Middleware maneuvering

If it were the latter, two prime candidates would be Cisco and Motorola. Analysts believe these hardware vendors are looking to round out their own offerings with middleware, whether developed in-house or through an acquisition. Yet the companies have remained mum. Representatives from both Motorola and Cisco said they are sticking with their present strategies — the KreaTV development platform and partnering with third-party vendors, respectively.

“Cisco is apparently showing something top secret, so who knows if their plan is to acquire Myrio or just do their own — probably their own,” said Steve Hawley, principal analyst with tvstrategies. “They are very secretive and have been for the last six months. … Motorola claims to be middleware-agnostic and their focus historically has been cable, but they do sell lots of set-top boxes, and people like me think it's just a matter of time before Motorola comes out with their own middleware, and it could just be something they acquire.”

Following the “bigger is better” mantra, the acquisition spree was felt by many other component players struggling to stay afloat on their own. Espial completed its acquisition of middleware and video-on-demand provider Kasenna in July. Likewise, Israel-based Orca Interactive, cast away from Lucent after it merged with Alcatel in 2006, was bought by France Telecom subsidiary Viaccess, which makes digital access and content security software for traditional pay TV, in March of this year.

With Myrio and Orca acquired, Minerva is the only remaining independent middleware provider in the U.S. CEO Mauro Bonomi said that after having focused on North America for the past five years, the vendor is turning its attention to Europe and emerging markets where early adopters are looking to switch to next-generation platforms. While Bonomi didn't rule out the possibility of going the way of the other independents, he said the company is primarily focused on increasing its momentum and attracting third-party developers to make its open-source ecosystem compelling enough to woo customers away from Microsoft.

“It's becoming clear that the IPTV industry is absolutely looking for an open platform alternative to Microsoft,” Bonomi said. “The market itself cannot sustain multiple open platforms in addition to Microsoft. The net add here is that we see a great opportunity because as a company we've managed to stay independent, and that's very appealing to the marketplace. Many telcos are telling us they don't want a platform tied to a specific box, access network or operating system. They want choices, and they like the open nature of what we offer.”

Bonomi's sentiments toward Microsoft's proprietary approach have been echoed by the software behemoth's competitors for some time now. Vittore pointed out that Microsoft is doing well in the U.S. mainly because of its large capital-intensive projects, but the market is different overseas where low costs are the norm. Still, whether a company goes it alone or supports an open environment, Microsoft is sticking to its guns that there is power in numbers.