NDS News:

--Unveils Initiatives to Reduce Carbon Footprint
--Will Acquire Broadband Video Company, CastUp
--New Deals with Serbia Broadband, Yes, Vision TV, KT

Conditional access and interactive TV technology provider, NDS, has announced a series of initiatives which it says are aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and enabling digital TV subscribers to reduce their energy consumption. According to the company, the cornerstone of its new environmental strategy is research and development efforts to reduce the power consumption of set-top boxes and DVR's. The strategy is part of a "global energy program" which has been launched by NDS's corporate parent, News Corp., and which the latter claims is designed to not only reduce its own impact on climate change, but to "engage audiences, employees and business partners on the issue."

The first of NDS's environmental initiatives is "Auto Standby" technology, which automatically switches inactive set-tops and DVR's into standby mode overnight. The company claims that reducing standby consumption in the 500 million digital set-tops that are expected to be deployed over the next five years could potentially save carbon emissions equivalent to five super power stations. "Currently, an HD DVR can use as much power as a domestic refrigerator and we want to address this," James Field, NDS's director of technology and new initiatives, who has been named the company's "Carbon Czar," said in a prepared statement. "With this new Auto Standby feature, we can help our customers--namely, consumers of digital TV--to reduce their carbon footprint, with the additional benefit of lowering their electricity bills. We look forward to supporting both the environment and our consumers in this way one set-top box at a time."

According to NDS, its new Auto Standby technology monitors whether viewers are using their DVR or HD set-top during night-time hours: it could, for example, be set to monitor from 11:00PM to 4:00AM; and, if a device had not been used for a period of two hours after 11.00PM, an Auto Standby warning would appear on the TV screen for a few moments; then, if the device continued not to be used, it would go into standby mode automatically, and the hard disk would stop spinning.

NDS claims that the new Auto Standby solution is just the "first step" in its environmental strategy, and that it is working with set-top manufacturers and platform operators around the world to develop other solutions to reduce set-top power consumption. It also claims to be the only middleware vendor participating in an EU group that is developing a code of conduct, designed to optimize the energy efficiency of end-user devices used with digital TV services.

NDS has also generated a fair amount of news in the interactive TV, conditional access and wireless gateway spaces over the past few weeks. Recent ITV-related news from the company includes the following:

• The company has announced plans to acquire CastUp, a provider of solutions for the management and delivery of video over the Internet, for $11.3 million in cash, plus additional payments to employees and senior management. The acquisition is expected to be complete during the first quarter of 2008. Through a wholly owned subsidiary in Israel, CastUp provides an end-to-end solution for the acquisition, processing, distribution, serving and monetizing of video and other rich media content over IP. According to NDS, it is profitable and fast-growing, and its customers include major TV and media companies in Israel, and the Israeli subsidiaries of large companies such as HP, Amdocs, MTV and Blockbuster. NDS says that CastUp will provide it with significant know-how and experience in online video delivery; will provide it with technologies that will help its operator customers expand their broadband video distribution services; and will help it develop new services and applications for broadband-connected hybrid set-top boxes. CastUp will continue to operate as a separate unit within NDS, under its current management team. "We are very excited about the possibilities for new and comprehensive solutions for the delivery, management, and control of online media assets," NDS chairman and CEO, Abe Peled, said in a prepared statement. "We believe that NDS' market-leading experience in securely delivering digital content, and our global presence, will combine with CastUp's proven technology to allow us to continue to enhance the businesses of our media and entertainment customers. Through this important acquisition, NDS can meet the requirements of broadcasters for control, management, distribution, reporting, and monetization of their digital assets any time, anywhere and on any device. We are of course committed to serving all of CastUp's current customers after the transaction closes, as well as helping the CastUp team expand their market penetration worldwide."
• The company has signed a contract to provide Serbia's largest cable operator, Serbia Broadband (SBB), with an end-to-end system to power and secure its cable platform (note: NDS already provides its VideoGuard Express system to Serbia Broadband's satellite-TV service, which incorporates NDS's conditional access technology, MediaHighway middleware and EPG). The new deal will see NDS providing Serbia Broadband's cable network with its VideoGuard CA technology, its MediaHighway middleware (which the company claims is now in over 61 million set-top boxes) and its EPG solution. The roll- out will take place over the coming months. "We are very happy to announce the extension of our relationship with SBB to now protect and enable their cable platform, which is the largest in the country," Jeremy Maddocks, NDS's business development director for central and eastern Europe, said in a prepared statement. "This demonstrates NDS's unique capability to deliver a robust and secure multiplatform television service from a unified headend, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with SBB."
• The company says that Israeli satellite-TV provider, Yes, has selected its VideoGuard PC solution to enable and secure its new Web-based video portal. The deal represents the first deployment of VideoGuard PC, a DRM solution that is designed to securely deliver content--including VOD, video downloads and streaming programming--directly to PC's over the open Internet. Yes's new broadband video service allows anyone in Israel to go to Yes's Web site, register as a customer, and then access the operator's complement of HD and SD channels, and PPV and VOD offerings. Users of the service can also download content to portable media devices. According to NDS, VideoGuard PC integrates Yes's current headend architecture with standard Web technology easily and economically, and supports advanced PC video formats (including those not currently available on set-top boxes), extending media reach in the home from the set-top to the PC. "At Yes, we want to extend our brand to reach a diverse group of customers, while enhancing our offerings for our current subscribers," Yes CTO, Itzhak Elyakim, said in a prepared statement. "NDS VideoGuard PC is the ideal solution. It has broadened our offerings to include Internet-based content, and since the implementation uses our existing infrastructure, we are realizing efficiencies in costs and operations." NDS says it developed VideoGuard PC in accordance with common Web standards, while enabling the use of existing headend infrastructure: the company claims that this "Unified Headend" solution for managing both a PC service and a pay-TV platform minimizes costs and helps streamline operations (note: [itvt] will publish an in-depth overview of NDS's Unified Headend in an issue to appear shortly). NDS's technology partners on Yes's new broadband TV portal are Vbox and Cyberlink. The former is providing its DVB-S tuner (comes in both PCI and USB form factors and is pre-integrated with VideoGuard, so that the PC receives the requested channel pre-encapsulated in VideoGuard DRM) and the latter its PowerCinema entertainment software for PC's (supports live broadcast channels, VOD, content-downloads, EPG's and PVR functionality).
• The company has secured a deal with Vision TV, the first operator to be awarded a DTH broadcasting license by the Ukrainian government, that will see it providing the latter with its VideoGuard conditional access technology, its MediaHighway middleware and an EPG. According to NDS, Vision TV will offer a dynamic on-screen programming guide, and plans to roll out VOD and PVR services in the future.
• Korean telco, KT, has chosen the company's content-protection solutions for its new Mega TV On Demand IPTV service, which has just commercially launched (it will initially be available in Seoul, Gwa-Cheon, Dong-Tan and a number of other cities in Kyung-Ki province), and which is delivered over the telco's Megapass broadband network. According to NDS, the service will offer a range of interactive TV services, including an NDS-developed EPG, and a broad array of on-demand content including movies, sports, cultural programming, animation, documentaries, dramas and educational programming. "NDS is proud to be working with Korea's leading fixed-line telephony and broadband provider," Sue Taylor, general manager of NDS Asia- Pacific, said in a prepared statement. "The launch of Mega TV is the start of a comprehensive strategy to offer VOD and ITV services that will eventually capitalize on the substantial network investment to offer full IPTV services, subject to regulatory approval."

Originally Published: October 12, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.39 Part 2A

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