HP Benchmark Record

Orca Interactive Ltd 15 December 2004 For immediate release Orca Sets Benchmark Record with HP for IPTV Solution: 500,000 Subscribers Results Achieved Using RiGHTv TM and Oracle Technology on HP-UX-based Servers RA'ANANA, Israel - December 15, 2004 - Orca Interactive (LSE: ORCA), a global leader in the IPTV market (television over Internet Protocol), today announced the results of a record-breaking benchmark demonstrating the very high scalability that network operators and service providers, such as Telcos, ISPs and utility companies, need to serve this emerging market. The benchmark simulated an active subscriber base of 500,000 people accessing Orca's IPTV solution, RiGHTv 4.2, based on Oracle10g running on an HP server platform with the HP-UX 11i operating system. This is the first time an IPTV solution has been shown to reach this threshold in a commercial simulation; previously published benchmarks in 2003 demonstrated approximately 100,000 users. Even at the much higher subscriber load, average response times remained relatively constant, demonstrating the fundamental scalability of the Orca solution. Orca Interactive worked closely with HP to complete the benchmark, which was done at an HP research facility in Paramus, New Jersey. The benchmark simulated a mix of subscribers with different TV usage profiles. The test simulated a subscriber base accessing advanced interactive services such as video on demand (VOD) and conventional television services, including a 1,000-movie database and 300 TV channels. Under this heavy user load, the 500,000 simulated subscribers generated 123,000 actions per minute. At this high level of usage, the solution delivered an average response time of 3.5 milliseconds for common activities. Comparable response times in previous benchmarks have been 4.0 milliseconds, demonstrating that the Orca solution can scale up without slowing average response time. 'Our focus at Orca Interactive has always been creating a Telco-grade platform ready for delivering television services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers,' said Dotan Naveh, Vice President of Research and Development for Orca Interactive. 'HP provides Orca with the robust, powerful processing platforms and the expertise needed to support our customers. This benchmark demonstrates RiGHTv's inherent scalability, performance and high-availability, and our ability to scale up to a very large subscriber base, effectively utilizing a large number of CPUs.' Naveh added, 'For Orca, the real value of benchmark tests goes beyond posting impressive results. High-stress simulations are the best way to refine and strengthen the solution itself.' Orca Interactive's RiGHTvTM applications include RiGHTvTM XVOD for VOD extended with advertisements and related T-Commerce features, RiGHTvTM XBIP for Broadband TV extended with EPG (electronic program guide), and RiGHTvTM XPVR for advanced PVR (Personal Video Recorder) services allowing the subscriber to watch programs at any time by ordering a recording directly from their EPG and watching it 'on demand' at a later time. 'HP has created an IPTV solution stack combined with HP's global service capability to help its customers to successfully and rapidly deploy IPTV services using industry standard infrastructure,' said Marco Limena, vice president, Network and Service Providers Solutions, HP. 'This benchmark demonstrates HP and Orca's strong capability to scale up and support the IPTV deployments of the future.' RiGHTv is based on the Oracle 10g platform, including both Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Application Server10g. 'In this benchmark, Orca and HP demonstrated their ability to serve very large numbers of subscribers in very demanding installations,' said Tim Payne, Senior Director, Oracle Technology Marketing, Europe Middle East and Africa. 'This kind of demanding environment requires advanced software technology to provide proper service to customers, and Oracle has demonstrated here, as so often, that Oracle10g is the best at delivering this.' For more specific information regarding the benchmark methodology, please visit Orca Interactive at www.orcainteractive.com for an appendix to this news release. About Orca Interactive Orca Interactive (LSE: ORCA - News) is a leading provider of middleware solution to enable xDSL and FTTx operators to offer enhanced entertainment services such as broadcast TV, video-on-demand and interactive services. Our applications deliver compelling and differentiated services to maximize the revenue stream of the operators. Orca's user-friendly, end-to-end applications enable delivery and management of VOD, TV channels, EPG, NVOD, Pay-Per-View and e-commerce for related merchandise. Orca Interactive has formed strategic partnerships with BitBand, GooMe, ECI, HP, Kasenna, Kreatel, Microsoft, nCUBE, NDS, Nokia, Optibase, Pace, Samsung and more. www.orcainteractive.com. -ends- Press contact: Tiffany Archambault INK Communications & Design for Orca Interactive +1 617 488 0988 ext. 7 tiffany@theINKstudio.com James Melville-Ross / Cass Helstrip Financial Dynamics +44 20 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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