New RDK release adds video enhancements

AMSTERDAM – Ahead of the 2023 RDK Summit in Amsterdam, RDK Management today announced RDK6 – the newest open-source software bundle designed to power video customer-premise equipment (CPE) for pay TV operators worldwide. RDK6 is designed to further streamline the development and deployment of video functionality and apps across IP and hybrid QAM/DVB set-top boxes and will be available in Q4 2023.

To date, RDK has been deployed on more than 100 million devices from service providers around the globe. By standardizing core functionality, service providers can develop and deploy applications and services across various hardware platforms and geographies. It enables operators to manage their devices; control their UI/UX and app experiences; and harmonize device telemetry and analytics to improve the customer experience and drive business results.

There are more than 600 technology companies within the RDK community that span leading SoC companies, CE manufacturers, software developers, system integrators, and service providers. Service providers with publicly announced RDK deployments include: Atlantic Broadband, BCN, Claro, Comcast, Cox, Deutsche Telekom, J:COM, KabelPlus, Liberty Global, Mediacom, Megacable, Melita, NOS, Nuuday, Orange, Rogers, SFR (part of Altice Europe), Shaw, Sky, Stofa, Telcom Argentina, Toya, Vectra, Vidéotron, Vodafone, VOO, VTR, WOW, Ziggo, and others.

RDK6 Capabilities

RDK6 will provide common methods to manage core technical functions such as: audio/video playback, conditional access and digital rights management (DRM), home networking interfaces, closed captioning, emergency alerts, voice remote pre-integrations, device telemetry, and more. It is designed to streamline operators' ability to develop, test and deploy video services and apps across set-top boxes using leading SoC manufacturers.

Specifically, RDK6 will include the latest version of Firebolt to standardize OTT app integration. Firebolt exposes common interfaces such as video playback, DRM, graphics, and video security enabling each app provider to integrate their app to the RDK in a consistent way. RDK6 also includes a WPE WebKit browser and works with a wide variety of DRMs and SoC video security integrations. RDK6 supports native and streaming video apps integrated through Firebolt that are built using Lightning or HTML5. Lightning is used to create lightweight yet high-performance apps and UIs, optimized for set-top boxes with memory constraints. RDK6 also supports the use of Downloadable Application Containers (DACs) that allows native applications to run on RDK set-top boxes by creating an isolated environment for each application. Beneath RDK Firebolt is an architectural communication layer, or modular microservices layer, called Thunder™, that facilitates communication between Firebolt and RDK core components. RDK6 will be available at no cost to companies seeking to access the software code, collaborate, and submit software contributions back to the RDK community.

Read the full press release here.

RDK Management