NxTV Earns HTNG Certification for Guest Itinerary Display

NxTV is only in-room entertainment vendor to win certification

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. October 14, 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA, July 18, 2007. NxTV, Inc., the first and largest provider of Internet Protocol Video on Demand (IP VOD) and interactive digital IP-based in-room entertainment and technology solutions in the hospitality industry, announced it earned HTNG certification for 'single guest itinerary' display functionality. NxTV is the first and only in-room entertainment provider to comply with HTNG industry standards that enable NxTV to interface with other certified third-party systems to display guest reservation information including hotel check-in and check-out, spa appointments, golf tee times and restaurant reservations on hotel room televisions.

Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a nonprofit organization with global scope, was formed in 2002 to facilitate the development of next-generation, customer-centric technologies to better meet the needs of the global hotel community. HTNG is the leading hotel industry technology standards organization. One of HTNG's primary missions is to help the industry by creating new software standards enabling different hotel systems, which previously could not communicate with each other (or at most in a very limited manner), to connect and share guest-related data, opening up the flow of information between systems and enabling new and innovative services to hotel operators and guests.

"HTNG's Property Web Services workgroup members invested hundreds of hours to create the 'single guest itinerary' standard and indeed, NxTV should be congratulated as the first company to certify against this new specification, other than companies directly involved in its creation," said Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President and CEO of HTNG. Barry Shuler, President of HTNG commented, "With standardized products, hotel operators are able to install new systems at their properties and be confident they will integrate with existing systems and technologies."

NxTV's IP VOD system allows hotel owners to take full advantage of new technologies today and in the future. Designed specifically to carry digital information securely, an IP infrastructure is the only way to operate on a converged network. Without an IP-based solution, even the digital VOD systems on the market today are not scalable or capable of integration with other hotel applications on a converged network. NxTV's system runs over the hotel's existing converged IP network, which enables the property to communicate with a wide variety of in-room technologies without the cost and effort of installing and maintaining separate networks for each hotel technology.

"The number one technology trend in hospitality today is the transition from analog legacy systems to digital converged communications platforms," said Russell P. Reeder, President and COO of NxTV. "NxTV's versatile IP platform enabled us to easily adapt to HTNG's global industry standards that establish cross-system communication to benefit operators and guests." Reeder noted that the FCC's mandate that all television broadcasters must transition to digital content delivery by February 2009 necessitates that hotels must rethink their digital entertainment strategy. "IP is the future of technology delivery for the hospitality industry and many hotel operators and chains are already making the decision to upgrade to IP-network systems that provide the benefits of a converged network platform," Reeder said. NxTV has been delivering IP-based in-room services to its customers for almost a decade.

With converged IP networks, HD VOD, IPTV Free to Guest content, high-speed Internet access and communication with mini-bar, Voice over IP, reservation and POS systems all utilize one multi-application IP network for greater cost savings, reliability, improved applications integration, scalability and increased operator revenue.