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A company specializing in automation technology that combines deep learning and image processing technologies
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#Exhibition/Event
Exhibitor Directory from the Korea Pavilion
2023.03.31In the previous post, we announced that we would be exhibiting at the NAB Show 2023, which takes place from April 16th~19th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.There are many difficulties when you prepare for an event overseas, especially if the country where it is held uses a distinct language from your mother tongue. In addition to the hardships you may face due to language barrier, you may also feel fatigue while adjusting to the time zone difference, and this includes jet lags from your flight. To make matters worse, since you are not familiar with the country’s culture and neighborhood, the whole workflow from booth preparation to managing meeting schedules and travel budget may seem burdensome at times.So naturally, we were excited last September when NEXTLab successfully exhibited at the IBC 2022 in Amsterdam, Netherlands with no financial aid. Although it was not an easy journey, we made it possible with one goal in mind: to increase brand awareness in the global market. This year, we were fortunate to receive government aid by exhibiting in the Korea Pavilion at the NAB Show 2023. It was especially helpful to our exhibit preparations (and budget!)Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Korea Information and Communication Technology Industry Association (KICTA) are the main sponsors for the Korea pavilion at this year’s NAB Show, and a total number of 15 companies are exhibiting in the Korea pavilion. The Korea pavilion is exhibiting in 2 halls at the convention center, which are the Central Hall and the West Hall. NEXTLab’s booth is located in the Korea pavilion at the West Hall, because many enterprises that provide various solutions for the pay-TV service providers exhibit in that hall.As you are aware, there are diverse business areas in the broadcast and telecommunications industry, from content production to delivering and renting broadcast equipment, etc. NEXTLab specializes in catering to broadcasting quality assurance (QA) needs, as the IPTV and OTT market grows ever larger and the importance of avoiding customer churn can never be emphasized enough. By providing extensive back data on video and audio quality anomaly occurrences, we help the clients maintain the subscribers’ quality of experience (QoE).Set-top box performance is also a key factor in maintaining high broadcasting quality. We discussed the all-new Intelligent Monkey Test solution in the previous post briefly, and its ability to run random tests in specified areas. Well, here’s how. Solution users can select certain menus (or UI) to focus the tests and define them as the desired testing area, and also the target ratio to run the tests for each menu. Once the target testing area is designated, random tests can be performed without worrying about leaving the testing area during the tests, because the cursor will return to the designated area automatically if it leaves the target testing area. Furthermore, clients can increase the test accuracy and efficiency by running a mixture of script-based test cases and random control-based tests as needed. Ever had difficulties in recreating errors? No problem, since the solution will leave a history of all tests, and test recreation feature also exists for detected errors.There’s more to NEXTLab’s test and measurement solutions than meets the eye. We offer real-time monitoring solutions that allow the clients to check various channels simultaneously. Features such as round-robin monitoring and sending off alarms when detecting anomalies are available, but the best part is that clients can set auto-restoration procedure to run in case of detecting live streaming quality drop before sending alarms.As NEXTLab is presenting its automatic test and measurement solutions at the Korea pavilion this time, there is another form of support provided by the sponsors. It is the directory of all the companies exhibiting in the Korea pavilion, and they have really done a wonderful job of collecting the information of all the companies there so that visitors can understand them at a glance. The cherry on top is, needless to say, that this data is free to view and use for visitors and exhibitors alike. Below is the section covering NEXTLab, so if you are attending the NAB Show this April, please feel free to use it as a guide to visit our booth and the Korea pavilion!Want to know more about NEXTLab and our solutions? Book a meeting here : shorturl.at/fntNV
#Exhibition/Event
NAB Show 2023
2023.03.10 NEXTLab is exhibiting in NAB Show 2023!NAB Show takes place from April 16th to 19th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.NAB is an abbreviation of “The National Association of Broadcasters”, and it is one of the biggest events in the media and broadcasting industry. This year, the event will be even bigger as it is celebrating its centennial, welcoming major players from the content production to the media and entertainment field.NEXTLab specializes in set-top box testing and measurement solutions, as well as network quality on-site testing and measurement. This year, we are excited to present our “intelligent monkey test” solution from our “STB Multimeter” for pay-tv service providers. The intelligent monkey test runs random tests in specified areas, and it covers the grey area between classic scenario testing and random control-based testing.Compared to the previous scenario-based set-top box testing solutions, it takes less time to prepare the test cases with the intelligent monkey test. Also, meaningful defects are easier to find, as running random tests for each designated UI is possible. If you are attending the NAB Show 2023, visit NEXTLab at Booth W2561 in the Korean Pavilion. It is located in the West Hall of Las Vegas Convention Center.Check out NEXTLab’s Booth LocationYou can also use the guest code below to register for the show free of charge before March 31st. Starting from April 1st, there will be a registration fee of $50 even when using the guest code, so don’t miss out on this opportunity!Register for free up to 3/31
