Ericsson confirmed that it has hired video tech industry vet Shiva Patibanda as vice president and chief technology officer of TV and Media.
Patibanda was formerly CTO and GM of in-home products at SeaChange International, in charge of its Nucleus video gateway software (and components that were included in the initial version of the Reference Design Kit), and left the company last year. Patibanda joined SeaChange in 2010 when it acquired middleware company VividLogic. According to his LinkedIn profile, Patibanda has been serving as president of a company called Danishta Inc., with his role described as a technical advisor and angel investor.
Patibanda joins Ericsson as it looks to stay aggressive in the TV and video sector, and focus on both traditional MVPDs as well as a broadening array of over-the-top providers.
In addition to bringing multiscreen enhancements to Mediaroom, the IPTV platform it acquired from Microsoft in 2013, Ericsson is putting even more energy into MediaFirst, a new, HTML5-focused platform that’s tailored for the cloud and support for an array of connected devices/clients, including set-tops, tablets, smartphones, streaming players and PCs.
Ericsson is also playing a significant role at AT&T as the company, which already uses Mediaroom for U-verse TV, looks to evolve and integrate its satellite and wireline TV platforms. Earlier this week, AT&T announced plans to launch three DirecTV-branded OTT services in Q4 2016, and stressed that its broader video strategy will eventually revolve around a unified middleware and software platform for all of its video service distribution points (OTT, satellite, wireless, and managed IPTV).
