Motorola Mobility Inc. is the latest major vendor to license Comcast Corp.'s Reference Design Kit (RDK), a pre-integrated software bundle for the MSO's next generation of IP-only and hybrid QAM/IP set-tops and video gateways.

One aim of the RDK, which includes the CableLabs reference implementation of tru2way middleware and the QT application framework, is to accelerate the traditionally slow set-top box development cycle and help Comcast (and other MSOs that adopt it) to tack on new features and applications rapidly. The RDK, for example, factors into the X1, a next-gen video platform from Comcast that features IP applications and a cloud-based navigation system. (See Comcast's Cloud TV Service Rolls Into Atlanta and Comcast Sizes Up All-IP Set-Top .)

Examples of RDK licensees include Broadcom Corp., Entropic Communications Inc., Intel Corp., itaas Inc. and Silicon Software & Systems Ltd. (S3).

Why this matters
Despite questions about the fate of Motorola's cable business following the Google acquisition, Motorola remains a key supplier to Comcast, so it's important that it stays closely involved with the MSO's big video programs.

Plus, if you're an incumbent vendor or a new one on the scene that wants any sort of shot of being involved in Comcast's future set-top and video gateway plans, licensing the RDK should be priority No. 1. And, the same will likely be true as other major cable operators get behind the RDK.

For more

• Google Preps Sale of Motorola Home
• Comcast's Set-Top Software Kit (video interview)
• S3 Licenses Comcast's Set-Top Kit
• Broadcom Packs in Comcast's Set-Top Kit
• itaas Licences Comcast's RDK

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable