RDK Management has made OpenSync, a key software component for managed Wi-Fi, available for RDK for Broadband-abiding makers of residential gateways, access points and mesh extenders.

OpenSync is an open-source framework for Wi-Fi management software. It was primarily developed by Wi-Fi tech company Plume, which has major backing from Comcast. And Comcast, along with Charter Communications and Liberty Global, backs RDK Management. 

RDK for Broadband (RDK-B) consists of open-source software components that standardize core functions used in broadband customer premises equipment across network access technologies including DOCSIS, GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), digital subscriber line and fixed wireless.

RDK-B provides a consistent technical approach for routing, device management, diagnostics, DNS settings and Internet of Things (IoT) interfaces (i.e. Bluetooth, Thread, and Zigbee), among other functions. 

By standardizing these functions, service providers can develop and deploy a consistent set of applications and services across various chipset and hardware suppliers. One of the key components of RDK-B is Wi-Fi management software.

The new RDK-B Wi-Fi management software standardizes core functionality used in Wi-Fi gateways, access points and Mesh extenders/pods for operators deploying OpenSync or Wi-Fi EasyMesh. It provides common methods to manage features such as band steering, device telemetry and interoperability with cloud-based Wi-Fi management systems via the common RDK message bus (RBus). 

Comcast and the OpenSync community worked jointly on the contributed component, which will become the default for RDK-B and be maintained by RDK Management moving forward.

“Wi-Fi connectivity, monitoring, and optimization are foundationally important to operators throughout the RDK community,” Jason Briggs, president and general manager of RDK, said in a statement. 

Added Labeeb Ismail, senior VP of global devices software for Comcast and Sky: “The contribution of the new Wi-Fi management software will provide a powerful set of tools to the RDK community and support cloud-based Wi-Fi connectivity services for the broadband devices used by Comcast, Sky and our syndication partners. The collective efforts of Comcast, Plume, OpenSync, RDK and others provide key underlying software technology designed to help deliver an exceptional home Wi-Fi experience to our customers.” ■

CommScope has announced a new line of carrier grade Wi-Fi gateways based on open-sourced firmware powered by the RDK and OpenWrt developer communities. 

The Hickory, N.C.-based technology company is unveiling its new devices at CES in Las Vegas this week, as headquarters still works, to try to spin off the slumping CommScope Home Networks division. 

The HomeVantage portfolio consists of gateways and modems for PON, DOCSIS, Ethernet and Wi-Fi extenders, including support for the emerging Wi-Fi 7 standard. 

 The HomeVantage portfolio is supported by CommScope Home Network’s HomeAssure service delivery platform, which can fully manage the capabilities of the broadband devices, including containerized application orchestration, Wi-Fi management and other advanced services.  With full compliance of Broadband Forum standards, HomeVantage solutions can also be supported by other service delivery platforms.

“With more than 70 million RDK devices deployed globally, service providers continue to trust CommScope Home Networks to enhance open-source platforms and develop high quality, secure solutions that improve the consumer experience,” said Ken Haase, VP of product management for CommScope's Home Networks, in a statement.  

“By broadening our portfolio to include OpenWrt and solutions in development by the prpl Foundation, the HomeVantage portfolio enables service providers to consistently deliver new, developing consumer services to the home – no matter what the access technology may be," Haase added. 

CommScope launched HomeVista on Monday at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022 in Philadelphia, a portfolio that allows service providers using streaming technologies to simplify and accelerate the introduction of new video services.  

According to CommScope, HomeVista solutions allows service providers to deliver video services that offer streaming services and live TV with an individualized user experience, introduce streamer services to the market faster, and reduce development costs by avoiding fully customized solutions. 

HomeVista also uses open-source software like AndroidTV and RDK to deliver streaming applications that may include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, YouTube. The RDK-based HomeVista includes AppCloud from ActiveVideo, which gives operators the ability to deliver the latest OTT content and applications. 

“Our service provider customers are looking to us to offer next-generation solutions that combine top tier OTT applications with their streamed TV services to take their subscribers’ viewing experience to the next level,” CommScope Home Networks president Joe Chow in a press release. “Our HomeVista portfolio enables our service provider customers to bring streaming video services to market faster than ever before.”

HomeVista also lets service providers customize the consumer experience through the installation of their own TV app, customizable splash screen, RCU and streamer case. CommScope Home Networks Professional Services also can provide additional customization on the HomeVista platform. ■

The Reference Design Kit (RDK), an open-source software standard jointly managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, has announced proliferation into 100 million CPE devices globally, up from 80 million announced in May 2021. 

RDK Management also said that the number of technology companies using and contributing code in the “RDK community” has reached 600, up from around 500 a year ago. 

RDK deployed in everything from pay TV set-top boxes to fixed 5G wireless gateways. Service providers using the standard in their devices include: Atlantic Broadband, BCN, Claro, Comcast, Cox, Deutsche Telekom, J:COM, KabelPlus, Liberty Global, Mediacom, Megacable Melita, NOS, Nuuday, Rogers Communications, SFR (part of Altice Europe), Shaw, Sky, Stofa, Telcom Argentina, Toya, Vectra, Vidéotron, Vodafone, VOO, VTR, WOW and Ziggo.

“Surpassing 100 million RDK device deployments is a testament to the central role RDK now plays at cable, telco, and satellite providers around the globe,” said Jason Briggs, president and general manager of RDK. 

“RDK has evolved into a versatile software platform that provides operators with consistency and efficiencies across CPE manufacturers, chipset suppliers, and their diverse footprints of transport networks," Briggs added. "Members of the community are also exploring new ways to extend the use of RDK into other areas, such as connected TVs, 5G fixed wireless gateways, and more. It’s certainly an exciting time for RDK, and our team is fully committed to providing the support and tools our community needs to achieve their technical and business objectives.” ▪️

The Reference Design Kit (RDK), an open-sourced software platform for pay TV set-tops, broadband gateways and other customer premises equipment, jointly developed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, is now in more than 80 million devices worldwide.

The deployment benchmark was announced by the consortium backing the software initiative, RDK Management, and builds on the 60 million-plus figure announced a year ago. 

The open-sourced RDK software stack is freely available to all users who want to access code, collaborate, develop, and submit software contributions back to the RDK community.

RDK is now deployed by more than 30 service providers throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, RDK Management said. These providers include not just the principals, but also Cox Communications, J:COM, Megacable, Melita, MEO, NOS, NOWO, PYUR, Rogers, Shaw, SFR (part of Altice Europe), Vidéotron, Vodafone, VTR, and Ziggo.

The consortium also claims more than 500 technology companies within the RDK community, up from 430 the previous year. These companies span leading CE manufacturers, SoC companies, software developers, system integrators and service providers.

“The common refrain we hear from operators is that RDK provides them with maximum versatility and transparency, while keeping them in complete control over their consumer-facing experience and device telemetry,” said Jason Briggs, executive director of RDK Management, in a statement. 

Cable industry technology consortium RDK Management has released the latest version of its open-sourced software stack for pay TV set-tops and other customer premises equipment, RDK4.

Reference Design Kit (RDK) is an open-sourced software stack jointly created by Comcast, Liberty Global and other telecom and technology companies, for set-tops, gateways and other devices. 

RDK4 makes it easier for companies to develop and deploy TV applications, independent of their RDK expertise or experience, the consortium said. 

“RDK4 is the culmination of joint development between the RDK community and leading app companies,” said Steve Heeb, president of RDK, which oversees the open-sourced software’s development. “Our newest software release makes it even easier to develop, test, and deploy video apps across set-top boxes. And the new modular plug-in architecture makes it simpler to implement specific technical features or services, based on the individual needs of service providers.

RDK4 creates new nomenclature for layers within the software stack. 

Notably, at the top layer of RDK4 is the Firebolt application platform. Firebolt provides a common way of supporting Lightning, HTML5, and native streaming apps within RDK. For example, 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. Firebolt works with a wide variety of DRMs and SoC video security integrations, and includes a full-featured WPE WebKit browser.

Beneath RDK Firebolt is an architectural communication layer, or modular microservices layer, called Thunder, used for app life cycle management that facilitates communication between Firebolt and RDK core components. RDK core components are used by operators to help manage essential video functions, including video tuning, diagnostics, telemetry and operator-specific requirements, such as DVB, Wi-Fi management, and others.  

RDK4 is also available as part of the RDK Video Accelerator program, which provides “development and deployment-ready set-top boxes” from OEMs and chipset suppliers including CommScope, Humax, KAON, Skyworth, Broadcom and Amlogic. These set-top boxes come pre-integrated with RDK4, as well as the Metrological App Store, RDK’s answer to the Google Play component found in the rival Android TV platform.

Chinese video set-top maker Skyworth Digital has joined the RDK Accelerator program and has announced a new RDK device based on Amlogic silicon. 

Skyworth’s “RDK Accelerator” set-top is a UHD device running on either the Amlogic S905X2 or S905X4 chipsets, 802.11ac dual band 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, while offering support for Dolby Vision.

The box is preintegrated with the Reference Design Kit (RDK) application framework, an open-source software platform for connected homes that standardizes core functions used in broadband, video and internet of things-connected devices. RDK set-tops have access to the full range of over-the-top apps within the Metrological App Store. 

Other companies offering RDK Video Accelerator set-tops, which run on various Broadcom chipsets, include CommScope, Humax, KAON and Technicolor. 

“The demand for RDK-based products are on the rise by pay-TV operators around the globe,” said Charlie Zheng, VP of strategic partnerships, sales and marketing for Skyworth Digital. “RDK gives pay-TV operators the flexibility and the capability to develop new TV experiences, and Skyworth is proud to collaborate with Amlogic to help them accelerate those plans.”  

Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK, said: “Skyworth is a market leader in consumer electronics and set-top boxes, and we’re very proud to have them join the RDK Video Accelerator program. Using state-of-the-art chipsets from Amlogic, operators now have a turnkey, production-ready solution that pre-integrates the RDK app framework and Metrological App Store.”

Over the spring, RDK disclosed there are now more than 60 million devices running RDK software in homes around the world.  

The RDK framework was created several years ago by a consortium of telecom operators and technology vendors, led by Comcast and Liberty Global. The inclusion of a leading set-top vendor such as Skyworth represents an important ally, given the fast market infiltration of Google’s rival set-top platform, Android TV.

Chinese video set-top maker Skyworth Digital has joined the RDK Accelerator program and has announced a new RDK device based on Amlogic silicon. 

Skyworth’s “RDK Accelerator” Set-top is a UHD device running on either the Amlogic S905X2 or S905X4 chipsets, 802.11ac dual band 2×2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, while offering support for Dolby Vision.

The box is pre-integrated with the Reference Design Kit (RDK) application framework, an open sources software platform for connected homes that standardizes core functions used in broadband, video, and IoT connected devices. RDK set-tops have access to the full range of OTT apps within the Metrological App Store. 

Other companies offering RDK Video Accelerator set-tops, which run on various Broadcom chipsets, include CommScope, Humax, KAON and Technicolor. 

“The demand for RDK-based products are on the rise by pay-TV operators around the globe,” said Charlie Zheng, VP of strategic partnerships, sales and marketing for Skyworth Digital. “RDK gives pay-TV operators the flexibility and the capability to develop new TV experiences, and Skyworth is proud to collaborate with Amlogic to help them accelerate those plans.”  

Added said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK: “Skyworth is a market leader in consumer electronics and set-top boxes, and we’re very proud to have them join the RDK Video Accelerator program. Using state-of-the-art chipsets from Amlogic, operators now have a turnkey, production-ready solution that pre-integrates the RDK app framework and Metrological App Store.”

Over the spring, RDK disclosed there are now more than 60 million devices running RDK software in homes around the world.  

RDK, the open software stack backed by Comcast, Cox Communications and Liberty Global, among others, is now in 60 million devices worldwide, an 18% increase over the 50 million devices announced a year ago.

The announcement was made by RDK Management, the group that manages the Reference Design Kit technology consortium. RDK software stacks power pay TV set-tops, broadband gateways, IP-connected cameras and other operator-supplied customer premises equipment.

