IPTV platform supplier Amino is opening an office in Shanghai as a focus for its China operations group, which provides local support for its manufacturing partners.

Alan Masterman, vice president of operations at Amino, said in a prepared statement, "The IPTV industry in China is growing at a rate of 34.5% every quarter. 2008 is set to witness an even faster growth rate with events such as the Beijing Olympics increasing interest in high quality, high-speed multimedia. With the opening of the Shanghai office, we have created a focal point of our operations in this market which will provide a sustained, high-quality service throughout China."

According to the company, 2007 saw Asia emerge as the market leader in terms of sales of IPTV technology. This is set to continue with the onset of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which is expected to generate 4.5 million subscribers and US$231m in set-top box revenue.

Acknowledging China's increasing importance within the global IPTV market, Amino first started operating in the country in 2003, and over 1.7 million IPTV STBs have been manufactured in China. Amino began its relationship with Chengdu USEE, a broadband multimedia company based in the Chengdu region of China, five years ago.

The opening of this office will enable this partnership, as well as Amino's relationships with In-Tech Electronics and Wistron NeWeb Corporation, to develop further. Amino and USEE co-develop products incorporating Amino's IntAct software stack in order to provide applications such as advanced audio and video standard codec technology, video telephony, VoIP, and gaming.