New York, NY, January 21, 2009
Kaltura, Inc. (http://www.kaltura.com), developer of the first open source video platform, and PLYmedia announced today that the companies have integrated their technology platforms in order to offer sites even more ways to enhance their online video experience with additional interactive layers of information . With the new service, Kaltura customers can enrich their video with layers of translation, information about the music and objects in the video and unique monetization capabilities. Several Kaltura customers are already using the technology and launched subtitles for their videos.
“We’re constantly working to provide added value to our customers in the form of cutting edge technology and interactive video features. Partnering with PLYmedia was a clear choice,” said Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura Chairman and CEO. “The combination of our open source technology with added-value services allows publishers to enjoy the most advanced video capabilities, at a fraction of the price.”
Many of Kaltura’s customers cater to an international audience, and multi-lingual subtitles are a critical feature in reaching and expanding that audience. Moreover, as most videos are watched in an office environment or muted, closed captioning is becoming a necessity for online video. With PLYmedia’s full capabilities incorporated into Kaltura’s platform, publishers can easily add subtitles and extra informative layers to their videos. More specifically, PLYmedia’s language accessibility services enable site owners to offer subtitles, closed captions, sign language and voice-over in any language on their videos. It also adds further forms of interaction with the audience. Users can add pop-up bubbles, text, images, clipart and subtitles as well as find out more information about specific objects and people they find inside a video.
“In today’s online world it is imperative to provide a compelling and sticky experience if you want to hang on to your audience. Standard display of video on a site is no longer enough,” said Ben Enosh, CEO and Co-Founder of PLYmedia. “Kaltura’s interactive video platform is a natural place for PLYmedia’s technology to be. Together we offer a truly comprehensive set of engaging online video capabilities.”
About PLYmedia
Established in 2006, PLYmedia is a pioneer in the enhancement of the online video experience, powering rich-media overlays solutions with its proprietary technology, PLYplatform™. PLYmedia delivers a range of applications for video contextual enrichment focusing on subtitles, information (people, music, products) and monetization solutions. The company offers a personalized, enhanced and interactive web video experience bringing new context and meaning to video. For more information, visit http://www.plymedia.com.
About Kaltura
Kaltura provides the world’s first Open Source Online Video Platform. With more than 15,000 active publishers, Kaltura’s flexible framework empowers any site with advanced video functionality. Founded in 2006, Kaltura’s open source code is available as a free Software Development Kit and as downloadable packages for leading platforms – such as Drupal, WordPress and MediaWiki. Kaltura also provides supplementary paid services including maintenance, support, integration, professional development, streaming and hosting, ad serving, content syndication, and aggregation of related third party services. Since its public launch, New York-based Kaltura has won numerous awards, such as the TechCrunch40 People’s Choice award, Mashable’s ‘Open Web’ award and TV Week’s 5 Video Startups to Watch in 2009. For more information, visit www.kaltura.co