#News
Business Trip to Europe to Run Proof of Concept Demos to European Telecommunication Companies
2023.03.03NEXTLab has taken a big step forward in entering the global market by visiting Europe for approximately two weeks from February 5th, Sunday, to February 17th, Friday. The enthusiastic CEO, Sungmin Kim, and senior engineer, Woojin Jo, visited telecommunication companies in France, Germany, and the Netherlands to demonstrate the key solutions to them.The prospects that they visited were Bouygues Telecom and SFR (Société française du radiotéléphone) in France, Vodafone in Germany, and Rebox in the Netherlands. Among them, Bouygues Telecom and Vodafone gave a series of tests to run beforehand as PoC (proof of concept) of NEXTLab’s solutions using STB Multimeter. The tests were performed successfully in Korea, and in addition to those test cases, NEXTLab also proposed to carry out additional tests provided by STB Multimeter’s diverse functions.In addition to meeting NEXTLab’s prospects, this trip was a great opportunity to strengthen bonds with its business partner, nPerf, and discuss more details on future solution co-development. NEXTLab values its business partners as much as its prospects. Below is the interview of the senior engineer Woojin Jo, recollecting his memories on the trip. Q. What was the best/the most difficult part about this business trip?Woojin Jo(hereafter W) : The best part was that we finally got an opportunity to enter the overseas market and acquire more clients outside of Korea. On a more personal level, it was nice to be able to practice my English-speaking skills. However, the trip schedule turned out to be a bit too tighter than planned, so I was constantly under time pressure. We traveled from France to Germany and the Netherlands, then back to France again, so there was a lot of time spent on transportation. Add the jet lag and the fatigue coming from adapting to the time zone difference to that. Naturally, I was very tired.Q. Which part of NEXTLab’s solutions were the prospects most interested in?W : I would say they were most interested in our log viewer, which visualizes various set-top box log patterns and enables our clients to find the root causes of errors easily. They also paid attention to the random test (also known as the Monkey Test) and the intelligent monkey test. Currently, European telecommunication companies do their QA work regarding set-top box performance and video quality using script-based tests. So taking a random-based approach to testing was a fresh perspective, and our intelligent monkey test definitely grabbed their attention too.Q. Many people would be familiar with script-based, or in other words, scenario-based testing. However, the term ‘intelligent monkey test’ is a little hard to understand. Can you explain it a bit further, please?W : Of course. The ‘intelligent monkey test’ tests various ways to reach a single menu. For example, let’s say a subscriber of a pay-tv service watched an episode of “The Walking Dead,” and wants to watch the next episode the next day. After returning home, he/she turns on the TV and the set-top box, then he/she would navigate a series of menu to find the VOD and play it. But as you know, there are multiple ways to do this. He/She can go to “My VOD” menu, move the cursor between the previously watched VODs, and find “The Walking Dead”, then go to the next episode. Well, this isn’t the only way to navigate. He/She could also go to the search menu on the Netflix “Home” page, then enter “Walking Dead” to search for the series, then navigate to the next episode. As you can see, since there are multiple ways to play a single VOD, scenario-based tests may not always replicate OTT service users’ experiences exactly. However, the intelligent monkey test will automatically test those different paths to reach a menu, which brings the tests closer to measuring the subscribers’ QoE (quality of experience).Q. Thank you for a detailed explanation. In your opinion, what exceeded your expectations during the solution demonstration meetings?W : Well, that would certainly be applying cloud servers for our solution. Originally, we used physical servers for our clients in Korea, because usually using physical servers has a higher performance compared to cloud servers. So naturally, when we applied the cloud servers for our meetings in Europe, we thought that the response time would take far longer than in Korea. To our surprise, the delay in response time was shorter than what we had expected, and it was good to confirm that the delay was short even with live video streaming included in our demos. This proves that our solution is viable to use outside Korea.Q. Wow, it’s really interesting to hear that the cloud server was more stable than what we had thought earlier! As NEXTLab delivers its solutions to all top 3 telecommunication companies in Korea, I’d like to know the difference between having business meetings in Korea and in Europe.W : Firstly, there is a big difference in the needs of our Korean clients and European prospects. The main difference is the network infrastructure. From the late 1990s to early 2000s, the South Korean government invested a large amount of capital in setting up the network infrastructure in the IT field. This led to establishing Korea as the country with the highest internet speed in the world, according to a global trend report published in 2014 by Statista, a German research company specializing in statistics. On the contrary, in Europe, the internet speed and performance isn’t as stable as in Korea. That is probably one of the reasons why European telecommunication companies are interested in network