Vol.2, No. 1 | January 2004 A Broadband Information Resources INC. Publication Vol.2, www.screenplaysmag.com No. 1 | January 2004

A Broadband Information Resources INC. Publication www.screenplays.bz September 2010 strategic Information for the Broadband Marketplace Taps NDS to Expand Set-Top Base for Tru2way Apps By Fred Dawson services as they move away from exclusive dependence on closed systems, notes omcast is moving to expedite roll- Jesper Knutsson, vice president and general out of advanced applications on manager of Americas sales for NDS. the tru2way set-top platform with “For us it’s quite a major step to get this assistance from NDS, which will substantial engagement from a company like work with the MSO as prime Comcast,” Knutsson says. “It’s a step in the integrator to assist with its deploy- direction we’ve had in the U.S. in leading Cment of devices by utilizing the CableLabs with our professional services work and Reference Implementation stack. proving ourselves to the cable industry.” The move to the brand-neutral approach NDS, with a work force of over 5,000 made possible by the CableLabs RI will free people providing middleware, conditional Comcast to support subscriber-purchased access, navigational software and other set-tops and other devices and to supply products along with professional support additional products on a leased basis as services to over 70 customers worldwide, part of its service plans while maintaining a brings a lot of integration and development consistent user experience everywhere. The knowhow to the North American market, NDS team will work to build the RI testing Knutsson notes. But it took awhile for the Jesper Knutsson, VP & GM, tool, implement the tests against the different company to gain traction here. Americas sales, NDS STBs, develop code and assist in fixing any “Some of the areas we’re very strong in issues, officials said. weren’t necessarily in the forefront of issues That’s not to say Comcast won’t exploit “NDS has tremendous experience operators were facing,” he says. “They had the benefits that come with vendor-specific in working with video operators around strong relationships with lot of incumbent RIs, he adds. “I think people are realizing it’s the world and has proven their ability to vendors.” good to talk about OCAP with a common offer reliable, timely and highly competent In Comcast’s case, the MSO required help standardized environment, but there will be solutions as an integrations partner,” said with hardening the RI stack to run on all variations within stacks,” he says. Mark Hess, senior vice president of advanced tru2way-compliant set-tops with consistent The CableLabs RI, developed originally business and technology development at rendering of Comcast applications at the by Vidiom Systems, was primarily designed Comcast. “We’re eager to begin our work required performance levels. “All of these run on PCs as a test platform for tru2way together to enhance the RI, which will help things we’re very used to dealing with applications. “Comcast saw that this was advance the industry’s adoption of tru2way with our own middleware,” Knutsson says. an open source-type of stack running in the while also enabling us to bring our customers “No company has more experience getting CableLabs environment,” Knutsson explains. interactive services.” middleware running on different types of “They thought, if we can take this stack and The engagement with Comcast marks boxes.” have it working on our boxes we can use it to another significant step into the North Comcast already had OCAP-ready a common platform across all vendor American market on the part of NDS, set-tops running OCAP stacks, he notes. interests.” which has an ongoing relationship with (OpenCable Application Platform is the This meant a lot of work had to be done Cox Communications in conjunction with technical name for tru2way). “But Comcast to harden the RI for reliable performance on development of the new Trio multi-screen has to look at not having just a Motorola set-tops. “Set-tops can’t be rebooting,” he electronic guide. These and other successes or Cisco or Pace implementation,” he says. notes. “You have to harden the performance reflect the cable industry’s move to open “They want a common OCAP stack that runs and make sure it runs without crashing.” standards and the need for professional across all boxes.” And since set-tops aren’t PCs, news currents itv specifications and functionalities have to be adjusted to accommodate the new processing environment. “You have to have a driver layer that fits with the driver layer on a set-top,” Knutsson says. “There are various use cases and performance criteria, all sorts of things we have to make sure the stack is capable of doing. And once you’ve integrated the stack on the box, then you have to test it to make sure it lives up to the requirements.” This engagement is very different from the type of work NDS has been doing for Cox (see June issue, p. 16). “With Cox we took over a lot of what they did with TVWorks [the guide project Cox had been pursuing with Comcast],” Knutsson says. “In contrast to OCAP, this was more of a server-based code we took over along with integration work with some set-top codes.” That effort, which led to the launch of Trio in the spring, has sparked interest among other MSOs. “From our point of view it looks like most operators are seeing increasing pressure, especially from over-the- top entities like Apple and Google, to deliver an improved user interface and experience on set-top boxes,” Knutsson says. “A wide variety of cable operators we’re talking to have considerations in that area.” The immediate service opportunities arising out of consumer demand for multi- room DVR capabilities, now on offer from a growing number of cable competitors, is another force driving interest in better user interfaces, he adds. “As functionalities become more complex, it puts new requirements on having a compelling consistent interface that subscribers can navigate more easily,” he says. Indeed, the new UI becomes essential to the larger battle that’s shaping up as consumers seek to connect ever more devices to their home networks. “Operators are increasingly looking at this environment, where it’s almost a battle for control of devices in the home,” Knuttson notes. “As people connect more and more devices, they have to figure out how to deliver their experience to those devices. MR-DVR is one step. Remote booking, increased connectivity between PCs and set-tops – it all requires consistent navigation.” ■