Inca Disrupts OTT Video Market with Launch of 3840 ABR Adaptive Bit Rate & 3840 Mobi Transcoders

The Inca 3840 ABR Delivers 24 Unique HD Channels with Multi-Profile Outputs an exclusive 3840 Mobi model supports MobiTV Recipes for MobiTV Deployments


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Inca Networks Inc, a WISI Company, today announced the general availability of their disruptive new multi-profile video transcoder designed and built specifically for cable, telco and broadcast streaming video service delivery. Leveraging Inca’s decade of carrier grade video transcoding experience, the 3840 ABR transcode appliance introduces market leading pricing and a flexible new licensing model supporting up to 24 HD or 48 SD inputs delivered as frame aligned multi-profile outputs.

“Across the world, operators are looking to OTT to generate new revenue, delight existing customers, enable mobile viewing, and expand their service area into new geographies,” said Jeff Campbell, CEO, Inca Networks. “Inca’s long history with MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC video, as well as our experience and relationships with Dolby for AC-3 audio and Fraunhofer for AAC, mean operators can launch their ABR streaming services on the Inca 3840 with confidence.”

Enabling a new approach to “pay as you grow” licensing, the 3840 ships with twelve hardware video processors included, providing operators with the option to activate transcoding capacity via software keys. Further extending the flexibility, each license can be dynamically re-configured by the operator at any time to switch between HD and SD inputs and densities, easing the ongoing headend migration to HD signal sources. This licensing approach has proven extremely popular with operators. Inca has started shipping units and is now filling the backlog of existing 3840 ABR orders.

“Nearly one thousand operators worldwide depend on Inca and WISI to power their video services. These operators told us they needed an affordable and reliable ABR transcoding platform they can use to confidently build their new streaming services,” said Campbell. “Video is a low margin business and new service launches can be risky if you choose the wrong partners. Our decades of experience around the world help remove these risks. At this price per stream, the 24 Channel 3840 ABR is truly disruptive and will help usher in the next generation of streaming.”

Inca leveraged WISI’s global scale and in-house design and manufacturing experts to create the new multiscreen transcoder and enable a profitable operator business model for video streaming. Customers worked closely with Inca and eco-system partners to define, test and optimize the 3840 ABR for cable, telco and broadcast applications. Finance and planning teams helped develop the new Flex licensing model. Whether the final format delivered is HLS, MPEG-DASH, CMAF or MS Smooth Streaming, the 3840 streams deliver crystal clear video and audio. Over-the-top (OTT) providers can deploy HD and SD services on the 3840 ABR while enjoying the peace of mind that comes from working with an established market leader.

Reliability and resilience were key requirements in the 3840-platform design and operators can sleep easy thanks to the 3rd generation transcoder being powered by Inca’s globally-deployed hardware transcoding engine. Inca’s transcode engine has been validated against thousands of unique broadcast streams worldwide. With the 3840’s dedicated hardware transcode processors, operators can maintain predictable performance and consistent density, even when source codecs, bitrates or formats change. This give broadcasters, network operators and video service providers the ability to confidently plan and budget any project.

Inca has also created an exclusive new product that supports the video profile recipes of streaming video service bureau MobiTV. Known as the Inca 3840 Mobi transcoder, this special edition of the mainstream 3840 has been optimized and tested to ensure compatibility with Mobi recommendations. The Inca 3840 Mobi supports special densities and configurations to accelerate planning and launch for operators who are partnering with the service bureau.

“We are excited about supporting the unique densities and profile requirements of new and existing OTT providers and service bureaus,” said Campbell. “The 3840 Mobi is the first in what we anticipate will be a collection of special edition units we develop and optimize for various partners, applications, markets and geographies. With Wisi’s global scale we are agile and flexible when it comes to customization and we’re always happy to discuss partnering opportunities with interested parties.”

Inca is main street – not wall street. As a privately-owned company WISI has the luxury of staying close to customers and focusing on the features that help them every day. As part of a 90 year old, family owned, global organization, WISI understands the video business is a marathon, not a sprint.

For more information or to arrange an online demonstration of the product, please visit: www.incanetworks.com.

About Inca Networks

In July 2015, the Wilhelm Sihn Jr. (WISI) company acquired Inca Networks Inc. Founded in 1926, WISI is one of the world’s pioneers in broadband reception and distribution technology. Today, WISI’s business is focussed on the production and distribution of solutions in the following areas: automotive antenna and cabling, components for broadband networks, fiber optics for broadband, digital signal reception, processing and modulation for TV and radio, in-house multimedia. Inca Networks sells and distributes WISI’s Tangram and Chameleon platforms to North American, Caribbean, and Latin American markets. www.incanetworks.com.

For more information please contact Rosalinda Thorleifson, Tel. +1-604-998-4665 ext. 2028 or rosalinda.thorleifson@incanetworks.com