quality measurement. Basically, collecting network logs is an important precondition in most of the tests, while Korean pay-tv service providers are relatively not as interested in it. Next, their TV system and usage environment is different, so we needed to adjust to that when preparing the test cases. For example, Korean TV channels usually start from “000”, but when we prepared for a PoC for an European prospect, the starting channel number for their pay-tv app was “200”, so we had to keep that in mind. Last but not least, the language barrier did exist, as neither of them nor us used English as first language. As we prepared additional tests during the trip, they gave us a document requesting certain test sets, but due to the difference in terms, there was a minor difficulty in understanding exactly what they wanted. But this led me to think that our intelligent monkey test will be fairly competitive in Europe, because it tests different ways to reach one menu, and therefore the language barrier will be lower than other tests. Q. It seems NEXTLab’s intelligent monkey test solution is really ready to set sail in European waters! Last question here. Could you share a funny incident during the trip?W : Sure! We had dinner in a French restaurant with Arik Benayoun from our business partner, nPerf, but Arik’s dinner menu was different from what he ordered. We told the server that he got the wrong menu, but the restaurant did nothing for us. Personally, I learned to appreciate the high service level of Korean restaurants, because at least many of them try to apologize sincerely if they make a mistake.Q. I see. I can relate to his experience personally, because one time when I visited a restaurant, my lunch order was completely forgotten, and I found out about that after 30 minutes had passed! The owner apologized, but it still felt bad to wait all that time for nothing. Well, I guess that’s it for today. Thank you very much for your time.W : No problem.Overall, the business trip to Europe proved to be a very fruitful experience for NEXTLab. It was a great opportunity to compare the Korean and European markets and gain a deeper insight into the difference in their needs.Although the two who left Korea to meet the prospects in Europe worked hard to prepare for the solution demonstrations, the development team in Korea also stayed late and worked overtime to ensure the system was fine. It was impressive to see everyone unite and work as a team for a common goal.With the precious lessons learned from this trip, NEXTLab will continue to create outstanding automated testing solutions for pay-tv service providers and internet service providers. Now that there is a better understanding of NEXTLab’s solutions’ strengths, there will be more room for additional upgrades in the future.
#News
Presenting AI-based Outdoor Parking Control Automation
2023.02.07NEXTLab cooperated with KSI and successfully developed outdoor parking control automation technology. Last year, in November 2022, NEXTLab demonstrated the prototype at the outdoor parking lot located in Samdeok Park, Anyang. People from both NEXTLab and KSI, as well as from companies that were interested in this technology, attended the demo event, and responded positively. After observing the optimistic atmosphere there, NEXTLab decided to apply jointly for the patent with its partner, KSI. The new technology applies NEXTLab’s own vehicle detection, vehicle type recognition, and license plate recognition technology, and is differentiated from previous parking control solutions in that it has been refined to guarantee higher recognition accuracy with lower costs. <Outdoor Parking Control Solution Summary>As shown in the picture above, the improved tech recognizes the incoming customer’s vehicle and its license plate and divides the parking lot area into sections to recognize whether a car is parked there and to get parking information. It integrates video information from multiple CCTV cameras installed in the outdoor parking lot, and enables automatic parking control to enhance customer experience in various ways, such as paying parking fees, searching for the parked space of their vehicles, etc. This technology’s benefits lie in that it provides the same “Find my Car” services in major department store parking lots with lower costs. In Korea, most large shopping malls and buildings have underground parking lots, and since they are huge and complex, often there are unmanned parking control machines that search for the customers’ vehicle location and allow easy payment before leaving the parking lot. Also, it is not restricted to indoor parking lot areas and can be used to recognize vehicles outdoors, which can be a bit more challenging than doing it indoors. This is because the CCTV camera images may vary more depending on the weather and time of day. Video footage from indoor parking lots will be consistent because the lights and background will be the same, rain or shine. However, outdoor parking lots are different. If there is heavy rain, or it is very foggy, there is always the possibility that license plates may not be clearly visible, thus harder to recognize. Despite these challenges to license plate recognition environment in outdoor parking lots, NEXTLab’s accumulated experience in the field has finally made the breakthrough. According to NEXTLab’s CEO, Changgeun Lee, the most meaningful part of this technology is that the vehicle recognition algorithm has been upgraded to detect identical vehicles more accurately from diverse angles, thus displaying higher detection accuracy compared to previous vehicle recognition solutions. KSI’s CEO, Seungho Kim, stated, “With the higher precision in vehicle and license plate detection technology provided by NEXTLab, we can also reduce errors in our smart parking control solution. By cooperating with NEXTLab, we are excited to provide efficient parking management methods to parking lot operators and enhance the parking lot experience of customers.”
