Orca CTO: IPTV Is For Big Boys

I cornered Orca Interactive CTO Ofer Weintraub for a quick stand-up interview at the TV of Tomorrow conference this week to ask him about his company being bought by France Telecom’s Viaccess. While he wouldn’t talk about what Viaccess’ plans for the middleware company are, he did tell me why they chose to be acquired now.

According to Weintraub, “IPTV is a big company’s game.” With giants like Microsoft and Siemens dominating the field, Orca felt the time was right to align itself with a larger company. As if to punctuate Weintraub’s statement, NEC announced yesterday that it’s getting into the IPTV space, providing end-to-end IPTV solutions for carriers.

Weintraub said that Viaccess provides the access, Orca provides the middleware, and France Telecom instills the confidence that Orca will stick around. “Companies want to know that you’ll be there in five years,” he said.