Jamie 0:39
Hello, and welcome to the RDK podcast. I’m your host, Jamie Walker. And today I’m joined by Thibault, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Wiztivi. Thibault, how are you doing?

Thibault 0:51
Fine, thanks.

Jamie 0:53
Good. It’s a pleasure to have you on the show today. So let’s start off with, could you give us a little bit of background about Wiztivi and what you do as a business?

Thibault 1:03
Yeah, sure, of course. So Wiztivi is a worldwide leader in providing high-end cross-platform user interfaces, and cloud gaming solutions. So we are used to working with major companies and telco operators. And also we build a very strong ecosystem of partners in several areas. So in the hardware vendors or platforms, partners also. So yeah, Wiztivi offers the best user experience on several devices on all the devices on the market. So it means on the set-top box on Smart TV, mobile, tablet, game console, and so on. So we have the capability to propose to our customer, two approaches, one could be a bespoke application, a fully customised approach and the other one will be your one global product called Terminus universe, where you will have access to the complete and full TV solution for the telco or major companies.

Jamie 2:04
Okay, so given giving operators have a choice between how they want to produce the application right. I guess, obviously, Wiztivi; a household name. Can you tell us some of the biggest projects and achievements that have come from Wiztivi?

Thibault 2:20
Yeah, of course. So Wiztivi is used to working with very established telco operators, so in several technologies, so it could be on mobile on cable, satellite, also IPTV. All these technologies we are used to, to work on. And it means here, for instance, who we are involved in on big projects, Pan European projects for several markets. So that’s the case with Vodafone with artists, and with Liberty global, and also with some media companies. And to be clear, we are in charge of the full TV user and expert 40 user experience to deploying on all their devices. So as I said, it could be all the devices, mobile tablets, set-top boxes, Smart TVs, and so on.

Jamie 3:14
Okay, okay. So obviously, since the beginning of Wiztivi back in 2007, How have you grown to where you are or evolved to where you are today? How’s that journey been for you?

Thibault 3:27
Yeah. So, the beginning of focus was mainly to work with media companies. So we have several references in this area at the beginning. And we are used to working on for instance, on VOD store on a dedicated application, replay content and so on. So, in the end, we are we have all the elements all the components to be able to also address the telco operators. So, we have done the switch to address both telco operators and media companies. And yeah, now we have a very strong track record in these two areas. We have developed very important skills and know-how on all these devices and on all this technology, and all the development and deployments are based on our framework. So it will facilitate the deployment on all these devices, some students to

Jamie 4:31
Okay, so I guess right, a company in your position, evolving with the technology as fast as it can be as well is obviously paramount. You’ve only recently started to implement RDK into your own products. So why have you chosen to start using it now?

Thibault 4:51
To be honest with you, we are used to working on RDK, for now, many years because we are part of liberty global project called Horizon former for now more than five years. So it means we have the skills and experience in this area. But yeah, currently we observed good traction of the market from our partner than our customers in this in this area. So that’s why RDK is a real focus for us to answer all the requests. So I don’t know the topic, it’s, there is a very great complementary between RDK environment and the technologies that we are used to working on, that are relevant for yesterday. So yeah, our SDK is fully compliant with RDK and lightning, the technology inside RDK.

Jamie 5:52
Okay, so obviously, given, given the variety of devices that your team will work on, how do you think RDK differs or compares to other software that you have historically worked with within the brand?

Thibault 6:09
Yeah, so RDK, you know, it’s a little bit different from the other solution on the market, because it’s an open-source approach, we have also access to the middleware layer. So it’s not the case for the older environments that we are used to working. So it will allow Wiztivi to optimise all the graphical interfaces, by mastering graphics, rendering technology, and also to be able to throw native performance. So yeah, RDK we also still need to have this native rendering. So, it will provide some improvement in terms of performance. And it requires some repercussions from the, from the material on this. But yeah, of course, we are able to manage all this, all this kind of stuff.

Jamie 7:02
Obviously, given your position and where you support operators, Thibault, what can Wiztivi and RDK bring to an operator?

Thibault 7:12
To educate you to know, it says, the middleware provider inside the box. So based on this, Wiztivi is about to provide a full user interface on the RDK, so it will include —- VOD replay, voice control, all these features that we are used to talking on and have access on all the devices, we will be able to do it and to make it compliant for RDK set-top box. So recently brings the best TV experience on dedicated devices, but also on the same type of experimental which was user devices. So we are the same answers, whatever the device sends to our, to our framework. And our Design Studio can also design some —– and to have some innovative user experience in this era. So there is no limit and based on this technology, we will have also a very great experience in terms of performance.

Jamie 8:23
Okay, okay. So I think looking at the different solutions, the different devices that you’re involved on, Wiztivi also creates cloud gaming solutions right? Now, as we have seen over the last 12 months, RDK is being discussed in the IoT world. Do you think there may be a future in the gaming solution sector for RDK?

Thibault 8:49
Yeah, indeed. So Wiztivi has a complete cloud gaming solution, cordless Streamava, it’s our own white label product for —– operators. And Streamava is the world’s leading B2B and cloud gaming solution. So this white label product is totally multi-devices and compliance. And it comes with a complete catalogue of premium and first-class content. And it’s also allowed the telco operators to monetize these kinds of, services. So currently, we can observe a strong interest from operators about gaming or for the set the box, of course, there is a big trend also with 5G offers. And it’s a good opportunity for them to communicate and illustrate the 5G capabilities of the network service to this kind of services. So, of course, we have some requests and we have adapted this product to be compliant with RDK. And yeah, we have some discussion on track in this in this area.

Jamie 9:56
Okay, well, I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes out for that, Thibault. But I really appreciate your time today on the show. For all of our viewers, where can they find out a bit more about yourself and Wiztivi?

Thibault 10:13
You can have access to our website, of course online. [wiztivi.com] And also we also have direct accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter (@Wiztivi). So feel free to follow up on these two social media.

Jamie 10:29
Perfect. Thank you very much for your time today. It’s great to have you on the show.