#News
NEXTLab Launches Custom Real-time Monitoring Service
2023.1.11NEXTLab launched a customized real-time monitoring service for global clients. With this real-time monitoring solution, there is no need to stare at many monitors manually for a long time simultaneously. It provides 24/7 fully automated continuous monitoring, as well as sending alarms in case of error occurrences. As a result, it reduces human error and saves precious time and cost spent by monitoring engineers and allows them to focus on other tasks. Furthermore, intuitive and easy-to-use UI lets you jump right in the action without extensive training to use it.Have you ever thought, ‘Which menu am I supposed to click to see what I want to see? There are so many functions to this tool and it’s so confusing.’ while using a legacy software? No worries! We at NEXTLab asked ourselves the following question, ‘How can we make monitoring work as easy and simple as possible?’ then came up with a solution providing a simple UI and essential functions that are tailored to the engineers’ needs. More functions, such as TS quality monitoring, will be updated and integrated in the future.[Key Functions Provided in NEXTLab’s Custom Real-time Monitoring Service] - Automatically detects video and audio quality deterioration - Automatically sends alarms and tries to restore when an error occurs - Remote monitoring is possible by controlling the remote control UI - Automatically identifies channel names and numbers and updates them when a change is made - Real-time monitoring of online video contents - Easy and user-friendly pre-set monitoring scedules As you can see from the picture above, simply set the channels you want to monitor and you can view their video and audio quality at a glance. The solution will automatically check the video and audio quality, and try to restore it if errors such as screen freeze, silence, etc. occur, even when you’re away. <Meet the Penalty Box, where you can view all channels with errors!>If an error occurs, you will be able to see it in the ‘penalty box’ menu, as well as receiving an alarm. The system will try to restore the video/audio quality automatically according to a pre-set procedure, which can be fully customized. It also comes with a dashboard where a summary of the logs for error occurrences is displayed. <*This process is an example and can be fully customized.>You can also manage channel information well by automatically identifying channel names and numbers, and updating them through the solution’s pre-set monitoring command.Ever wished for an easy-to-use, fully automatic, real-time, and remote monitoring solution that greatly improves your workflow? Contact [email protected] for more information!
#NEWS
NEXTLab Successfully Developed Newspaper Text Digitization Automation Technology
2022.11.14NEXTLab has succeeded in developing newspaper text digitization automation technology, and patented it. This self-developed technology uses AI to automatically recognize newspaper original text from pdf files and lets the users read them easily on their mobile devices. Recently, it passed KOLAS test certificate, and received patent so that the government would acknowledge it. Thanks to all the talented developers at NEXTLab, we were more than happy to introduce the solution to PlantyM with new OCR technology. Let’s give a big round of applause to them! <Example picture of applying the solution>Last December, NEXTLab successfully concluded a POC project targeting newspapers affiliated with Korea Press Foundation, and in 2022, the project was selected as an AI voucher support project from National IT Industry Promotion Agency. Its technology and business feasibility were verified, and it took approximately 6 months of development period to pass the KOLAS test certificate. NEXTLab also signed an MOU with PlantyM for future technology advancement and business cooperation. AI-based newspaper text digitization automation technology analyzes pdf files collected from newspapers, and then basically provides features such as AI-based layout analysis, OCR process, natural language processing, and inspection processing. Through this process, users can enjoy the same level of experience as reading published articles online. NEXTLab independently developed the latest deep learning-based layout parser, news clustering, and news categorization technology to include in the solution, and linked it with the newspaper viewer app “WINE” developed by PlantyM.<Picture of newspaper text digitization automation solution concept> Since the solution’s completion, NEXTLab is preparing to introduce it to major newspapers, online media, libraries, and even airlines. With the growing demand of users checking news conveniently in their hands, the solution can help provide old articles to read as well as new ones. Gwang-woo Lee, CEO of PlantyM, stated, “We are pleased that many major newspapers can utilize this technology to automate their text digitization process and increase their work efficiency in it, so that the amount of work which required about a hundred people to do previously can be effectively reduced and managed with much fewer people. It has been a great opportunity to cooperate with NEXTLab and use their excellent technology, and we look forward to providing high-quality online newspaper service, while guaranteeing high customer satisfaction.”Chang-geun Lee, CEO of NEXTLab, announced, “NEXTLab has focused on the consistent theme of AI Vision and OCR technology since its foundation, and as a result developed and introduced many solutions in the telecommunications and broadcast industry, smart work, and traffic compliance field. With our accumulated experience and development capabilities, we could provide highly credible and stable solutions that are in demand, and we were delighted to work together with a brilliant partner such as PlantyM along the way.”
