SOUTHAMPTON, U.K. -- At IBC 2003, TANDBERG Television will extend its leadership in the TV over IP market by adding enhanced content security to its iTTV delivery platform. As more and more Telcos and network operators look to deliver video-centric services such as subscription TV and video on demand over their DSL and FTTH broadband networks, the need for security grows. Increasingly, network operators are recognizing that in addition to their own need to protect their revenue streams through encryption, they are required to be able to demonstrate a secure network to content owners to attract high-value programming such as movies and sports.

Visitors to TANDBERG Television’s IBC stand will be able to see conditional access (CA) systems from Conax, Latens and Widevine working in tandem with the company’s complete TV over IP head-end package. In addition, TANDBERG Television will be showing how it plans to integrate its TV over IP system with other leading CA vendors, including VideoGuard from NDS, the world’s most widely deployed TV content protection system.

“As Telcos start to compete with the satellite and cable pay-TV companies, they are going to need conditional access systems that are ready to operate across IP networks. Our aim is to offer Telcos the widest choice of security options, readily integrated with our iTTV delivery platform. We have vast experience of integrating CA with our headend and video delivery systems, and this, combined with our expertise of Simulcrypt interoperability, means that we are able to build complete broadband video systems that operate effectively and meet business plan objectives,” says Johnny Dolvik, director of broadband for TANDBERG Television.

At IBC the CA systems in action with TANDBERG Television’s iTTV delivery platform are:

Conax is a leading supplier of conditional access technology for digital-TV and IP-television, and among the first to demonstrate a conditional access system for IP- television and streaming. Conax CAstream is a highly scalable conditional access system for secure IP- television and VOD, which enables operators and content providers to securely distribute content. Conax CAstream is a stand-alone security system that allows the use of existing systems and applications, and adds strong conditional access and security mechanisms.

Latens’ sole focus is to provide next generation Conditional Access Systems (CAS) to secure the delivery of content & services over digital cable and broadband networks. Latens IP CAS for broadband operators employs the most recent developments in encryption to provide robust, distributed solutions that scale cost effectively in line with infrastructure as services roll out and gain in popularity. Latens CAS removes the necessity for a smartcard, leading to many advantages over existing CAS solutions, including a reduction in security costs by up to 50% and increased business flexibility in the packaging of broadcast and on-demand services.

Widevine is the leading supplier of software based Virtual SmartCard™ conditional access and digital rights management solutions to Telco, Cable, and Satellite Operators for on-demand and broadcast video services. The Widevine Cypher Suite has over 100 installations worldwide securing premium content. Cypher Suite includes: pre-encryption (Cypher VOD™), real-time digital broadcast (Cypher Broadcast™), and Digital Copy Protection™ (Cypher DCP™). Widevine's Cypher DCP is the industry's only technology for filling the Digital Hole - the time between decryption and rendering while video is vulnerable.

iTTV delivery platform

Visitors to TANDBERG Television’s IBC stand will also be able to see a full demonstration of the carrier-class iTTV delivery platform, an integrated, revenue-generating broadband IP delivery platform available in a scalable package. The demonstration will include TANDBERG Television MPEG-2 encoders, IP streamers, Transport Stream descramblers, and integrated receiver/decoders and the iTTV portal EPG. Third-party set-top boxes from Amino, i3 Micro, Kreatel and Telsey, video on demand servers from Bitband and Entone Technologies will also be part of the live system – showing the IP video delivery chain from the headend to the home. TANDBERG Television’s video expertise and systems integration skills enables it to work closely with Telcos and other service providers to supports all network management and video processing from content acquisition to feeding the broadband backbone network.

Tandberg Television