Proximus Picks 3SS to Power Pickx Experiences

3 Screen Solutions (3SS), a provider of software solutions for set-tox box (STB), Smart TV and multiscreen digital entertainment, announces that Belgium’s largest telco Proximus has selected 3Ready as the foundation for its next-generation TV Everywhere multi-device Pickx offering.

After a competitive RFP, Proximus selected 3SS’ product platform 3Ready to power next-generation 3SS-engineered Pickx UI/UX (user experiences) for Android TV STB, Apple TV, Samsung, LG and Android smart TVs as well as for iOS and Android mobile devices. The 3Ready-enabled technology will replace an incumbent solution.

“Having collaborated closely with 3SS over the years, we are confident to extend our partnership to help us deliver a great customer experience on our Pickx entertainment platform with harmonious and seamless viewing on a range of devices, including our Android set-top box and smartphones,” said Jim Casteele, Consumer Market Lead at Proximus.

“3SS has proven time and again to be the best partner for creating experiences people love,” Casteele added. “The flexibility and scalability of the 3Ready solution will enable us to prepare for and adapt to current and future customer needs.”

The new offerings enhance and expand Proximus’ Pickx STB-based next-generation IPTV+OTT TV service. The new multi-device service will be made available to all Proximus’ TV subscriber base, comprising over 1.65 million homes.

Since its 2020 launch, Pickx has been honored with several prestigious industry awards, including winning the CSI Award for Best TV User Experience 2020 and the UX Award at VideoTech Innovation Awards 2021.

Benefits of React Native

3SS engineered the project to be fully React Native across all the new multiscreen platforms. With React Native, one single codebase is used for multiple operating systems and device platforms. System integration of numerous devices, such as integrations with the back end, is much more efficient. 3Ready-enabled React Native developments benefit from higher alignment between platforms at no visible performance loss.

Development using traditional native technologies means that there is one codebase needed for each operating system (OS) and device. With individual codebases for each Android device (Android smart TV, smartphone and tablet), and others for iOS-enabled CPE (Apple TV, iPhone, iPad) the resources and efforts required, when aggregated, are much higher. This resource-intense approach also leads to higher overall costs for definition, development, testing, and other processes.

With React Native, and its superior resource efficiencies, time to market is greatly accelerated, and there is significantly less duplication of effort, from design and definition through to testing. Extra benefits for definition and testing bring further efficiencies: Re-using specifications/use cases across platforms reduces the effort spent on definition, creation and alignment.

For testing, less time is needed to create test-cases and scenarios, and automated testing is faster due to fewer codebases. Additionally, new post-launch features can be rolled out across devices in parallel, rather than staggered, enabling a more harmonious cross-device UX.

3SS customers benefit from increased efficiencies made possible by both 3Ready and React Native: Real-world delivery experiences suggest that using a React Native approach reduces total cost of ownership by as much as 40% compared with carrying out multiple individual platform development tracks.

“We are so proud that Proximus continues to trust 3SS and 3Ready as the right partner and enabling platform to deliver all Pickx next-gen entertainment experiences,“ said Kai-Christian Borchers, 3SS Managing Director.

“Our teams continue to work closely with Proximus’ architects, testing and other teams, as we’ve done since 2020, and we’re excited to help bring new advanced TV everywhere experiences to Proximus subscribers,” he added.