Globalcomm: NDS expands IPTV product offering

Chicago--A leading player in IPTV security and other related middleware has now launched a complete IPTV middleware solution for telecom companies and other service providers.

U.K.-based NDS said this week that its Synamedia Metro product incorporates its well-known VideoGuard digital rights management and set-top box security technology and its MediaHighway set-top middleware. It also offers more features, including electronic program guides, interactive TV applications, video-on-demand, digital video recorder (DVR) and network DVR, high-definition TV and a set of application tools for developing further applications.

At Globalcomm, the Synamedia Metro has been integrated onto a Samsung IP set-top box, used with Broadbus video servers, to create a single integrated IPTV system, said Jonathan Beavon, director of marketing for NDS’ broadband Internet group. In the past, NDS partnered with other IPTV middleware players such as Alcatel, Myrio, iMagic and UTStarcom, he said.

“We think there is an opportunity for us in IPTV middleware,” Beavon said. “The time is right for us to introduce our own middleware.”

Some of that opportunity in North America is with Tier 2 and Tier 3 service providers that have to rely on smaller vendors because they are not part of Microsoft’s IPTV rollout with AT&T. Building on its IPTV experience that includes a one-third share of the global IPTV security market and a 30% stake in the middleware market for MediaHighway, NDS’ new complete solution will offer more features and functionality than that of existing smaller vendors, he said.

“Some of the smaller vendors haven’t built DVR logic into middleware, when it requires quite a lot of management,” Beavon said. “There are issues around disk space, managing conflicts, etc., and we did a lot of testing around the exception cases to make sure it works right.”

NDS also focused on an applications development environment that supports all common formats, including HTML, Java, Flash, OCAP and MHP. The system is built on open standards and comes with NDS Monitor, a subsystem that monitors all the software and hardware components using SNMP and can interface to existing operations support systems.