“RDK now powers more than 60 million devices deployed by service providers around the world that require flexibility and control over their CPE software and diagnostics data,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK, in a statement. “The new RDK App Framework enables them to develop and manage apps easily, and RDK broadband software is capable of powering next-gen gateways across DOCSIS, DSL and GPON. Over the past year, the RDK community has been actively working to develop open source software for connected cameras, which we expect to make available soon, to provide a new avenue of growth for operators.”

RDK Management said that more than 480 companies are now part of its open-source software community.

For video, RDK provides common methods to manage video tuning, conditional access, DRM, stream management, diagnostics, and more, for set-tops made by CommScope, Humax, KAON, Technicolor and other vendors. Pay TV operators can use the RDK App Framework to build and manage their own OTT apps. Meanwhile, a wide assortment of OTT apps are available through the Metrological App Store. 

Also read: Android TV to Become Dominant Global Pay TV Set-top Platform: Research Group

The purchase of Dutch tech vendor Metrological and subsequent integration of the Metrological App Store into RDK has “made RDK a realistic alternative for integrated broadcast/broadband services to Android TV Operator Tier with its admittedly superior Google app store,” Rethink Technology Research wrote in a report published this week.

Rethink Technology said last year’s launch the RDK Accelerator was another “key move in responding to the dominance of Android TV operator tier.

The RDK Lab Accelerator is based on the Arris VIP5202W UHD IP set-top and provides the RDK community an application development platform that uses the latest RDK application framework and the pre-integrated Metrological App Store.

The research company predicts that the Google-backed Android TV will dominate the global pay TV set-top business over the next five years. But RDK will maintain a market share of 57% for the U.S. market over the next five years, with the biggest cable companies choosing to use the software stack. 

RDK, the open software stack backed by Comcast, Cox Communications and Liberty Global, among others, is now in 60 million devices worldwide, an 20% increase over the 50 million devices announced a year ago.

The announcement was made by RDK Management, the group that manages the Reference Design Kit technology consortium. RDK software stacks power pay TV set-tops, broadband gateways, IP-connected cameras and other operator-supplied customer premises equipment. 

“RDK now powers more than 60 million devices deployed by service providers around the world that require flexibility and control over their CPE software and diagnostics data,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK, in a statement. “The new RDK App Framework enables them to develop and manage apps easily, and RDK broadband software is capable of powering next-gen gateways across DOCSIS, DSL and GPON. Over the past year, the RDK community has been actively working to develop open source software for connected cameras, which we expect to make available soon, to provide a new avenue of growth for operators.”

RDK Management said that more than 480 companies are now part of its open-source software community. 

For video, RDK provides common methods to manage video tuning, conditional access, DRM, stream management, diagnostics, and more, for set-tops made by CommScope, Humax, KAON, Technicolor and other vendors. Pay TV operators can use the RDK App Framework to build and manage their own OTT apps. Meanwhile, a wide assortment of OTT apps are available through the Metrological App Store. 

Also read: Android TV to Become Dominant Global Pay TV Set-top Platform: Research Group

The purchase of Dutch tech vendor Metrological and subsequent integration of the Metrological App Store into RDK has “made RDK a realistic alternative for integrated broadcast/broadband services to Android TV Operator Tier with its admittedly superior Google app store,” Rethink Technology Research wrote in a report published this week. 

Rethink Technology said last year’s launch the RDK Accelerator was another “key move in responding to the dominance of Android TV operator tier. 

The RDK Lab Accelerator is based on the Arris VIP5202W UHD IP set-top and provides the RDK community an application development platform that uses the latest RDK application framework and the pre-integrated Metrological App Store.

The research company predicts that the Google-backed Android TV will dominate the global pay TV set-top business over the next five years. But RDK will maintain a market share of 57% fo the U.S. market over the next five years, with the biggest cable companies choosing to use the software stack. 

The pay TV set-top isn’t necessarily going away. But it is entering a new global era in which countless video operating systems will be whittled down to a precious few. And Google’s Android TV platform will emerge the clear world leader.

That’s the conclusion of Rethink Technology Research’s latest report, How to Survive the Set-top Box Endgame.

"Android TV, RDK and a handful of other specialist smart TV OSs will come to the fore, mostly at the expense of generic Linux variants, plus a new entry out of China as the U.S. China trade war eliminates what would have been dominance there on Android in favor of Huawei’s Harmony, which will eventually make the transition from Smart TV OS, to full bloodied set tops,” the report reads.

Also read: Google Developing Android TV-based Chromecast with Its Own Remote: Report

Android TV will have its biggest growth in the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years, surging past 160 million deployed devices, Rethink Technology predicts. In the U.S., it’s growth will be curtailed by Reference Design Kit (RDK), a conglomerate that includes Comcast, Liberty Global and other cable companies, and which specifies an open software stack for pay TV set-tops and other customer premises equipment.

Rethink Technology credits RDK with several key recent moves. Among them was integrating getting close to Metrological, which operates an app destination that provides a similar function to Google’s Play Store. Comcast even purchased the Dutch tech company last year.

“Meanwhile, Huawei’s HarmonyOS will become a major force in China, not due to its merits, but due to China needing independence from US toolsets,” Rethink said in its report. "It will take 28% of set top OSs there, against 14% still going to Android TV, and in the rest of Asia Android’s progress will only be held in check by proprietary OSs of big two, Samsung and LG, at least on smart TVs. HarmonyOS will also take 75% of China’s smart TV OS market by 2025.”

In less than three year’s time, Google has made massive inroads in the global pay TV business for the operator tier version of Android TV. The OS provides a simple means to let users tap into Netflix, YouTube or pretty much any OTT app they want via Google Play. It also provides a next-generation voice-control experience with access to Google Assistant. This lets operators provide a modern video experience without incurring any tech development costs.

Google enjoys far less penetration in the global OTT device business with Android TV. But it does have some juice in regard to its Chromecast streaming dongle, which controls 11% of the U.S. OTT device market. Google is reportedly working on a new version of Chromecast based on Android TV. 

The pay TV set-top isn’t necessarily going away. But it is entering a new global era in which countless video operating systems will be whittled down to a precious few. And Google’s Android TV platform will emerge the clear world leader.

That’s the conclusion of Rethink Technology Research’s latest report, How to Survive the Set-top Box Endgame.

"Android TV, RDK and a handful of other specialist smart TV OSs will come to the fore, mostly at the expense of generic Linux variants, plus a new entry out of China as the U.S. China trade war eliminates what would have been dominance there on Android in favor of Huawei’s Harmony, which will eventually make the transition from Smart TV OS, to full bloodied set tops,” the report reads. 

Also read: Google Developing Android TV-based Chromecast with Its Own Remote: Report

Android TV will have its biggest growth in the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years, surging past 160 million deployed devices, Rethink Technology predicts. In the U.S., it’s growth will be curtailed by Reference Design Kit (RDK), a conglomerate that includes Comcast, Liberty Global and other cable companies, and which specifies an open software stack for pay TV set-tops and other customer premises equipment. 

Rethink Technology credits RDK with several key recent moves. Among them was integrating getting close to Metrological, which operates an app destination that provides a similar function to Google’s Play Store. Comcast even purchased the Dutch tech company last year. 

“Meanwhile, Huawei’s HarmonyOS will become a major force in China, not due to its merits, but due to China needing independence from US toolsets,” Rethink said in its report." It will take 28% of set top OSs there, against 14% still going to Android TV, and in the rest of Asia Android’s progress will only be held in check by proprietary OSs of big two, Samsung and LG, at least on smart TVs. HarmonyOS will also take 75% of China’s smart TV OS market by 2025.”

In less than three year’s time, Google has made massive inroads in the global pay TV business for the operator tier version of Android TV. The OS provides a simple means to let users tap into Netflix, YouTube or pretty much any OTT app they want via Google Play. It also provides a next-generation voice-control experience with access to Google Assistant. This lets operators provide a modern video experience without incurring any tech development costs.

Google enjoys far less penetration in the global OTT device business with Android TV. But it does have some juice in regard to its Chromecast streaming dongle, which controls 11% of the U.S. OTT device market. Google is reportedly working on a new version of Chromecast based on Android TV. 

South Korean electronics vendor Humax has announced a new line of devices targeted to the cable operator market and built around Reference Design Kit (RDK), the open-source software stack favored by Comcast, Liberty Global and other cable companies.

The devices include a new RDK Video Accelerator, 4K video set-top, that includes pre-integrated apps with RDK app framework and access to the Metrological App Store.

There are two gateways: a DOCSIS 3.1 wireless voice gateway supporting 5 Gbps downstream; and a 2.5G GPON wireless voice gateway supporting 2.5 Gbps downstream.

Also included in Humax’s RDK product line is the 4K Soundbox, which features an integrated microphone for far-field voice recognition.

The RDK products signal an emerging strategy for Humax to compete directly with vendors including CommScope and Technicolor for the cable CPE market.

> “Humax is committed to continuous innovation, and that is especially true when it comes to RDK devices,” said Jeff Kim, executive VP of worldwide sales of Humax, in a statement. “For many of the leading video and broadband providers around the world, RDK is their software platform of choice, and we’re excited to deliver them this portfolio of new products. From our 4K IP set-top box and 4K Soundbox, to our GPON and DOCSIS gateways, we have RDK-powered solutions to meet the growing market demands.”

Added Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK: “Humax has been a leading contributor to the RDK community for years, and today’s announcement is another powerful case in point. On the video side, their stylish new RDK Video Accelerator IP set-top box will enable service providers to quickly test and launch new video applications for deployment. On the broadband side, Humax’s state-of-the-art RDK gateways for fiber and cable are designed to serve the needs of our community today, and into the future.” 

Altice Labs, the Portugal-based technology arm of the eponymous global telecom conglomerate, has debuted a new line of RDK-based broadband gateways for service providers around the globe.

Most of the devices support the new WiFi 6, 802.11ax standard. And the gateways are available for both hybrid fiber coax and fiber-to-the-home networks, supporting DOCSIS 3.0, DOCSIS 3.1, GPON and XGS-PON.

Altice Labs will deploy the new devices with Altice Europe and Altice USA. The GPON version of the gateway is already deployed with SFR in France, which is part of Altice Europe

Altice, along with RDK Management, will also showcase the tech at the upcoming Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam (October 15-17).

RDK, or Reference Design Kit, is a consortium-backed set of pre-designed software bundles powering cable TV set-tops, broadband gateways and other CPE. The consortium is supported by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter, and overseen by RDK Management.

“Our suite of Altice Labs’ gateways with RDK can help improve operator efficiency across access technologies and accelerate operator innovation by using a common approach for Wi-Fi management, device diagnostics and data analytics,” said Alcino Lavrador, general manager of Altice Labs, in a statement.

“Altice Labs is renowned for developing world-class broadband solutions, and we’re honored to have them in the RDK community,” added Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK. “Altice Labs should be commended for its ability to develop RDK solutions across multiple access network technologies, and for its use in the world’s first GPON deployment with RDK. These exciting broadband products are a clear testament to Altice Labs’ technological leadership and commitment to RDK.”

Comcast’s quiet acquisition of Dutch technology company Metrological was a strategic move intended to bolster its RDK Management consortium and put competitive pressure on Android TV in the U.S. and European set-top business.

So said the UK’s Rethink Research, which said Comcast “acquired a gem of a vendor with a revered team capable of boosting RDK recognition in Europe while defending the ranks against Android TV's belated invasion into the U.S.”

Related: Android TV’s U.S. Invasion Has Officially Begun

Comcast confirmed news originating out of the IBC Show in Amsterdam this week that it had purchased the local technology company. It also confirmed that Metrological’s staff would report to Steve Heeb, Comcast's VP and GM of licensing and strategic development.

Notably, Heeb is also in charge of RDK Management, a consortium run by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications. RDK Management is the umbrella org for the Reference Design Kit, a pre-designed software stack that powers pay TV set-tops, broadband gateways and other operator CPE.

For its part, Metrological had been employed by Comcast and Liberty Global to natively embed apps including Netflix into video systems like X1. And more broadly, RDK has been working with Metrological since year to provide pay TV customers access to the Metrological App Store, which has more than 300 OTT apps.

Over the last 24 months, RDK has watched as Google’s Android TV platform has become a preferred set-top software base in Europe, with operators looking for an inexpensive means to provide their customers access to popular OTT apps. Android TV lets users shop the Google Play store for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and hundreds of other OTT apps.

