Archive for month: June, 2018

The first managed and secure mobile printing solution for businesses verified as Citrix Ready for XenMobile

BERLIN/DENVER, June 26, 2018 – ThinPrint today announced that its ThinPrint Mobile Print has been verified as Citrix Ready®. The new ThinPrint Mobile Print is the first managed and secure mobile printing solution for businesses and complements existing unified endpoint management solutions, such as XenMobile, to deliver secure iOS and Android printing. ThinPrint Mobile Print completed a rigorous verification process to ensure compatibility with XenMobile, to provide managed and secure mobile printing on iOS and Android devices.

The Citrix Ready program helps customers identify third-party solutions that are recommended to enhance workspace, networking and cloud computing solutions from Citrix.

Customers can be confident that ThinPrint Mobile Print has successfully passed a series of tests established by Citrix and can be trusted to work effectively with XenMobile to integrate iOS and Android devices into a company’s existing print infrastructure so that employees can easily access and use all current network printers.

Many companies use XenMobile to securely manage all of their devices, including tablets and smartphones. With employees so productive on their mobile devices the need to connect to traditional workflows and print a document quickly arises. ThinPrint Mobile Print software is the solution. It can be integrated into EMM or MDM systems to enable secure mobile printing with iOS and Android devices. Employees can print from iOS and Android apps on their tablets and smartphones to any existing network printer in the enterprise, regardless of which printer models from which manufacturer are in use.

For additional security, a pull-printing function included in the license can be activated as required. Printing only starts once the owner of the print job authenticates directly at the printer ensuring that printouts are protected against unauthorized access. Instant Wi-Fi printing rounds off the software’s range of mobile productivity features.

“ThinPrint has been a Citrix partner for more than two decades, a strong testament to both companies’ dedication to supporting the secure digital workspace,” said Thorsten Hesse, CPO of ThinPrint.  “The XenMobile and ThinPrint Mobile Print offering clearly demonstrates this ongoing relationship and as a Citrix Ready partner for our new Mobile Print solution, we can continue to deliver the highest quality experience for our customers.”

“ThinPrint has been an ongoing Citrix Ready partner and the addition of Mobile Print to its portfolio of solutions will allow our customers greater flexibility to print from their mobile devices,” said John Panagulias, director, Citrix Ready, at Citrix. “The Citrix Ready Program makes it easier for customers to select the most suitable solutions that are tested and verified to be compatible with Citrix technology.”

A free demo version of ThinPrint Mobile Print is available at www.thinprint.com/mobileprint.

The apps for iPhones and iPads are available in the AppStore and for Android devices in the Google Play store.

About ThinPrint

ThinPrint, with nearly 20 years of continuous development and internationally patented ThinPrint technology, is the leading provider of print management software and services for businesses. Whether printing from traditional PCs, mobile devices, thin clients, virtual desktops, or from the cloud, over 25,000 companies across all industries and of all sizes optimize their printing infrastructure and increase productivity thanks to ThinPrint. In addition, more than 100, and growing, Desktop-as-aService, and Software-as-a-Service providers deliver reliable, high-performance printing from the cloud to their customers all due to ThinPrint. The investment in ThinPrint leads to a fast ROI because the easy-to-implement and manage print system reduces the burden on IT departments, results in significant performance improvements to the network while ensuring optimal, reliable print support at every workplace. ThinPrint technologies and components enable its use in almost any infrastructure and take into account integration of branch and home offices as well as mobile employees. The solutions are developed and rigorously tested at ThinPrint’s headquarters in Berlin – software Made in Germany. Offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, Japan and Brazil, as well as more than 350 channel partners around the world offer direct and on-site customer care. Thanks to numerous OEM partnerships, ThinPrint technology components are integrated in a variety of terminals, print boxes and thin client of leading hardware manufacturers. Special significance is placed on the strategic partnerships of the company with Citrix Systems, Fujitsu, Fuji Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, IGEL, Konica Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Lexmark, Microsoft, OKI, Samsung, VMware, and Wyse.

Top priorities include managing the roll out of a more diverse range of video products, unlocking the full potential of advanced TV advertising, transforming the end-to-end customer experience, leveraging customer data, investing smartly in infrastructure and combating streaming piracy

Cheseaux, Switzerland, and Phoenix, AZ – June 20, 2018 – NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, in partnership with MTM, a leading international research and strategy consultancy, today revealed emerged findings from the 2018 North American Pay-TV Innovation Forum. In its third year, the research program brings together leading pay-TV and TV network executives to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

Executives attending the New York event agreed that the industry faces significant challenges, as pricing pressures intensify and subscriber losses from traditional pay-TV services accelerate. With consumers migrating to skinny bundles and SVOD services, the pay-TV industry is becoming more diverse, with a broader range of paid-for video services competing for consumer spend. However, virtual MVPD offerings remain challenging for the industry, with low margins and limited differentiation.

As a result, major pay-TV businesses are committed to diversification, with broadband and other services compensating for declining revenues from pay-TV services. This decline in pay-TV revenues creates challenges for cable networks and other programmers, pushing content owners to look for new monetization opportunities, notably in direct-to-consumer offerings and advanced advertising services.