#NEWS
NEXTLab Successfully Develops AI-based Highway Drone Compliance Automation Technology with Solder
2022.11.08NEXTLab finally succeeded in developing AI-based highway drone compliance automation technology. We cooperated with Solder Co., Ltd., which is well known for manufacturing and operating drones, to receive a joint patent on real-time highway lane compliance and automatically filing reports. With this solution, NEXTLab hopes to reduce traffic police officers’ work effectively and save their time on monitoring highway lanes manually. <Picture of highway drone compliance automation solution>After showcasing a demo of the solution to Korea Expressway Corporation and military officials at Cheonan rest area in December 2021, NEXTLab has passed KOLAS test certificate after 6 months of development period. The project had been selected as AI voucher support project in 2022 by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and since then has been verified of its business feasibility. What is AI-based highway drone compliance automation technology? Well, it utilizes drones to record images of highway lanes, then analyzes them real-time to monitor vehicles that violate traffic laws and automatically files reports on them. This solution encourages traffic law compliance to drivers and aims to reduce workload of traffic law enforcers. <Picture taken after demo in December, 2021>NEXTLab has already proved the efficiency of its vehicle detection, vehicle type recognition, and license plate recognition technology by introducing them to gas stations and used car dealers in Korea. As vehicle license plates may differ by country, many clients were pleased to use an automatic license plate recognition solution optimized for Korean vehicles. The drone model used for the solution is SD810, specially manufactured by Solder for expressway monitoring. This model is best appropriate for compliance automation solution because standard DSLR cameras can be attached to it, and it also displays stable flight performance. Furthermore, during the development period, NEXTLab succeeded in developing a lane recognition algorithm dedicated to drone-filmed images even when the drones are under the influence of bad weather, so that highway lanes can be smoothly recognized. This was one of the key features reflected in the patent. Solder Co., Ltd. is the first company to produce industrial drones in Gangwon Province of Korea directly. Founded in 2001, it not only manufactures drones but goes on to make various equipment in the broadcasting and telecommunications field, educational field, and audiovisual ones as well. NEXTLab specializes in test automation solution and inspection measurement that combines vision AI technology with device hardware. We provide solutions that cater to our clients’ needs and seek ways to grow together by automating their repetitive tasks and saving their money and time. Currently, our solutions are focused on 3 business fields: set-top box performance measurement, network/pay-tv quality measurement, and automatic license plate recognition.