In April, Google told MCN that Android TV had been deployed with more than 140 pay TV operators worldwide, and that it was starting to make traction in the U.S.

For its part, Metrological had been looking at ways to get involved with Android TV, too. But the Comcast deal has the potential to swing the momentum back in RDK’s favor.

“Presumably the [Comcast] acquisition signals the end of Metrological’s exploration into the Android TV operator tier arena,” Rethink Research analyst Thomas Flanagan wrote. 

Looking to serve a vendor market that wants to deliver agile, OTT-capable set-tops to pay TV operators, Broadcom and RDK Management have jointly announced the RDK Accelerator Program.

The new initiative will deliver chip sets that are pre-integrated with the Reference Design Kit software stack, which includes access to the Metrological App Store. Much like the Google Play Store that’s integrated into set-tops built around the rival Android TV operating system, these RDK set-tops have access to Netflix, Hulu and many other popular OTT apps distributed through the Metrological App Store.

The Broadcom chipsets have actually been around for a while now.

Released January, Broadcom’s BCM72180 is the latest generation of Advanced HDR Ultra High Definition (UHD), high-security system-on-chip (SoC) devices for set-tops. It delivers with 50% higher performance and 50% lower power than the prior generation. Newly integrated technologies include the streaming optimized AV1 UHD IPTV video codec, personalized Far-Field Voice (FFV) control, and 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 for significantly better streaming performance, higher security, and lower power consumption. Meanwhile, the BCM72180 supports hybrid (cable, satellite and terrestrial) and traditional IPTV designs, with and without FFV.

Developed jointly by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, RDK is an open source software platform for the connected home that standardizes core functions used in broadband, video, and IoT devices.

“Broadcom has always been committed to RDK, and this new effort is aimed at the growing demand for RDK-based video solutions from global OEMs and service providers,” said Rich Nelson, senior VP and general manager for Broadcom’s set-top box and cable modem division, in a statement “By creating pre-integrated chipset platforms, our customers can create compelling new RDK-based STB designs and products and get to market quickly and effectively.”

Added Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK: “Thanks to Broadcom, OEMs seeking to deliver turnkey RDK video products can now build, test and deploy a range of STBs to meet the various needs of service providers around the world. We’re very pleased with their expanded support for the RDK Video Accelerator program and look forward to future collaborations.”

RDK Management said that its open-sourced Reference Design Kit (RDK) is now deployed in 50 million devices around the world.

The group also said that its community membership has expanded to more than 400 companies.

RDK Management made what has become its annual benchmark announcement from ANGA COM in Cologne, Germany. In March of 2018, it declared that RDK had been deployed in 40 million devices.

Related: RDK Partners with Metrological for Easier OTT App Integration

“Service providers around the globe recognize that RDK gives them ultimate control over their software roadmaps and data within the connected home, across video, broadband and IoT connected devices,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK. “As such, there are now more than 50 million deployed devices powered by RDK software.

“On the broadband side, RDK has become the preferred software stack for broadband gateways from leading suppliers, and they are focused on providing RDK solutions across DOCSIS, DSL, and PON," Heeb added. "For video, the RDK App Framework and RDK Video Accelerator make it easier to develop and manage apps in a consistent way across RDK video devices. And, notably, RDK also provides a common method for service providers to leverage device management and ‘big data’ to improve broadband and video performance.”

ATLANTA - Setting the table for a Cable-Tec Expo panel discussion on the state of the cable industry’s Reference Design Kit (RDK) open source software initiate five years after launch, moderator Leslie Ellis noted a few fast facts about the year 2013.

Read More: Cable-Tec Expo 2018

The term “selfie” hit the Zeitgeist that year. Edward Snowden disclosed secret CIA documents. Oh, and …

It was at that point that former Comcast executive Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management, and the man who has overseen the joint initiative since it was kicked off by Comcast, Liberty Global and the erstwhile Time Warner Cable, put his own thoughts into Ellis’ exercise in in time perspective.

“Five years ago, if you said you were going to put an application layer on top of broadband, they would have told you to leave the room,” Heeb said.

Indeed, the open source development paradigm wasn’t popular—or even accepted—in the cable industry when the RDK initiative was originally conceived. But at the time, operators needed to try something to get more nimble as more agile over-the-top ecosystems began purging their subscriber ranks.

By having one centralized repository of software code, operators and their key vendor partners quickly realized significant software development time savings for video set-tops. They could create one user interface that would work across numerous set-tops from multiple vendors. The time it took for system on a chip (SoC) integration got cut in half. In short, re-invention of the wheel stopped occurring in the cable industry, at least for the video piece.

Today, Heeb said, more than 350 companies use RDK—not just the operators represented on Wednesday’s panel, which included Comcast, Liberty and Cox, but major hardware vendors including Intel, Broadcom, Technicolor and Humax, just to name a few.

Heeb said that there are more than 4 million transactions a month at RDK’s central repository for RDK code.

Related: RDK Partners With Metrological for Easier OTT App Integration

The software stack is standard on all video set-top boxes deployed by Comcast, Liberty, Cox and other cable companies around the world. And RDK recently extended its video capabilities, working with European software company Metrological to design an open source means for operators to integrate popular OTT services like Netflix into their user interfaces.

“Roku has Netflix and Hulu, and so do we,” said Bill Warga, VP of technology for Liberty Global.

The ‘B’ is for broadband

For his part, Warga never had doubts RDK would catch on. “I did think that open source would take off in cable—we needed a solution like this.” He noted RDK’s use in the development of Liberty’s voice remote. With Comcast already having laid down so much of the open source road work in development of its own X1 Voice Remote, Liberty was able to instead concentrate on other challenges—such as figuring out multiple Swedish dialects—and as a result, it vastly reduced the time to market for the voice control feature.

But Warga admitted that he never foresaw RDK’s current trajectory, which is moving into broadband services.

Sketching out the new domain of RDK, Heeb said the standard is now a “whole-home open source software platform for video and broadband devices. It goes across all devices an operator has in a home—from QAM set-tops to gateways to mesh extenders and even cameras.”

Earlier this month, Istanbul-based technology vendor AirTies said it will debut a version of its mesh WiFi software for broadband devices running RDK, beginning in the first quarter of next year.

And earlier this week, German smart home technology vendor Plume announced that it has open sourced its previously proprietary middleware, which is available to operators across residential gateways, modems, routers, access points, extenders, set-top boxes, IoT hubs, smart speakers and other devices. Plume said its open-source framework, which it calls OpenSync, is compatible with, and leverages, RDK.

Ed Shrum, VP of product development and management of devices and networking for Cox, said RDK will soon be deployed in every piece of residential CPE.

One of RDK’s biggest selling points, according to Heeb, is its ability to offer operators control of device data. Cox, Shrum explained, recently took advantage of that capability on its RDK-enabled gateways to diagnose an SSID issue. “We had the data needed solve the problem at our finger tips,” he said. Prior to RDK, Shrum added, Cox would have had to get the gateway vendor to write and push out a special piece of engineering code.

Certainly, as Wednesday’s morning panel showed, RDK’s coalition is a pretty happy one, with Comcast senior VP of devices and advanced systems declaring that his team uses RDK “every day, day and night” to create a better customer experience.

But there is at least a little discord. There’s disagreement, for example, on how much integration of FAANG companies to allow. Heeb conceded to MCN that he’s been reassuring RDK’s operator stakeholders at SCTE that bringing in popular devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home Assistant into the ecosystem will be accretive, and not a threat.

After all, he noted, there was a time, when companies like Comcast and Liberty wouldn’t think of integrating Netflix into their video systems.

Of course, that was so five years ago. 

AirTies said it will debut a version of its mesh Wi-Fi software for broadband devices running the cable industry’s open-source RDK platform, beginning in the first quarter of next year.

The Instanbul-based technology vendor also said that it has already signed on a Tier 1 operator, as of yet unnamed, to deploy its new software product.

Related: RDK Partners with Metrological for Easier OTT App Integration

RDK is an open-sourced software stack, backed by Comcast, Charter Communications and Liberty Global, and designed for pay TV set-tops and broadband gateways.

AirTies didn’t specify which vendors might use its RDK-enabled software in devices, but the company works with leading CPE vendors, including Arris.

Increasingly, service providers are emphasizing whole-home performance management of the customer Wi-Fi experience. And finding ways for hardware including gateways and extenders to play nice is part of the plan. 

“Since the RDK is an open source software platform for the connected home, improving the home Wi-Fi experience through new applications and analytics is of paramount importance,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management.

“With this forthcoming integration, operators using RDK will easily be able to deploy AirTies’ Managed Wi-Fi Mesh software on their broadband CPE, and it will be deployed by a Tier 1 operator in the near future,” added Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies. 

Recognizing that its pay TV constituents need a quick, effective way to provide customers with apps to popular over-the-top services, RDK Management has partnered with Metrological to create a two-pronged solution for integrating apps into RDK set-tops.

The announcement was made at the IBC Show in Amsterdam.

The first approach involves the new RDK App Framework, which allows service providers to create HTML5 and native applications on set-top boxes using the RDK Firebolt App SDK. The solution also provides on-boarding and life cycle management tools, and enables app portability across various set-top box models.

Driven by the RDK open source community, with key contributions from Metrological, RDK App Framework provides a complete development, build and test environment for web and native apps across RDK-based set-top boxes. Service providers now have a common technical framework to support native premium video apps, such as Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video, along with a wide-variety of niche or third-party HTML5 apps. Technical details are available at: https://wiki.rdkcentral.com/display/RDK/Firebolt.

Related: RDK Rides the Adoption Wave

For service providers seeking a more turnkey solution, Metrological’s App Store was named as the first RDK pre-integrated app store. Metrological’s App Store includes access to a library of of more than 300 apps. In addition, the App Store can be used to launch premium video apps such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video; local and regionalized apps; and all of the back-office tools needed to launch and manage the lifecycle of an app store. Content providers are able to reach over 40 million households across operator networks by uploading a single app onto the Metrological App Library.

“Our community also includes many operators who simply want their own white-labeled app store that works across RDK set-top boxes,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management, in a statement. “To support them, we’re pleased to name Metrological as the first RDK pre-integrated app store. It’s a clear testament to Metrological’s capabilities and ongoing contributions to the RDK community.”

RDK Management is an open source consortium, led by Comcast and Liberty Global, that manages the Reference Design Kit (RDK), an open source software platform for the connected home that standardizes core functions used in broadband devices, set-top boxes, and IoT solutions. It enables operators to manage their devices; control their business models; and customize their apps, UIs and data analytics to improve the customer experience and drive business results. The RDK community is comprised of more than 350 companies including: CPE manufacturers, SoC vendors, software developers, system integrators, and service providers.

RDK Management is moving fast to provide flexibility to pay TV operators, who have turned to solutions including Android TV to provide OTT apps to consumers.

Metrological enables operators to integrate premium OTT services and niche content into a single TV viewer experience. The Metrological Application Platform delivers a product suite for on-boarding and managing the lifecycle of web and native apps across set-top boxes and devices. Content providers are able to reach over 40 million households across operator networks by uploading a single app onto the Metrological App Library. Metrological works with cable and telecommunications companies such as KPN, Liberty Global, NOS, beIN, Tele Columbus, and Ooredoo. Founded in 2005, Metrological is based in The Netherlands with offices in the U.S. and Europe.

RDK Management LLC, a joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, said more than 40 million devices – including set-tops and broadband gateways – are now running Reference Design Kit software.

RELATED: RDK Rides the Adoption Wave

That total is up by more than 62% from this time last year, RDK Management said in numbers that were released in tandem with this week’s Connected TV World Summit in London.

RDK Management also announced that its community members have surpassed 350 companies, up 17% from 2017. Those members include chipmakers, set-top makers, software companies as well as service operators that include Cox Communications, Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications, Videotron,  NOS, NOWO, J:COM, Melita, The Quickline Group, Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutschland), and Tele Columbus, among others.

RDK has historically focused on video set-tops (RDK-V) and broadband gateways (RDK-B), but has also added core interfaces used in smart home and IoT devices, including Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee, and is developing open source software for chips that run on a range of new devices, including home video cameras and WiFi extenders.