Although strategies are diverse, participating industry executives identified five important priorities for pay-TV service providers:

• Managing the roll out of a more diverse range of video products: MVPDs are transitioning from selling big channel bundles to retailing multiple smaller content packages, such as skinny bundles and direct-to-consumer services. However, neither the existing pay-TV business model nor the contractual agreements with content owners were set up to support this transition, and, as a result, will need to be adapted to offer the flexibility increasingly demanded by consumers. At the same time, as the competitive landscape becomes increasingly fragmented, industry executives see a major opportunity for existing MVPDs to offer a user-friendly re-aggregation of an increasingly complex range of content and services.
• Unlocking the full potential of advanced TV advertising across the industry: As pay-TV subscription revenues decline, executives are focusing more heavily on expanding their advertising businesses. MVPDs are exploring new partnerships with cable networks to sell a higher share of their ad inventory available on MVPD platforms and are leveraging their direct access to customers and their data to offer addressable TV advertising and bring new advertisers to TV.
• Transforming the end-to-end customer experience: As it is increasingly difficult to differentiate pay-TV services based on content or price, customer experience is widely seen as a major priority for companies looking to deliver a successful next-generation pay-TV service. As new digital video services raise the bar for customer experience , service providers must work hard to deliver more user-friendly, personalized, and interactive experiences, spanning all customer touchpoints.
• Leveraging customer data: Advanced data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are an important area for investment and development, presenting opportunities to improve operations and deliver efficiencies across pay-TV businesses. For example, advanced data, analytics and AI can help automate and improve customer service, deliver more relevant advertising, personalize content recommendations, and help companies understand the full value of their content portfolio.
• Investing smartly in infrastructure and technology: As competition intensifies, it will be more important than ever to optimise infrastructure and technology investments, to ensure the delivery of great products and services while reducing risks and costs. Key priorities in this area include rolling out fiber and 5G networks, transitioning to IP-based technology, and leveraging consumer devices for video service delivery, as network infrastructure and billing relationships – rather than proprietary set-top boxes – become the gateway to the customer.

Additionally, some industry participants expressed concerns that the growing importance of IP-based content distribution may lead to an increased prevalence of streaming piracy. To respond to the growing threat of piracy, industry participants will have to develop innovative anti-piracy approaches, develop more affordable premium content services, and continue educating consumers about piracy. The growing trend of password-sharing among OTT service users is also seen as a concern. However, many North American pay-TV providers believe they are making progress in tackling the challenges the industry faces.

“While the North American pay-TV industry is experiencing a challenging transitional period with barriers to entry falling and competition growing, it remains the most innovative in the world,” said Simon Trudelle, Senior Director, Product Marketing, NAGRA. “This is why industry executives are optimistic about their ability to remain competitive and grow overall revenues through a more diverse product and service offering, with pay-TV at the core of this success.”

“Despite the challenges and disruption facing the US industry, pay-TV providers in the region are taking significant steps to adapt to the new competitive landscape,” said Jon Watts, Managing Partner, MTM. “There is a long way to go and some important challenges still to resolve, such as strengthening the economics of the new virtual MVPD services and unlocking the wider potential of advanced advertising and addressability. However, these issues are clearly front of mind for many US executives – and there are encouraging signs of a growing willingness to collaborate and partner across the industry.”

Download the North American findings brief and visit dtv.nagra.com/paytvif for more information on the Pay-TV Innovation Forum.

About NAGRA

NAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), provides security and multiscreen user experience solutions for the monetization of digital media. The company provides content providers and DTV operators worldwide with secure, open and integrated platforms and applications over broadcast, broadband and mobile platforms, enabling compelling and personalized viewing experiences. Please visit dtv.nagra.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @nagrakudelski.

• NAGRA’s OpenTV Suite selected to power TBC’s new OTT service, TBC GO
• Both cable and broadband TBC customers will have “on-the-go” access to live TV and to more advanced features later this year

Cheseaux, Switzerland – June 6, 2018 – NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, announced today it is providing a new OTT platform for Taiwan Broadband Communications (TBC), one of the leading multi-system cable operators in Taiwan. Powered by NAGRA’s OpenTV Suite, TBC’s new OTT service – TBC GO – will give consumers “on-the-go” access to live TV on open devices and to more advanced features such as VOD. TBC GO is expected to be commercially available to TBC subscribers in June 2018.

“NAGRA has been a key partner since 2015 in helping us roll out our newly digitized platform and enable new services like our OTT platform,” said Jimmy Chen, Chief Executive Officer, TBC. “Their tightly integrated solutions provide fast time-to-market and their team is committed to our success. We look forward to introducing it to all of our subscribers in the next few months.”

“We are excited to support TBC as they leverage their digital platform to enjoy all the benefits that OTT has to offer and deliver more compelling services to their customers,” said Stéphane Le Dréau, Senior Vice President Sales & Services APAC at NAGRA. “This latest service launch highlights TBC’s commitment to their customers by extending their access both inside and outside the home. With the OpenTV Suite, TBC has an OTT solution that is widely used by operators around the world and gives them a launchpad for new services and extended monetization opportunities.”

The OpenTV Suite is a set of tightly integrated and optimized TV components – OpenTV Experience, OpenTV Platform, OpenTV OS and OpenTV Player ­– designed to facilitate and simplify access to digital media content on multiple viewing devices and deliver clear operational advantages of deployment speed, performance, service innovation, scalability and monetization.

NAGRA OpenTV solution will be demonstrated on the NAGRA stand, 1J2-01, at ConnecTechAsia /CommunicAsia 2018 in Singapore (26-28 June 2018).

About NAGRA

NAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), provides security and multiscreen user experience solutions for the monetization of digital media. The company provides content owners and DTV service providers worldwide with secure, open and integrated platforms and applications over broadcast, broadband and mobile platforms, enabling compelling and personalized viewing experiences. Please visit dtv.nagra.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @nagrakudelski.