#NEWS
NEXTLab releases 3rd generation “AI-based Macro Block (Blockness) Detection Engine”
2022.10.07NEXTLab released its latest 3rd generation "AI-based video Macro Block (Blockness) real-time detection engine." It utilizes the latest algorithm in the world that applies non-reference video-based detection methodologies. NEXTLab has continued research and development while accumulating on-site operation experience since the first release of the algorithm in 2014.The key improvement compared to the 2nd generation engine is an overall increase in precision of macro block detection, and reduced number of false alarms.[Table of Macro Block Detection Engine Improvement] *Accuracy: Probability of correctly recognizing macro block when it occurs and correctly recognizing normal screen compared to the total amount of data *Precision: Probability of correctly recognizing macro block when it actually occurs *Recall: Reducing probability of not recognizing macro blockThe 2nd generation engine had a low precision rate, so it occasionally recognized normal video footage as broken and sent false alarms.Although it increased work efficiency of the IPTV service QA team by automating video quality monitoring, there was certainly room for improvement. Our latest 3rd generation engine has displayed a drastic improvement in the precision of macro block detection and has reduced the number of false alarms. Furthermore, it also increased the recall rate, which means the number of missing macro block occurrences has decreased. [Pictures of 3rd Generation Engine Detecting Macro Block][Pictures of Comparison between 2nd and 3rd generation engines] < Left: 3rd Generation / Right: 2nd Generation>As you can see from the pictures above, the 3rd generation engine successfully detected macro block even in scenes featuring grass, water, and wrinkles of clothes.It was difficult to detect macro block correctly in these backgrounds with the 2nd generation engine before. Seeing those pictures really lets me feel the big step forward in technology improvement! :DThere are multiple usages of Macro Block detection technology in the Pay TV service field. - Perform Aging Tests to devices- Broadcast service quality monitoring by Pay TV/IPTV service QA teams - Verify the impact of maintenance work such as improving Head End of local networkAlso, you can automate your monitoring in various scenarios by using STB Multimeter solutions.- Round Robin monitoring- Freeze, Loudness simultaneous monitoring- Customize your alarm occurrence criteria and make it compatible with legacy systemWith this Macro Block detection technology, pay TV service providers can save costs on assembling and operating specialized monitoring teams. If they already have monitoring teams, the macro block detection engine can also increase monitoring engineers’ work efficiency and reduce their fatigue, as they do not have to stare at the screen for lengthy periods of time. Moreover, by setting alert rules, developers can focus on detecting situations where subscribers’ complaints mainly occur. In addition, key criteria, such as freeze, black screen, loudness, and mute, can also be monitored simultaneously. For more details, please contact [email protected]
#SHOW
NEXTLab exhibited successfully at IBC 2022!
2022.9.22NEXTLab attended IBC 2022 during the Korean Chuseok(thanksgiving) holidays from September 9th~12th!IBC is an abbreviation for International Broadcasting Convention, and it is one of the top 3 broadcasting shows in the world! It is held every year in September at the RAI convention center of Amsterdam, Netherlands.As it is one of the most influential exhibitions in the media and broadcasting technology field, major broadcasting companies, content creators/production companies, equipment manufacturers, media technology committee and other people in the industry visit the show. This year, about 1,069 exhibitors from around the globe attended and shared their tech, and conference sessions were held across two stages for two days. NEXTLab attended this convention as an exhibitor too! I'm so proud that we could exhibit in such a big show!(Applause please~~~ *clap*)NEXTLab's stand location was at Hall 8, A92. IBC 2022 started off smoothly by signing a MOU with a French enterprise specializing in internet speed measurement service, nPerf SAS. (I hope you remember the details on the MOU with nPerf from the previous news. :D) The next day, the news of our MOU with nPerf was also published in the official IBC press, IBC Daily~~! Although NEXTLab's booth location was a bit far from the main hall, many visitors became interested in our solutions and came to our booth.In the pictures below, our CEO Sungmin Kim and Senior Researcher Hojoon Son (in order from top to bottom respectively) are explaining our solutions enthusiastically.Can you see their passion? We appreciate everyone who visited NEXTLab's stand during IBC 2022.We conclude today's news with a group picture of NEXTLabbers who attended the show.See you next April at the NAB show!
#SHOW
NEXTLab signed a MOU with nPerf at IBC 2022!
2022.9.22 NEXTLab signed a MOU for business cooperation with nPerf SAS, a French enterprise operating global internet speed measurement service, at IBC 2022 held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from September 9th~12th. NEXTLab also signed an agreement to use nPerf's internet speed measurement license in addition to the MOU, opening up new opportunities in the global market. Through this MOU, the two companies will begin joint development of as-a-Service devices and solutions that will differentiate them from existing competitors. They will provide their services to Pay TV and internet service providers and network operators around the world. Furthermore, NEXTLab has also secured the global broadband speed measurement service license necessary for entering the world market.‘netMeter’, which is getting ready for global launch, is a portable network service quality measurement device that measures IPTV broadcast reception quality and broadband speed. Many ISPs(Internet Service Providers) are introducing netMeter as it is being recognized as increasing Pay TV or broadband service subscribers’ satisfaction, as well as reducing unnecessary repetitive visits and set-top box replacement costs.