“With more than 40 million RDK-based set-top boxes and broadband gateways deployed globally, it’s clear that service providers, and their suppliers, have found a prime open source software development platform upon which to drive future growth and innovation,” Steve Heeb, president and GM of RDK Management, said in a statement.

RDK Management-- a joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications -- and Broadcom have forged a strategic development agreement that will more closely integrate chipset-level software from Broadcom with RDK’s open source software.

They believe the effort, announced as the 2018 RDK Americas Summit gets underway Wednesday in Denver, will create a common software porting layer that will simplify and standardize RDK deployments across consumer premises equipment suppliers used by video and broadband service providers around the globe.

RELATED: RDK Rides the Adoption Wave

The work all stems around the Reference Design Kit, a preintgrated software stack for video set-tops (RDK-V) and a newer flavor for gateways (RDK-B).  RDK Management and Broadcom will initially focus the agreement on RDK-V software, and include broadband gateway system-on-a-chip (SoC) and RDK-B software later.

The new effort is emerging in part because each CPE maker has typically used slightly modified SoC-layer software to support RDK-based devices, even when using the same Broadcom SoC and same version of RDK software. The revised approach, they said, will provide for a more efficient process to keep Broadcom SoC software development kit versions in sync with RDK versions.

RELATED: IBC 2017: J:COM Taps Ericsson for New Multiscreen Service

To that end, RDK Management and Broadcom will synchronize the release of new RDK versions with the new Broadcom SDK porting layer versions that Broadcom makes available to its licensees. The result, they said, will optimize and streamline the service provider’s ability to develop and deploy software used on Broadcom-powered devices.

“By simplifying and streamlining the underlying software, services providers and their CPE suppliers can focus more of their attention on enhancing customer experiences that drive business results,” Steve Heeb, president and GM of RDK Management, said in a statement.

“We believe that optimizing the RDK-SoC SDK porting layer will enable CPE manufactures and service providers to deploy and iterate even faster,” added Rich Nelson, senior vice president and general manager, of Broadcom’s set-top box and cable modem division.

RDK Management said more than 25 service providers in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia are in various stages of evaluation, testing, trials, or deployment, and more than 300 vendors (CE companies, chipmakers, software developers and system integrators) that are involved in RDK.

On the service provider side, known RDK adopters/implementers include Comcast, Cox Communications, Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications, Videotron, Liberty Global, NOS, The Quickline Group, Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutschland), Tele Columbus, and J:Com.

After starting out as a video-centric platform, the Reference Design Kit (RDK) has branched off to support broadband gateways as well.

The RDK, a preintegrated software platform for IP-connected set-tops and gateways managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, has been ramping its adoption curve as more service providers lean on it for their next-gen services and a growing group of vendors add support.

To catch up on all things RDK, Multichannel News recently caught up with Steve Heeb, president and GM of RDK Management LLC. An edited transcript follows.

Multichannel News: Can you offer an update on RDK stats in terms of overall licensees as well as service providers that are on board?

Steve Heeb: Things are going great with the RDK thanks to the passion, and maturation, of our community. The RDK has become a prime software development platform supported by more than 300 technology companies across OEMs, SoC vendors, software developers, system integrators, and service providers.

More than 25 service providers across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia are members of the RDK community and are in various stages of evaluation, testing, trials, or deployment. Notable service providers that are implementing the RDK include: Comcast and Cox in the United States; Shaw, Rogers, and Videotron in Canada; Liberty Global, NOS, The Quickline Group, Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutschland), and Tele Columbus in Europe; and Liberty Global in Latin America.  And, just last month, Japan’s J:Com announced its intention to go RDK.  On both the video and broadband front, operators are actively embracing the RDK open-source software solution to help power their next-gen devices.

RELATED: IBC 2017: J:COM Taps Ericsson for New Multiscreen Service

MCN: Where do you expect the next wave of growth to come from?

SH: While RDK-V (video) continues to be a key growth driver, we anticipate that the impact of RDK-B (broadband) will likely be more significant over time. As service providers look to provide a range of new services for connected-homes, the need for common underlying software in broadband gateways is growing more acute. RDK-B provides this common method to manage various broadband functions, such as home-networking interfaces (e.g. WiFi and MoCA), device management, diagnostics, and smart home/IoT interfaces (e.g. Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee). Over the past year, we’ve seen greater interest from service providers, and wider adoption of RDK-B by leading chipset manufacturers and OEMs.

MCN: What are some of the latest advancements or enhancements that have been made to RDK?

SH: RDK-V has moved to embrace the WPE [Webkit Pure Embedded] browser, a high performance, resource efficient implementation of WebKit specifically targeted for embedded software devices such as IP set-top boxes.

Related to this, we have ports of the RDK running on open test platforms such as Raspberry Pi and x86 PC emulators. We use these devices as our primary test platforms when making our software releases. On the RDK-B side, we continue to work to drive greater standardization with some of the key silicon vendors. In addition, we have received positive feedback on some of our device management features such as WebPA & xconf which enables real time control, configuration and feedback from RDK-B based devices.

MCN: What are some features that are on the roadmap?

SH: Our roadmap is driven by the RDK community, so they set the course. For RDK-V, we are looking at opportunities to standardize common elements of the application framework enabling common APIs and easier portability of premium apps across RDK implementations.  For RDK-B, more and more service providers see the RDK as the foundation for a range of new IoT services, so you can expect to see more on that front. Plus, you can expect to see new RDK “software profiles” for devices in the connected home from cameras to Wi-Fi extenders and more. 

MCN: We sometimes think of RDK being for set-tops and broadband gateways, but are there other devices that will fit into the RDK ecosystem, like smart home hubs and other IoT-style devices?

SH: Any device in the connected home today relies on an OEM with chipsets, and these OEM/chipset solutions have a software layer. Right now, much of this software is proprietary and widely divergent, making it a challenge for service providers to deliver unified experiences or gather common key data needed to serve their subscribers. RDK-B offers the ability to help address these underlying issues, while still giving companies the flexibility to innovate on their customer-facing software. So, there are certainly plenty of new kinds of devices that could benefit from the RDK.

MCN: As you try to gain more ground in the market, what is your biggest challenge to overcome with respect to service providers? That they’ve already picked a horse to ride for their next-gen platforms?

SH: If there is one thing that is universal, it’s that service providers tend to have very particular points of view when it comes to their next-gen platforms. Our role at RDK Management LLC is to be an educational resource for them, and to facilitate the sharing of best-practices among our community.  Fortunately, we now have the scale we need to be self-sustaining, and our software is available in open-source for service providers to adapt as they see fit.

We assume that the video and broadband landscape will be even more competitive in three to five years and that operators will require a modern software platform with access to real time data to run their products and services in order to be responsive to customer demands and competitive solutions. The RDK can provide this and act as a catalyst that enables real time data collection, the ability to implement agile software development, and the ability to utilize a Dev-Ops product development and operating methodology. It’s really powerful with the results you can achieve. The main misconception is that you have to transition to a Dev-Ops methodology day one, and that’s not true.

The beauty of the RDK is that the operator can utilize the RDK for what best fits their operating model. If they want to start fast, great. If they want to start slow, they can outsource the software management to a SI or OEM and transition to an agile software development and Dev-Ops product methodology on their own timeline. The key is that they will have real time data to help make this decision, and they are in control of the schedule.

MCN: Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter (via Time Warner Cable) have been heading up RDK for years. Has there been any interest from other companies to become a formal part of the co-venture?

SH: We are continually talking with service providers and technology companies about ways to become more involved with the RDK. We operate the RDK as an open source project, so we are open to suggestions by companies in the community, but most companies prefer to be involved through our technical working committees similar to other successful open source projects.

MCN: For operators that are outside that mix, what avenues are available to them to voice their needs or influence the direction of RDK?

SH: Like I previously mentioned, the RDK is an open-source community established to serve the needs of service providers and technology companies. Any service provider can contribute or receive code. They can join working committees, participate in RDK events, and propose code changes or roadmaps, and more.  Our mantra is “vote with your code,” which means all of community members, not just service providers, have the ability to influence the direction of the RDK.

Add NOS, Portugal’s major cable operator, to the list of MSOs that is embracing OTT.

NOS, which serves more than 1.6 million video homes in Portugal, is working with Metrological to integrate a variety of OTT offerings, via a TV apps store, for its new UMA TV platform, which includes a 4K-capable box made by Arris that is powered by the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a pre-integrated software platform being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications.

RELATED: NOS Rolls RDK-Based Hybrid Platform in Portugal

Under the agreement, NOS will integrate OTT alongside its traditional pay TV offering using Metrological’s Application Platform, WPE (Web Platform for Embedded) browser and WPE cloud architecture.

NOS hasn’t revealed which OTT apps will be offered on its platform, but Metrological has already helped two other RDK champions – Comcast and Liberty Global – integrate online services such as Netflix on their respective set-top boxes.

RELATED: Liberty Global Taps Metrological for Netflix Rollout

Pedro Bandeira, head of development at NOS, said it’s important to employ an architecture that ensures that OTT services are not delivered to set-tops in in separate silos, but are seamlessly integrated into the operator’s interface/navigation and search platform.

“It’s a full experience, a full package,” Bandeira explained, adding that NOS’s new hybrid set-top box platform “offers us the flexibility to do such a move.”

Metrological’s approach, added company SVP of sales and marketing Thijs Bijleveld, doesn’t replace anything on the box’s middleware stack, but employs an open-source browser that can efficiently onboard apps.

Espial said it has contributed a batch of conditional access system integration and certification software to the community of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for video and broadband gateways that’s managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications.

RELATED: Tele Columbus Takes RDK Route to Next-Gen Video

In this instance, Espial is contributing to RDK-V, the video-focused flavor of the platform.

Espial said it has certified and deployed RDK-V version 2 with several conditional access system companies, including Nagra, Cisco systems, Verimatrix and Widevine (part of Google) for future RDK-powered implementations.

Espial added that it has also contributed components to help speed set-top box porting, including Hardware Abstraction Layer technologies for set-tops and remote control functions, and other elements that aim to improve the STB porting code base.

Espial noted that it has deployed RDK-V version 2.x with European cable operators such as NOS of Portugal and TeleColumbus of Germany.

RELATED: NOS Rolls RDK-Based Hybrid Platform in Portugal

"Espial's contributions are important additions to RDK and their real-world learning and experience is an asset to the community" said Bill Warga, VP technology at Liberty Global, in a statement.

"The success of the RDK is driven by members like Espial bringing innovation, technical expertise, and best practices to the RDK community. A prime example of this is the contributions Espial has made to RDK-V CAS integrations and certifications that significantly benefit global service providers and their technology partners," added Steve Heeb, president at RDK Management LLC.

J:COM, Japan’s largest cable operator, has tapped Ericsson for a next-gen, multiscreen TV service that will utilize Ericsson’s cloud-powered MediaFirst platform.

J:COM’s new offering, to become available to about 3.7 million subscribers, will also feature hybrid set-tops that use the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a preintegrated software stack that’s managed by a joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (coming way of Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable).

RELATED: Ericsson Connects With The RDK

In addition to providing personalization features and a cloud-based interface, the new platform will also support Ultra HD content, they said.

Ericsson, which announced the deal ahead of this week’s IBC show in Amsterdam, said the basic design phase for J:COM’s new offering will get underway in Q4 2017.

The deal marks a significant win for Ericsson’s MediaFirst platform, which is also being used by Canada’s Telus for a new IPTV service called Pik TV that runs on smartphones, tablets and an Android TV-powered set-top.

RELATED: Telus Soft-Launches Skinny Bundle IPTV Service

“Consumers have more choice than ever before and it is therefore imperative that we stand out from the crowd to remain competitive in an ever-cluttered TV landscape, Hirohiko Imura president of J:COM, said in a statement. “We believe that a seamless and personalized TV Everywhere service will enable J:COM to create that distinction. By deploying Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform, we will have access to a range of uniquely intelligent, high performance solutions that will help us to transform our television offering and strengthen our position at the forefront of TV innovation.”

The Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and broadband gateways, has been deployed by operators in more than 25 million devices worldwide, up 67% from a year ago.

That’s according to the RDK Management LLC, the joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications, which announced the updated figure at the 2017 Connected TV World Summit in London.

