity for online streaming and cloud solution providers to showcase the efficacies of their technology offerings. Having said that, internet service providers (ISPs), mobile operators, and other telco firms witnessed a staggering, almost unprecedented, spike in active users. And, not all companies in this ever-expanding field were ready for such a massive workload. Among the many reasons that explain why streaming and VOD service providers felt so overwhelmed, the major role played by middleware takes the cake.

Numerous internet protocol television (IPTV) and OTT middleware vendors streamline the delivery of broadcasts or stored video content over a specified network. Their solutions are specifically built to manage streaming processes, content protection, video transcoding, and a slew of other operations. However, according to Cees van Versendaal, a long-standing IPTV and OTT expert, most vendors in the market often deliver their middleware solutions in ‘bits and pieces’. Such a setup is far from ideal in an ecosystem that functions via a combination of several different building blocks. Those seeking efficient, cost-effective middleware solutions to manage the intensity of running an internet-based environment and service are required to jump through various hoops to find and implement the products that best suit their culture and needs. But today, thanks to the dedicated efforts of MwareTV, an end-to-end middleware solutions provider, ISPs and organizations of the like are empowered to approach the deployment of IPTV and OTT services in a more robust and modular fashion. “We provide all the necessary building blocks: the technologies required for the total workflow, much like an ERP software made just for TV-based services,” expresses van Versendaal, who currently leads MwareTV as its COO.

Understanding IPTV and OTT Middleware like Noone Else

Founded in 2010, MwareTV’s come a long way in amassing a wealth of experience in the field. The company recognizes the minute details and intricacies of delivering video content, straight from management and preparation all the way to delivery. It also has in mind the dire need for stability following the many app integrations involved in the process of establishing a highperforming middleware infrastructure. And, more importantly, the whole environment should be able to scale as and when the number of an ISP or OTT organization’s subscribers increases. Finding a vendor capable of delivering on these requirements quickly and affordably can be quite a laborious task. MwareTV thus follows a philosophy of conducting business as a one-stop-shop. If need be, the company also integrates thirdparty components into the solution seamlessly, potentially offering its clients the most sophisticated middleware experience in the current marketplace.

MwareTV guarantees a 100 percent working solution based on its incredibly flexible, turnkey cloud-based architecture. MwareTV’s flagship product, TV Management System (TVMS), is a multi-tenant middleware TV platform through which the company runs its template-based applications that are highly customizable.

The applications within are compatible with prominent device platforms such as iOS, AppleTV, Android, FireTV, Roku, Tizen, WebOS, Chrome, Windows, Sony, and many other large brands.

To complete the end-to-end offering, MwareTV provides the best encoding and transcoding software solutions available, combined with a global content delivery network.Calling back to the aforementioned modular approach to IPTV and OTT middleware, MwareTV proffers a module development system that offers clients the ability to fully customize widgets from a vast User Interface component library for various designs.

Six Building Blocks Makes it the Most Flexible TV Platform

Furthermore, to help clients better understand and utilize its solution, MwareTV has split its offering into six distinct building blocks: broadcast, delivery, management, audience, devices, and licensing. It allows the client to select any building block based on this modular design to develop an IPTV solution tailored to their exact requirements. “By providing everything under one roof—middleware, streaming solutions, and an extensive UI library—and allowing for real-time data and analysis delivered via a userfriendly dashboard, we save clients from the complexity of dealing with multiple vendors,” adds van Versendaal.

The OTT middleware solution efficiently manages the content and runs ad campaigns as well from a vast collection of UI templates. Talking about the aspects that differentiate the company in the IPTV & OTT space, van Versendaal informs about the most noteworthy feature of MwareTV—a Multi-Tenant setup via which the client can set up an unlimited number of CMS and CRM services with customizable UI design templates. Overall, with all these benefits, MwareTV becomes a single source of truth for Telcos, ISPs, Mobile operators, System Integrators, Multi- Service operators, as well as established operators.

The flexible product management capabilities of the middleware expert’s solution expedite the process of creating specific content packages that specifically target particular audiences. And to top it all off, MwareTV emboldens its clients with a range of statistics that bring to the fore valuable and actionable, insights on various metrics. These include understanding popular content, subscriber management, server access management, and improved customer access controls. “The solution integrates extremely well with many existing billing systems, which bodes well for ISPs who do not need to implement new formats. It simply acts as an add-on feature for their infrastructure,” explains van Versendaal.

Customer-Centric and Duty-Bound

In addition to its comprehensive and powerful content delivery solutions, MwareTV is extremely passionate about enhancing its customer experiences. Van Versendaal believes in mutual growth, where the success of each client reflects on the progress of the company and its team of extremely skilled IT professionals. In the same vein, MwareTV presents companies with a pay-as-yougrow model. Here, companies are given the opportunity to avoid dependency on recurring investments to get started or scale the business. Leveraging MwareTV’s cloud technologies and adjacent services, van Versendaal and his team effectuate fast deployments that help clients save their monetary resources and time. The company, focusing on the customers’ absolute convenience, completely eliminates their need to either attempt to develop middleware software themselves, employ external developer teams, or mix and match varied components in the hopes of procuring the ideal solution. “There is no need to do any of that stuff; just hire the specialized company that has been doing this for the past ten years,” humours the COO. MwareTV particularly cares about the feedback it receives from each client. It learns from each encounter and proactively implements new changes to improve the overall functionality of its solutions. Over the years, MwareTV has helped a number of its clients scale their businesses. In an implementation highlight, a client was struggling to cover a wide range of business opportunities in the areas of video streaming, all the way through to vulnerability management. Additionally, the company’s customers have direct access to its support team without the interruption of ticket walls. “TV is a 24/7 business,” adds van Versendaal. Guiding the clients in each step, Mware successfully addressed the challenge and assisted them throughout the entire journey.

The Road Ahead

MwareTV is constantly working towards making the customer journey smoother when it comes to content delivery and the final viewing experience. Simultaneously, capitalizing on the power of its novel solution, bespoke services, and adept teams, MwareTV plans to reach a broad range of audiences across the US, Asia, and Africa and redefine the future of IPTV and OTT services. The company is currently gearing up to launch a ready-to-use platform—dubbed TV-as-a- Service—in the US that eliminates a client’s concerns about licensing content. MwareTV is parallelly disrupting the Latin American markets with such innovations as the infrastructure in that region is improving at quite an admirable pace. “We are launching the same combination of technology and content in Africa to help set the entry barrier low, allowing smaller companies everywhere to start offering TV services,” concludes van Versendaal.