#SHOW
NEXTLab attends IBC 2022 in RAI, Amsterdam!
NEXTLab will be exhibiting in IBC 2022!IBC is an abbreviation for “International Broadcasting Convention,” and is one of the 3 most well-known exhibitions related to the broadcasting and communications industry.This year, IBC is returning in 2 years as a physical event, providing a platform for face-to-face networking opportunities for companies in the field worldwide. It will be held in RAI, Amsterdam, Netherlands from 9th to 12th of September.NEXTLab is ready to present solutions using STB Multimeter to the global market that will efficiently automate QA processes of PayTV services, such as IPTV and OTT. Also, these solutions aim to reduce labor dependency in the QA engineering field. Here are the main solutions: (1) Script-less Random-based Test : Secure overall stability of your service software and automatically verify its credibility.(2) Back-Data Visualization : When a defect has occurred, analyze its root cause in a shorter amount of time, and pinpoint the right team to handle it.(3) Rich Back-Data Acquisition : There is no need to reenact tests to handle defects, because you will be provided with rich back-data which gives you all the information you need. NEXTLab is the No.1 PayTV QA Automation solution provider in Korea. We will become a leading brand that contributes to innovating QA process of PayTV Service Providers around the world by entering overseas markets through attending IBC.Don’t miss out the opportunity to meet NEXTLab, which will aid you in innovating your QA process, in person at IBC 2022!
#WORKSHOP
May 2022 Workshop
NEXTLab's workshop has returned with much welcome, as it had been canceled previously due to COVID19. This was our first workshop since January 2019, and so we were more excited than usual.The workshop destination was Ganghwa-Do(Ganghwa Island)~~~NEXTLab had grown very much in two years, so we rented a bus for the first time and it made me realize that we have truly expanded.(Let's give an applause to all the NEXTLab staff that have worked hard!)Since everybody had been waiting for this workshop, I decided to take out the work schedule from the itinerary and replace it with only refreshing ones.After we arrived at Ganghwa-Do and had lunch, the first activity on our itinerary was!“Luge!” After enjoying the gondola ride up the mountain, the view was spectacular!We enjoyed the Luge even more thanks to the beautiful nature surrounding the tracks, and we were able to put our worries behind. After the exciting Luge ride, we returned to the lodge.Then, everyone had some free time. Some of us enjoyed football, while others took a walk at the sandy beach.Delicious barbecue party was prepared for dinner. Barbecue is the menu for Korean camping and trips! The following program on our itinerary was fun recreation time!Everyone ate and drank to their heart's content, so the recreation started later than I had planned. Wow, I didn't expect everyone to participate so enthusiastically! Maybe everyone missed the recreation time because of COVID19...?(Everyone had such a great time, that when everything ended, it was 11 p.m. :D )I'd like to give a big hand to Joonhan Kim, "The Little Mermaid," who was voted as MVP today! The next day, after a very lively night, we had tasty crab soup for lunch. Then, we visited "Geum Pung Brewery," which boasts a history of 100 years.I reserved the brewery tour program beforehand, and they were prepared for us. As soon as we arrived at the brewery, we began the tour by taking a few pictures outside the brewery building. (There was a reason for this...)Before the tour started for real, we sat down and had a tasting session of the Korean traditional soju, Makgeolli, while listening to the detailed history of the brewery and Makgeolli. (This is not just a tasting session... I might get drunk!)The brewery gave us many kinds of Makgeolli, which had various tastes. Through the interesting brewery tour, everyone was able to receive good energy from the old history and tradition of 100 years. The staff at Geum Pung Brewery gave us many gifts(lots of Makgeolli, cold storage bags, and many photos with pretty frames).After we finished the tour and returned to the room where we had the tasting session, they gave us pictures with pretty frames that had been taken at the beginning of the tour.They also made "Ginseng Makgeolli Latte" on the spot for us, and it even had a logo of NEXTLab printed on the top!I was really moved by Geum Pung Brewery's generosity! The taste impressed me too! I never knew that a brewery tour could be so touching! Aside from the various gifts, the tour was very educative and meaningful too.If you are in charge of planning for a workshop, I recommend "Geum Pung Brewery" from the bottom of my heart!! All NEXTLabbers had such a fun time until we returned to Seoul!I hope we utilize the energy we gained and achieve greater results, so that we could take a plane to our next workshop!