Membership of the RDK community, which includes service operators, chipmakers, software firms and device makers, now numbers more than 300, the JV said.

RDK Management said more than 25 cable, satellite and telco providers around the world are in various stages of evaluation, testing, trials, or deployment. Known examples of service providers that have adopted RDK or plan to do so include Comcast, Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications of Canada, NOS of Portugal, Liberty Global, Cox Communications, Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutshland) and Tele Columbus of Germany, and Switzerland’s The Quickline Group.

RELATED: Tele Columbus Takes RDK Route to Next-Gen Video

RDK has been adapted for video devices (RDK-V), supporting a common framework for functions such as tuning, IP video, third-party DRM and media streaming, as well as broadband CPE (RDK-B), and support for a wide range of networking and IoT interfaces, including WiFi, MoCA, Thread and Zigbee. Both options are designed to accelerate the development of new products.

“Due to the passion and maturation of our community, the RDK has become a prime software development platform that powers more than 25 million set-top boxes and broadband gateways used by pay TV operators around the world,” Steve Heeb, president and GM of  RDK Management LLC, said in a statement. “On both the video and broadband front, operators are actively embracing our transparency and open-source software, collaborating with leading technology companies, and contributing new innovations back to the RDK community. Together, we’ve embraced the best practices of the software industry, enabling operators to iterate faster than ever before.”  

At the event, a keynote panel about RDK today will feature Heeb; Fraser Stirling, SVP hardware development & AI at Comcast; Pedro Bandeira, director product development, NOS Portugal; Olivier Philippe, VP, entertainment technology, Liberty Global; and Christian Constant, VP, product development entertainment, Vodafone Germany. 

Cloud Force Digital Media, a company that enables programmers and operator partners to distribute content on a variety of interactive, cloud-powered platforms, said it has becoming a card-carrying member of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software platform for video and broadband devices being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications.

Cloud Force Digital said its RDK license will help it build, distribute and monetize Internet apps for operators, programmers, service providers and advertisers that use the RDK stack.

Per the company’s web site, Cloud Force Digital said it can help new companies gain access to Comcast’s X1 platform and other cable and digital cloud interactive platforms, and build, distribute and monetize HTML5 apps.  

The company also notes that its will “project manage the 4 month application development cycle of the X1 app and create both the sales and marketing presentations to the cable operators in order to secure approval both in the cable test market and a national rollout.”  

Once an X1 TV app is approved for market testing, it’s sent to the vendor’s technology partner for an Adobe Primetime “advanced software RDK technical upgrade.”  Following the upgrade, Cloud Force Digital Media will help to distribute the X1 app “nationally on cable cloud interactive platforms.”

Comcast’s X1 platform, now deployed to about 45% of the MSO’s video sub base, leans heavily on the RDK. Cox Communications and Shaw Communications are also syndicating X1 for their respective next-gen video platforms. Liberty Global is also adopting RDK for its Horizon TV platform. 

RELATED: Shaw ‘On Track’ For Full-Footprint Rollout of X1

Cloud Force also announced it has partnered with To The New, an India-based firm that has created a “turnkey” video OTT platform for broadcasters, content owners, aggregators and media companies.

RELATED: Liberty Global CEO: RDK 'A DOCSIS Moment' For Cable

“Cloud Force and the RDK community are both focused on delivering next-generation interactive video services.  In addition, by joining forces with TO THE NEW, Cloud Force will be able to deliver transformative apps that are a necessary part of this evolution,” E.J. Klein, Cloud Force’s CEO and founder, said in a statement. Klein is also late of Universal Music Group, HSN, CBC Television and Food Network.

Cable modem and gateway maker Hitron Americas Technology said it is pitching in for RDK-B, the broadband-focused flavor of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable video and broadband devices being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications.

Get complete coverage of Cable-Tec Expo 2016

Hitron, which will show off an Intel-powered DOCSIS 3.1 device at next week’s SCTE/ISBE Cable-Tec Expo show in Philadelphia, said it’s joining the RDK community as an Advanced Support Program (ASP) partner and its Platinum Media Sponsorship Program (MSP).

“With upcoming DOCSIS 3.1 gateway deployments, we will also see the proliferation of RDK-B powered CPE,” Todd Babic, the vendor’s chief sales and marketing officer, said in a statement.

RDK-B complements RDK-V, which is focused on video devices.

Ericsson said it has integrated MediaFirst, its cloud-based multiscreen platform for MVPDs and OTT providers, with the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for video and broadband devices being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (via its acquisition of Time Warner Cable).

Ericsson said the integration will be key as cable operator and satellite providers evolve to hybrid IPTV delivery platforms. Canada-based Telus is one of the early adopters of MediaFirst, but has not announced any plans to use RDK-based devices. Ericsson said other tier-1 providers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are also on board, but isn't at liberty to identify them by name yet. 

MediaFirst is Ericsson’s new, HTML5-focused platform that’s tailored for the cloud and support for an array of connected devices/clients, including set-tops, tablets, smartphones, streaming players and PCs.

MediaFirst is separate from Mediaroom, the IPTV platform acquired by Ericsson in 2013 that’s deployed by providers such as AT&T U-verse, CenturyLink, Windstream, and Frontier Communications, among others.

Ericsson is one of more than 275 companies, including CE manufactures, chipmakers, software developers and service providers, to license the RDK.

“In this new IP world, consumers will put even greater demands on their providers to deliver amazing viewing experiences,” Shiva Patibanda, the new head of business line TV platforms at Ericsson, RDK pioneer, and the former CTO and GM of in-home products at SeaChange International. “By integrating MediaFirst TV onto the RDK, we can offer cable operators or any TV operator adopting RDK, a powerful cloud-based TV Platform to expand capabilities above and beyond consumers’ expectations.”

“Pay TV operators around the globe can now benefit from the common underlying software of the RDK, while retaining the ability to differentiate their customer facing TV experience using the innovative MediaFirst TV platform,” added Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management LLC. “Ericsson is a proven IPTV market leader whom we are proud to collaborate with and look forward to scaling this integration across Ericsson’s global customer base.” 

Eurofins Digital Testing, a provider of quality assurance and testing services, said it is adding more multiplatform TV and video smarts to its repertoire via the acquisition of Sweden-based Labatus.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal gives Eurofins access to a company that makes automated test products for a range of devices, including set-tops, smartphones, tablets, as well as apps.

Labatus, they noted, also supports the deployment of TiVo-powered platforms for MVPDs such as Com Hem, Sweden’s largest cable operator.

Eurofins, which will show off its handiwork at next month’s IBC show in Amsterdam, also announced the opening of a new test facility in Gdansk, Poland, that will provide a “near-shore testing facility” operators in Europe.

Eurofins recently joined a large group of companies licensing the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable video and broadband devices being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (via its recent acquisition of Time Warner Cable.)

Eurofins Digital Testing has joined a growing list of vendors and operators to license the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for hybrid and IP-only set-tops and gateways being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (via its acquisition of Time Warner Cable). 

Eurofins (formerly Testronic Labs Belgium) said it has been picked by multiple operators to manage TV service testing on RDK-based set-tops. Those MSOs where not named, but others MVPDs that have licensed RDK include NOS of Portugal, Rogers Communications, Kabel Deutschland, and Japan’s J:COM, among others.

“By providing insight into the availability, stability and quality of next-gen video services, companies like Eurofins play an important role in helping operators speed the deployment of RDK based products,” said Jason Briggs, senior director of licensing and strategic development at RDK Management, in  a statement.

“Test automation is fast becoming one of the most important factors for operators looking to accelerate deployment of video services and deliver the very best experience,” added Johan Craeybeckx, CEO of Eurofins Digital Testing Belgium Division.

RDK Development said the platform is supported by more than 250 companies including CE manufacturers, SoCs vendors, software developers, system integrators, and network operators.

In May, RDK Development announced that more than 15 million devices were running the RDK.

RDK started out as a platform for video devices (now called RDK-V), but has since branched out to include broadband gateways (RDK-B). 

Espial execs shed more light on the strategy and financial angle behind its proposed acquisition of Arris’s Whole Home Solution (WHS), a platform that has been deployed by more than 40 small- and mid-sized pay TV operators.

The business will add more than C$10 million (US$7.7 million) to Espial’s financials on an annual basis, with an expectation that the business will grow 20% to 30% per year, Jaison Dolvane, CEO of Ottawa-based Espial, said Wednesday on a call with reporters and analysts.

According to Espial CFO Carl Smith, 25% of WHS revenues is for recurring hosting and support, less than 10% for professional services revenue, with the balance made up of software license revenue. “There will be no hardware product revenue” for Espial coming way of the deal, Smith said.

Espial and Arris did not announce the financial terms of the asset deal, but Dolvane said Espial’s upfront payment for the WHS assets is “not material” to the Ottawa-based company, adding that Espial’s investment into its broader business over the next two years will be “more significant.”

Under the current plan, Espial believes this part of its business can go EBIDTA positive in 2018.

Dolvane estimated that there are more than 2 million boxes deployed that are powered by Arris’s WHS platform. He said the growth plan includes expanding the reach of WHS at existing customers, upselling others, and selling and deploying the offering to new customers.

He said Espial will look for WHS to help it expand in North America, as well as regions such as Europe, where Espial already has a presence (NOS in Portugal, and Tele Columbus in Germany, for example), and the Asia Pacific.

Though Espial is obtaining the assets of WHS, including about 50 Arris engineers and software developers, it’s not getting into the set-top-making business.

Under its new relationship, Espial will focus on software and user interfaces while Arris will continue to provide media gateways and set-tops. Previously, Arris sold WHS by bundling its software and hardware.

Updated: For set-tops and gateways, Espial said Arris its its "preferred to develop, manufacture, and distribute innovative WHS media gateways and set-tops and remotes to video service providers.  As we move forward, there is certainly the option to work with other hardware partners."  Espial also intends to include Arris Market, a platform for WHS offered in partnership with Wurl that enables the integration of third-party apps such as Netflix.  "Our intent is to include Arris Market – with Wurl as a partner - for the WHS platform. We will aim to finalize the details around this in the days and weeks ahead as we work to close the deal," an Espial official said via email. 

Under this approach, the software component is being severed from the hardware, and Espial believes this will allow for the faster introduction of new apps and services for pay TV partners.

“In general, the [WHS] customer base would like to see faster feature innovation and, really, from an Arris, perspective, they felt that partnering with a company like us... is going to allow them to actually achieve that,” he said, noting that Arris will serve as the “primary distribution channel” for the offering, though Espial will also pursue direct deals.  

Once the deal is wrapped up, Espial will push forward with a cloud-hosted “video-as-a-service” solution that will also seek to integrate G4, its new set-top software client for devices that run the Reference Design Kit and other platforms. By pairing its software with hardware from Arris and others, Espial will be pitching a platform that can spur IP video migrations.

“Some operators in the market have expressed a desire to have a turn-key, prepackaged, next-generation video solution that can be managed by a supplier,” he said. “Service providers are eager for an accelerated software roadmap.”

While a turn-key offering reduces the amount of customization an operator has, the advantages include faster time-to-market as well as lower capital and operational costs, Dolvane said.

Of course, Espial will be far from alone in pursuing deals aimed at helping cable operators and other MVPDs make the transition to IP and offer a servcie that blends their pay TV services with OTT fare. 

Among them, Evolution Digital is trying to do the same with independent operators via its eVUE-TV platform. Comcast, meanwhile, has been pushing a strategy to syndicate and license its X1 platform, though most of its early traction in this area has been with larger operators such as Cox Communications and Shaw Communications.

Amping up competition with traditional MVPDs and new over-the-top rivals, NOS, a primary cable operator in Portugal, has launched a premium video platform that supports 4K video and a cloud interface that is underpinned by the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software platform for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (via the latter's recent aquisition of Time Warner Cable).

NOS, which has more than 1.5 million video subs, is implementing Espial’s G4 set-top box cleint, a 4K hybrid IP box from Arris (the ZD4500) that runs the Broadcom 7251S chipset, Nagra’s anyCAST Connect content protection platform, and Nuance’s Dragon TV voice navigation system. Espial also handled the system integration for the new platform.

Espial said the offering, which lets NOS users personalize the experience down to the individual viewer, marks Europe’s first deployemnt of the RDK 2.1 environment, and enables the integration of live, VOD, OTT, catch-up and cloud DVR content via a unifed interface.

Among traditional competitors, NOS will use the new premium service to tangle with Portugal Telecom, the Altice-owned telco, and Vodafone. NOS is also seeing increased pressure from Netflix, which launched service in that country last fall.

“Our true competition is starting to appear through the Internet, through the web offers of players like Netflix, and we needed to be prepared,” Pedro Bandiera, head of development at NOS, explained in this video about the rollout, which also explores some of the personalized recommendations supported by the service, its integrated voice navigation system, and a fast channel-change (300 milliseconds) capability.   

NOS, which also offers a satellite TV service in areas where it doesn’t run a service on an HFC network, is booting up consumer marketing around the new premium offering during the weekend, and is making a more formal announcement about it today.

NOS will also offer a growing mix of 4K fare that includes rights to several matches from the 2016 UEFA European Championship and coverage of the NOS Alive music and arts festival.

NOS’s deployment is a signficant win for the RDK, which continues to seek adoption by pay TV providers around the globe, announcing in May that more than 15 million devices are now running the platform and that its membership has pushed past 275 companies, a group that includes more than 25 pay TV operators.

Espial, an Ottawa-based company that introduced its G4 set-top client in May 2015, is also working closely with Tele Columbus, a German MSO that is developing a new platform that will also be powered by the RDK. Tele Columbus conducted a field trial earlier thisyear and expects to launch its new platform commercially later this year.

“We absolutely have seen an increased level of interest from operators” in the RDK and G4, including in Europe and the Asia Pacific region, Jeff Huppertz, Espial’s vice president of marketing and business development, said, noting that the company generated significant interest in those technologies during the recent INTX show in Boston.

“We congratulate the exceptional work of NOS and Espial,” Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management, in a statement. “NOS’ deployment of the RDK software framework allows everyone to focus more of their efforts on developing the kinds of compelling consumer-facing applications and user experience showcased by this deployment.”

RELATED:Charter’s New Road Map [subscription required] | Rob Marcus: Tuning Up TWC Before Handing Over the Keys [subscription required] | Goodbye, Time Warner Cable

In the weeks before Charter Communications wrapped up its acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the operator was well down the road of identifying who will lead New Charter across key areas, including technology.

The new structure of the MSO offers some insights into Charter’s technology plans going forward, but still leaves some questions unanswered, including its future plans involving the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack that’s been managed by Comcast, TWC and Liberty Global.

Leading New Charter’s technology organization is Jim Blackley, the former Cablevision Systems exec who joined Charter in 2012, reuniting him with former Cablevision chief operating officer and current Charter CEO Tom Rutledge.

SEVEN DEPARTMENTS

Per a memo distributed internally in March and obtained by Multichannel News, Blackley noted that the MSO’s new tech organization would consist of seven departments: Information Technology, Advanced Engineering, Software Architecture, Software Development, Technology Services, Chief Scientist and Wireless Technology.

“My goal over the next 18 months is to consolidate all of the Advanced Engineering, Technology Services, Software Architecture and Software Development in Denver,” Blackley wrote, adding that Denver will also serve as the hub for the MSO’s Product Development organization. Blackley added that Charter’s IT division currently resides in St. Louis and will retain a “significant” presence there as well as in Charlotte, N.C.

At the time, Blackley also identified several executives who will report to him and lead the new technology organization at Charter:

• Jay Carlson was named senior vice president and chief information officer, information technology, heading up the design, development, testing and operation of IT.

• Jay Rolls will serve as senior vice president and chief technology officer, advanced engineering. for Charter.

• Jake Perlman, late of Bright House Networks, is to serve as senior vice president of software development, responsible for agile software development for customer-facing features, systems and products.

• Marti Moore, vice president of technology services at the combined company, is to head up integration planning, cross-functional program management and integrated release management and testing for “large, complex technology programs.”

• Craig Cowden, another former Bright House exec, is staying on in a newly created role of senior vice president, wireless technology. Cowden is on board to oversee Charter’s wireless and WiFi Advanced Engineering Team.

Blackley’s memo also named Rob Martell as New Charter’s senior vice president of software architecture. However, Martell is no longer with Charter, the operator confirmed. Charter has yet to announce who will take that role.

Charter declined to comment beyond the content contained in the information distributed internally a few weeks ago.

Blackley also identified other key roles in the new technology group that were still open, including a senior vice president of advanced engineering — TWC, who will head up network data and voice engineering capabilities and engineering for new network and product technology; and an SVP and chief scientist who will head up research and development for future data, video and voice products and oversee the MSO’s patent review and application process.

LINGERING RDK QUESTIONS

Before the deal closed, Charter had been clear about its plans for video: It intends to extend the strategy underway in its legacy markets to the newly acquired TWC and Bright House systems. The plan there, in part, is to roll out a new cloud-based guide on older, non-IP set-tops as well as new IP-capable “Worldbox” devices that run a downloadable video security platform.

A good portion of that work centers on a cloud-based platform from ActiveVideo, a vendor that is now owned by Arris and Charter via a joint venture formed in mid-2015. That set-up will also help Charter complement its core pay TV service with integrated over-the-top services.

Charter’s plan also centers on the use of two-way, interactive set-tops at every outlet, and the company plans to phase out one-way Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) that Time Warner Cable deployed to accelerate its all-digital transition.

Charter’s current plan of attack with video opens up the question of whether the MSO will lend its support to the RDK, which creates a unified stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways and, more recently, for broadband modems and gateways.

RDK Management, the entity that manages the stack, is run by a joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global. TWC’s position in the venture transferred to Charter via the acquisition.

Charter confirmed last year that it had licensed the RDK and had established two parallel development tracks: one that centers on its current technical approach and another based on the RDK.

Charter did not comment further on its current RDK plans. But multiple industry sources said the MSO is more interested in supporting RDK-B, which focuses on broadband devices, than it will be for the video-focused RDK-V, in part because the operator is wary of having to support too many different varieties of set-top boxes.

But if Charter decides not to pursue an RDK strategy at the set-top level, it could miss out on the scale benefits that such a strategy could provide.

Comcast and Liberty Global, the world’s largest cable operators, are of course firmly on board with RDK, but so is Cox Communications, which has licensed X1 for the next generation of its “Contour” video platform for set-tops and mobile devices. Shaw Communications has also licensed X1, but has limited its early use to a mobile app. Even a telco, CenturyLink Communications, has said it was evaluating RDK for a new video platform that’s under development.

Heading into the recent INTX in Boston, RDK Management announced that more than 15 million devices were running the RDK, and that about 275 multichannel video programming distributors, consumer electronics manufacturers, chipmakers, software developers and systems integrators had licensed the RDK. As a subset of that group, more than 25 cable, satellite and telco service operators around the world have licensed it, though not all have committed to deploying it.

Get more #INTX2016 news.

Tightening its technology ties to a major pay TV joint venture, Cadent Technology, a new ad-tech unit that merged the teams of BlackArrow and Cadent Network, said it has licensed the Reference Design Kit (RDK).

The move positions the ad-tech company to support the RDK, a preintegrated software platform that’s managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global, which also happen to be some of Cadent’s largest customers.

Cadent Technology recently complemented its on-demand advertising platform with one that supports addressable linear TV.

As for the RDK, Cadent said its primarily focus is on Linear Segmented Advertising that inserts targeted ads into live and time-shifted experiences on the RDK-V (Video) software.

RDK Management announced earlier this week that more than 15 million devices are running the RDK, and that its licensee base now spans more than 275 partners, including north of 25 cable, satellite and telco service operators.

“It’s an exciting time to join the RDK community,” Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, Cadent’s COO and CTO, said in a statement. “The RDK’s standardized stack and collaborative methodology help us develop advanced advertising solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into our customers’ existing infrastructure.”

Get more #INTX2016 news.

RDK Management, the joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global, said it has made progress with deployments and the number of companies in the U.S. and abroad that have signed on licensees for the preintegrated software platform for IP-capable set-tops and, more recently, broadband gateways.

Of the platform’s flavors, RDK-V provides a common method to manage various video functions on set-top boxes such as tuning, IP video, third party DRM, and media streaming/DLNA, and RDK-B provides common methods to manage complex broadband functions such as home-networking interfaces, including WiFi and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), wide area networking, local area networking, device management and diagnostics, as well as smart home/Internet of Things and multicast video.

Per the J.V., more than 15 million devices are now running the RDK, a number that has tripled since last year’s INTX confab in Chicago. Among distributors, Comcast is using the RDK to power X1, its next-gen video platform. Last month, Comcastestimated that nearly 35% of its 22.4 million video subs are now on X1, and that it added 1.1 million X1 subs to the mix in Q1, a 53% increase on net adds versus the year-ago quarter.

As another recent example, Cox Communications is also using the RDK for a new Contour multiscreen service that relies on X1. RDK-backer Liberty Global is using the platform in the current version of its Horizon TV service.

RDK Management also announced that licensees of the platform have grown to more than 275 across MVPDs, consumer electronics manufacturers, chipmakers, software developers and systems integrators.  More than 25 cable, satellite and telco service operators in North America, Europe, Latin  America and Asia are among those licensees.

“2016 is going to be a great year for the RDK community,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management, said in a statement. “On the video front, more operators across North America and Europe are developing and deploying products using an RDK-based software solution for STB’s, RDK-V (video). On the broadband front, we have recently made a new RDK software solution available for broadband gateways called RDK-B (broadband), which is in use by leading SoC and CPE suppliers, and making its way onto software roadmaps of operators around the globe.”

“It’s well known that our X1 set-tops rely on the RDK-V software solution,” added Sree Kotay, executive vice president and chief software architect, Comcast Cable. “What is less known is just how far we have come with RDK-B over the past year. We already have the RDK-B software solution enabled in broadband gateways in subscribers’ homes today, and RDK-B will serve as the underlying software on our broadband devices going forward.” 

“Liberty Global has deployed an RDK-V solution to power our Horizon service, and those deployments continue to scale across our global footprint,” said Bill Warga, Vice President of Technology at Liberty Global.  “We also recognized that broadband devices, similar to STBs, would greatly benefit from having more software commonality, standardization, and openness. We are very strong proponents of RDK-B, and we look forward to working with the RDK community to drive its adoption even further.”

“Progressive operators are investing in a new class of home networking equipment capable of supporting higher speeds, more end-user devices, and array of new services,” said Keith Wehmeyer, general manager for the cable business Line of Intel’s Connected Home Division. “We look forward to working with operators and equipment manufacturers implementing the RDK and have integrated the RDK-B solution onto Intel  Puma chipsets to address the next generation needs of broadband operators.”

Looking ahead, RDK Management plans to host a Tech Summit for licensees in Louisville, Colo., from July 19-21, a has teed up the RDK European Summit for operators in Amsterdam in tandem with IBC from September 8-12.

SeaChange International has paid $8 million in cash to acquire DCC Labs, a Warsaw, Poland-based software developer and integrator for set-tops and multiscreen devices that, SeaChange said, will also strengthen its Reference Design Kit (RDK) product strategy.

SeaChange said it closed the deal on May 6 and expects DCC Labs to contribute “an additional several million dollars of revenue annually,” with an anticipated one-year payback through synergies and cost savings that SeaChange will begin to realize immediately. The transaction also includes a lock-up provision for the SeaChange stock that unwinds over a three-year period, the company said.

It said the deal will also help SeaChange to optimize the operations of its In Home business, which includes the SeaChange Nucleus home video gateway. DCC Labs has also developed a  software stack for Europe’s DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) community and an HTML5 framework for user interfaces.

In conjunction with the acquisition, SeaChange said it has also started a workforce reduction within its In Home engineering and services organization that aims to achieve $8 million in annualized cost savings. DCC Labs CEO Marek Kielczewski, meanwhile, has joined SeaCahnge as SVP of consumer premises equipment software and will lead the SeaChange In Home division.

Shiva Patibanda, formerly CTO and GM of in-home products at SeaChange, left the company last year and recently joined Ericsson’s TV and media group.

SeaChange said DCC Labs has more than 70 engineers and has won projects supporting millions of set-tops, mobile devices and smart TVs, and has development expertise that includes Android and  Linux operating systems as well as the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for set-tops and broadband devices that’s managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.

SeaChange and DCC Labs have a business history, as SeaChange engaged with the Warsaw-based company last year to support a major set-top development project for a “large European cable operator” that resulted in deployment of a user interface and an RDK 2.1-based home video gateway for field trial tests within four months of the initial engagement. SeaChange said it also tapped DCC Labs to assist with improving quality and providing enhancements for another European cable operator’s deployed home video gateway.

“Through our successful collaboration in the field, SeaChange determined that DCC Labs’ experience and strengths are exceptionally well-aligned with our strategy to operate more efficiently and rapidly roll out high-value, front-end product innovations,” Ed Terino, the company’s recently named CEO, said in a statement. “SeaChange is now better positioned to serve the global RDK licensee community, as well as fulfilling service providers’ growing desire to focus on a select set of vendors to support their video infrastructure from the back-end all the way through to set-tops, mobile devices and the subscriber experience.”

Metrological, a TV apps company based in the Netherlands, teed up plans for next week’s INTX event in Boston that will focus on a device and software “agnostic” application platform that will include ways for operators to use open source browser technology to boost app performance and to create next-gen user interfaces.

Metrological (booth 1641) noted that it will demo “contextual” app experiences that merge live TV and over-the-top content, enabling operators to present a unified app that mixes all content types on one screen.

Also on show will be an app store that allows MSOs and other partners to launch device-independent, operator-branded TV app stores on set-tops and other connected devices. The company said more than 300 apps are available to operators that tap into Metrological’s Application Platform.

Also on show will be its Dashboard, which provides real‐time business intelligence and analytics for operators and content providers, and an App Manager, that helps operators monetize OTT content and personalize the scheduling of content. For example, daytime programming can highlight children’s apps while evening hours can highlight news app content.

Last year, Metrological announced that Liberty Global and Comcast were using a new, open-source browser enhancements for set-tops that rely on the RDK software stack. Metrological and RDK Management LLC, the joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable, introduced an RDK App Emulator last year.

Big Data firm Guavus apparently has some big plans involving the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable.

Guavus said it has joined a large group of companies to license to RDK, noting that it will use that to bring its data analytics apps and capabilities to the platform, which, for example, is already a key component of Comcast’s X1 platform as well as devices that run the “new” Contour, a platform being rolled out by Cox Communications that is underpinned by X1.

Guavus said its analytics products can help partners improve operations, service assurance and customer care, and believes its involvement in RDK can play a role in accelerating the product cycle.

“One of the key benefits of RDK is the volume of CPE performance data that can be gathered from the field,” Steve Heeb, president and GM of RDK Management, said in a statement. “By collecting and analyzing this data, operators can quicken the pace for targeted product releases. We are very pleased to welcome Guavus to the RDK Community.”

“Customer experience is fast becoming the most important end product for operators,” added Gabriele Di Piazza, SVP products and marketing for Guavus. “The role of collaborative and cross functional decision making enabled by real-time analytics aligns with the fundamental goal in the RDK community, which is to deliver an agile infrastructure for delivering next-gen products at web speed.”  

Guavus joins a group of more than 250 companies that have licensed the RDK, spanning set-top makers, chipmakers, software developers, system integrators and network operators. 

Metrological, a TV apps specialist based in the Netherlands, is applying more focus on the Americas regions with the hiring of Greg Riker, an industry vet who is late of ActiveVideo, the cloud video company acquired last year via a joint venture of Arris and Charter Communications.

Riker joins Metrological as senior vice president of sales, Americas. He’ll be based in Denver and be responsible for expanding the company’s existing sales and business development activities, and for pursuing strategic partnerships.

 Prior to this post, Riker was SVP of sales for cloud video solutions at Arris, and, before that, was SVP, worldwide sales at ActiveVideo, and held a similar role at Synacor.

Last year ,Metrological announced that Liberty Global and Comcast were using a new, open-source browser enhancements designed to provide a performance boost to IP-based services and apps for set-tops that rely on the RDK software stack. RDK Management LLC, the RDK joint venture, and Metrologicalintroduced the RDK App Emulator last year.

“Greg is an energetic and tremendously talented sales executive with deep experience in partnering with service providers to bring new media technologies to market,”Jeroen Ghijsen, CEO of Metrological, said in a statement. “At Metrological, we strongly believe apps and OTT should be integrated with the TV viewing experience, allowing for better search and offering contextual programming without leaving the main screen. We look forward to working with Greg to continue our commitment to making the app world work for the entire ecosystem of consumers, service providers and content owners.”

AirTies Wireless Networks, a vendor that makes whole-home WiFi systems and set-tops, has licensed the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a software platform for set-tops and broadband equipment being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.

AirTies said it is licensing the preintegrated software stack in support of RDK-B, a version that supports STBs as well as broadband devices. Midcontinent Communications (now known as Midco) is AirTies’s first announced North American MSO customer; it’s offering a whole-home WiFi product that uses AirTies’s Air 4920 access points and its WiFi Smart Mesh and Client Steering technology.  

AirTies said it has trials underway with other, unnamed mid-sized and large service providers in the U.S. Other AirTies customers include Sky, Vodafone, Singtel, and Swisscom, among others. 

Though smart whole-home  WiFi is key to AirTies’s gameplan for the U.S. cable market, one of its IP set-tops recently passed through the FCC, according to The Donohue Report.

“We’re excited to join the growing RDK community, especially as it turns its attention to new broadband equipment in the home,” Bulent Celebi, executive chairman and founder of AirTies, said in a statement. “We look forward to evaluating how RDK-B can fit into our future plans, and sharing our expertise in ultra-performance Wi-Fi solutions with RDK operators and partners.”  

“AirTies is well respected for providing next-gen in-home Wi-Fi systems to global operators, so we are very pleased to welcome them into the RDK community,” added Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management LLC. “As interest in RDK-B grows, we’re confident that innovative companies, such as AirTies, can play an important role in delivering significant benefits to RDK-based operators.”  

The RDK is supported by more than 250 companies including CE manufacturers, SOCs vendors, software developers, system integrators, and network operators. 

The video marketplace is growing increasingly fragmented as traditional players develop multiscreen offerings and new over-the-top providers enter the fray.

While this dynamic has applied new kinds of pressure on the multichannel universe and caused incumbent players to pivot and introduce new bundles and services, it’s a welcome development for companies like Ericsson, which is now poised to support providers that are pursuing any and all angles.

“In general, [the video opportunity] is broadening, and it’s gotten broader based on the acquisitions we’ve made,” Simon Frost, head of media marketing and communications at Ericsson, said, noting that the opportunity spans content owners that are going over-the-top, cable programmers and broadcasters, as well as more traditional multichannel video programming distributors. “We focus on all of them, but in different ways.”

Ericsson, which competes in this sector with other giants such as Cisco Systems and Arris, has shored up its multiscreen-video capabilities by pairing internal development with a string of recent acquisitions, keyed by its 2013 acquisition of Microsoft’s Mediaroom business.

“We’ve been building up the armory to come up with a sufficient next-generation set of technology platforms that enable a common set of needs,” Frost said.

A key need across the board is to be more like Netflix, hesaid — at least in terms of going with an operational model that’s a cloud-based and software-driven platform, enabling the service provider to make changes quickly, experiment more often and move away from rigid, old-school development cycles that might allow it to make a significant change once or twice a year.

“Everyone wants to be able to move at the speed of some of the new startups and become ultra-agile,” Frost said. “If you want to compete with Netflix, you have to be prepared to go that extra mile, and go to continual development models.”

While Mediaroom helped to expand Ericsson’s reach into the world of managed IPTV services, much of Ericsson’s focus moving forward will be on MediaFirst, a platform that’s more focused on the cloud and support for a wider range of devices.

Mediaroom “is a relevant, short-term solution,” Frost said. “But the energy is going into MediaFirst.”

Coming out of the earlier IPTV era, Mediaroom’s architecture largely relies on thick client set-tops and an interface that resides in the device. By comparison, MediaFirst’s premise is that every “client” is based in HTML5 and agnostic in terms of which device it’s connecting to, whether it’s an IP-based set-top, tablet, smartphone or PC.

Frost said Ericsson has several MediaFirst-facing deals in the queue, but so far has announced one trial, with Telus in Canada. One other possible candidate is AT&T, which uses Mediaroom today for U-verse TV but recently tapped Ericsson to help evolve its IPTV platform and the satellite-based one acquired in the merger with DirecTV.

While Ericsson will also try to secure MediaFirst deals with an emerging crop of OTT providers, the solution can also be applied to other traditional MVPD players, such as cable operators. Opportunities could come by way of MSOs that adopt the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable.

Ericsson is an RDK licensee — one of a group of about 150 that holds that distinction — and believes RDK can provide a foundation for MediaFirst.

“RDK is one of several different standardized environments that create a common platform for devices that operators can get some cost scale out of,” Frost said.

M&A PLAYS

Ericsson has built its video platform by pairing internal development with a string of recent acquisitions.

September 2015: Put up $125 million for multiscreen video processing specialist Envivio, a company that went public in 2012. The deal gives Ericsson increased exposure with some tier 1 service providers, including Comcast, Cox Communications, Liberty Global, Telstra, Sky and Time Warner Cable.

September 2015: Deepens its cloud DVR and video-on-demand expertise via $95 million acquisition of Israel-based Fabrix Systems, whose known customers include Cablevision Systems, which offers a network-based DVR product that lets customers record as many as 15 shows at once.

February 2014: Buys Azuki Systems, a startup that specializes in adaptive bit rate technology and content protection, enabling Ericsson to shore up its ability to support authenticated TV Everywhere services and OTT video.

September 2013: Closed acquisition of Microsoft’s Mediaroom business, a deal that, at the time, spanned IPTV systems and software that power video services in about 13 million homes and 24 million set-tops and customers such as AT&T U-verse, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Telus Optik TV.

SOURCE: Ericsson and Next TV research

New Orleans — More than any single force shaping the television and broadband industry, technology is driving the biggest change.

Engineers and executives steeped in hardware and software acronyms, domestic and international, picked apart the biggest challenges faced by the industry, spanning mobile, multi-gigabit broadband, the IP video transition and a host of others, at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans last week.

Waxing Wireless

While U.S. cable operators are leaning heavily on WiFi to lead their wireless strategies, Liberty Global has also been pushing hard on quad-play offerings that tie in the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) model.

Mobile “is becoming the primary computing device,” Balan Nair, the MSO’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, said during a presentation about technology trends and how the operator is handling new forms of competition.

Liberty Global now has about 4.5 million mobile subscribers through its MVNO relationships (that subscriber number is expected to grow to 8 million through the MSO’s M&A activity). Nair said Long Term Evolution (LTE) allows for seamless connectivity, and the technology is on the road to delivering gigabit capacities.

“LTE is here to stay,” Nair said.

But WiFi “is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our story going forward,” he said, noting that delivering a good WiFi experience in the home matters more to many consumers than the wired broadband pipe connecting the home itself.

Nair also shed some light on Liberty Global’s future plans, telling the crowd the MSO is working on its first “WiFi-first” device, which would prefer WiFi access when it’s available and seamlessly fall back to the LTE mobile network when it’s not.

Enabling that seamless transition “is not an easy thing to do,” Nair allowed, adding that Liberty Global expects to introduce the WiFi-first product toward the fourth quarter of 2016.

During the follow-up panel moderated by Cox Communications president Pat Esser, Nair outlined four ways cable operators can enter the mobile game — they can build and operate the network themselves (if they have spectrum); buy another mobile provider; launch a “lite” MVNO whereby the MSO is relegated as a reseller; or introduce a “full” MVNO play where the operator builds out the mobile “core,” keeps call control and essentially rents access to the radios and base stations.

Liberty Global has tried out all four, and Nair was direct about the issues cable operators face with the home-grown route.

“I’ll tell you, building sucks,” he said. Though Liberty Global was able to obtain spectrum relatively cheaply, the MSO shut down its home-grown network about 18 months after launching it.

He said Liberty Global has found the most success, from an operational and economic standpoint, with the full MVNO approach, which allows the operator to control the SIM card that goes in the smartphone.

“In the end, it’s about handsets and price,” he said, noting that he puts the lite MVNO on the “bottom of the list” because the operator has no control — it’s just about renting and selling.

Nair also talked up the positive effect quad-play bundles have on customer retention.

“Over time, the churn rate is discernable between a quad-play and a non quad-play,” he said. “There’s a downside, though. If you screw up with mobile, you lose all four — you lose the whole quad-play.”

Service Agility, IP Video, Cybersecurity

The technology chiefs jumped to other topics during Wednesday’s conversation, including service agility, customer-centricity, the all-IP progression and cybersecurity.

Comcast, fresh off the national rollout of its voice remote, will launch an add-on called “X1 Answers” in mid-November, MSO executive vice president and CTO Tony Werner said.

“You’ll be able to ask, ‘What was the Broncos score?’ ‘How tall is the Empire State Building?’ I think it’s going to change a lot of things,” he said.

The transition to all-IP is foundational to proactive change, Werner and others said. By this time next year, Comcast will have deployed 8 million pure- IP set-tops, which matters to serving video on second screens.

“We have the same number of baby boomers as millennials right now, and the millennials are watching a lot more content on mobile,” Werner said. “If we have 24 million customer relationships and 15 million video starts in a week [on mobile devices] — that’s exponential, and it will probably only continue to grow. If you don’t have video over IP, you’re going to miss a big part of the audience — and it’s a growing part, not a shrinking part.”

Rolling out more features and services more quickly is a big priority for all network operators, execs said.

Liberty Global, which is deploying only Reference Design Kit-based devices and will begin converting to HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Codec) for 4K/Ultra HD video next year, will get to service agility using defined and publishable APIs (Application Program Interfaces), Nair said.

“I just want to build a stack that has almost every functionality covered by APIs — it’s a big transition for us,” Nair said.

For Nomi Bergman, president of Bright House Networks, the near-term product future includes more 10-Gigabit EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network), with an eye toward 100-G EPON. “We’re now helping to create the standard for that,” she said.” Also hot in BHN markets: Its “Echo”-branded whole-home WiFi solution.

“It represents a really nice collaboration between the technology, product and marketing teams,” she said.

On the heels of Tuesday’s Cybersecurity Symposium, Nair described a massive hack in the Netherlands, where 2 million broadband connections were shut down, two nights in a row. The four perpetrators were arrested a couple of weeks ago, and the incident caused Liberty to overhaul its crisis handling mechanisms.

“In dealing with communications, law enforcement, regulatory, PR — as it turned out, what we had wasn’t the most easily translatable during a crisis. We had to rebuild a lot of our processes,” Nair said.

Panelists were also asked to discuss some things they’re working on today. Phil McKinney, president and CEO of CableLabs, said his thinking tends to gravitate to what’s coming tomorrow, noting that his group has been focused on “exponential technologies” — things that are outside the scope of the traditional planning cycle.

He said he worries about “what’s beyond the horizon … so that we don’t get surprised.”

Read more news from SCTE Cable-Tec Expo.

In these days of hyper-competition on all fronts of the multichannel-TV industry, technology truly rules. Bigger broadband, better video, more mobility and continuous improvement are key. Only the strong will survive. Ahead of the annual SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, Multichannel News technology analyst Leslie Ellis checked in with three top chief technology officers — Cox Communications’s Kevin Hart, Liberty Global’s Balan Nair and Comcast’s Tony Werner — on such timely topics as industry consolidation, capacity expansion and what it takes to move at “Web speed,” like cable’s new over-the-top competitors. They also drilled into chewy tech trends like wireless and LTE-Unlicensed, the “Gigabuzz-o-rama,” the Reference Design Kit (RDK) and, of course, DOCSIS 3.1. An edited transcript follows.

MCN: Merger-itaville! Consolidation is happening in a very big way this year. To what extent is it impacting your technical and engineering life/work?

Kevin Hart: Navigating the shifting waters around our vendor-supplier ecosystems — that probably has me thinking a little longer. In the short term, there can be implications: Perhaps they lose focus on product support or on backing up programs that are in place. As we continue to say, Cox is not for sale. But there are definite implications on how we think and operate. You’ll see additional partnering opportunities that we’ll pursue to leverage scale from a product standpoint.

Balan Nair: Scale is important in our business. We need it to be competitive; it brings great opportunities in our ability to do big things. Remember, we’re up against companies with global reach, with much larger balance sheets. Innovation and keeping up in product development and consumer behavioral changes are getting more complicated and more capital-intensive.

MCN: A lot of good stuff is happening behind the scenes these days that’s all about finding and fixing problems before they reach customers. What’s your favorite customer-care tool these days?

KH: We have multiple roadmaps around this. One example is a tool where we’ve leveraged Agile [methodologies] — Home View. It’s an internal tool, currently, that lets us see the performance and QoS [quality of service] of set-top boxes, modems and end devices within the home. From that, we can provide better self-care by feeding some aspects of the internal Home View app into [subscribers’] “My Account” view, or enable a proactive reset, or a fine-tune or software upgrades. We’re starting to deploy it. It will really help us to improve the user experience and mitigate both calls and truck rolls.

BN: I’m with Kevin.

Tony Werner: We’ve made transforming the customer experience a focus throughout the company, so it would be impossible to briefly summarize everything we’re doing. That said, I’m really excited about the continued evolution of our “My Account” app, which gives our customers pinpoint control over their accounts, and greatly reduces the need for calls and even service visits. What’s great about the app is that it’s an app — and like any app, we can continually update and expand it. One of the features we recently debuted, and are launching nationwide in the next few months, is our Tech ETA feature. It lets people see where their service technician is, en route, on an interactive map — similar to what folks have come to expect with online car services.

MCN: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon — they’re all companies that grew up on broadband, and as such are natively “agile” and “DevOps.” What’s the status of those Web-side development concepts in your organizations?

BN: Yes, we have to work faster. Unquestionably, DevOps and all the other related buzzwords are important and happening.

TW: Agile and DevOps are both very real to us, and really form the foundation of the innovative product development model we’ve adopted over the past five years. We work those development concepts every day, whether in the form of fast-paced product-development “sprints” or cross-functional tiger teams that bring together design, engineering and product experts in lean, fast-moving leadership groups. I think our commitment to those development principles stands with the very best of Silicon Valley, and is evidenced in a product like [cloud-based video platform] X1, which is updated at Web speed and frequency in a way that delivers new products and services. Xfinity Games and Xfinity Share are just two that we unveiled this past calendar year.

KH: We too have really leaned in on those particular practices to put them into operation over the last year and a half. We’ve rolled out the agile methodology, and we’re seeing great returns. Our “target state” website, which is the internal name of our e-commerce program — that’s agile. Sprint after sprint, we’re adding new capabilities, based on real customer feedback.

As for DevOps, earlier this year I moved to an integrated organizational structure around DevOps, and combining Tier 1 and Tier 2 [resources]. For video, voice and high-speed data, I co-located the development and operations teams around those platforms, with one, single end-to-end owner.

MCN: Was it painful?

KH: To be honest, I was concerned about the organization’s ability to adapt to the new model. So I was pleasantly surprised to see how pleased our people have been. The co-location, the structure, the tools — every one wants to deliver better services. That’s the goal, and we’re doing that. But to your point, some of the tools and techniques to integrate DevOps into the daily norm are still coming along.

BN: But it will be more painful to ignore this shift!

MCN: What does it take to be technologically competitive in these times?

KH: Great question. I’ve been here four and a half years or so. The rate of change within the MSO space, from a technology perspective, is now on par with the technological competitive landscape. It wasn’t always that way. We’re now competing against some of the largest technology players on the face of the Earth. We need to continuously improve our feedback loops, evaluate trends and architect platforms. And we have to do that in tight sync with our chief marketing and chief product officers and their teams.

TW: First and foremost, it requires a will to innovate, which in turn requires a willingness to disrupt your own processes and preconceptions. A product like X1 exists because a small team here started with a basic premise — “We can make this better.” It’s an ethos that I’m committed to cultivating throughout our product-development process. When you start from a position of wanting to constantly improve and build better mousetraps, the rest is just effort and execution.

BN: It takes amazing luck, forecasting of technology trends, understanding what Apple and Google are doing — and being able to predict what they are going to do. And allocating resources to the right projects. And on and on!

MCN: On to some nitty-gritty tech issues. WiFi and LTE-U/LAA: It has the potential to seriously disrupt WiFi connectivity. On a scale of 1-10 — where 1 is, “Relax, everything’s going to be OK,” and 10 is “battle stations, brace for impact!” — where are you?

KH: Up until recently, I was closer to the 8-9 range, because of the uncertainties about how the process is unfolding. Now, I’m trending toward a 6 or 7. We’re hanging our hat on LAA [Licensed Assisted Access], the international standard. We think it’s more WiFi-friendly. There are also some tailwinds around [Qualcomm’s] muLTEfire [wireless-broadband] approach. It’s more equal — it enables us to have a bit more of a level playing field, as it relates to the control plane of the unlicensed band.

BN: I give it a 5 — it’s as much an opportunity as it is a disruption. LTE-U is going to happen. We have to figure ways to make it effective for us. It’s in the unlicensed band, so we can participate in it as well. The control plane should be in the unlicensed band, too.

MCN: One day, CableLabs tests cite a definite and deleterious impact of LTE-U on WiFi; the next day, other tests indicate no impact. What are the indicators of truth?

BN: Anytime you have different PHYs [physical layers] operating in the same spectrum, it can be a problem. CableLabs is doing a great job for us, to move it from “problem” to “opportunity.”

KH: I also think there’s a definite correlation involving the physical distance between the WiFi access point and the LTE tower. At 300 meters or so, there’s little impact on throughput. At 20 meters, you can have almost a 100% reduction in the output. So a lot of it is correlated to distance, but the standards will help.

MCN: IP video: Where are you with it, and when will your networks be “all-IP?”

BN: Our strategy is to first move the user interface, then VOD, then linear, to IP. The UI and VOD shifts are in full swing. Linear has started with our Horizon Go service, but not yet to legacy set-tops. We’ll probably start down that path in 2017.

TW: We’ve spent significant time and resources on this. Great progress so far. That said, our industry still has a good deal of work ahead before we realize the all-IP video future. Ingesting all of the assets and local channel lineups is a small part of the overall effort. Operationalizing, building all of the tools, implementing alternate content switching — it’ll take some time.

KH: All of our video distribution to second screens is IP-enabled, as is all of our VOD ecosystem. We’re about to complete the first year of a two-year plan to go all-digital. That’ll free up enough spectrum to enable our [DOCSIS] 3.1 plans. When that’s complete, at the end of ’16, we’ll follow our IP roadmap. It’ll likely take us three-plus years before we’re all-IP, but we’re on our way.

MCN: What’s the faster and more efficient way to sustainable bandwidth and capacity: DOCSIS 3.1, or fiber-deep and PON [Passive Optical Network]?

TW: Hands down, DOCSIS 3.1. With 3.1, we’re backward-compatible. Devices can be self-installed. No backhoes. Any network improvements we make in addition to DOCSIS 3.1 will only serve to enhance its capacity to deliver superfast Internet to our customers.

BN: Agree. DOCSIS 3.1 is the most efficient way; that’s a no brainer. Taking fiber deeper is definitely an option for rebuilds and upgrades. Fiber to the home [FTTH] makes sense for most new builds. Depending on the situation, we have many tools in our tool bag. D3.1 is the most cost-efficient.

KH: With our “G1GABLAST” product, which we launched about a year ago, we’ve been extending fiber deeper — all the way to the home or [multiple dwelling unit]. We’ve had pretty good success around that. It’ll still be a hybrid of both technologies [DOCSIS 3.1 and fiber-deep].

MCN: What’s the state of the state of DOCSIS 3.1? How and when does it “go to market?”

KH: What we’re hearing throughout the ecosystem is very encouraging, in terms of the speeds, spectral efficiencies, backward-compatibility to DOCSIS 3.0 and overall interoperability. I think you’ll start to see market trials and production networks in ’16. We’ll probably be late ’16 or early ’17, as we finalize the all-digital spectrum reclamation. DOCSIS 3.1 will be a key tool in the toolkit to enable Gigabit services in our broader footprint — it has a very long life ahead of it.

BN: We’re already deploying CCAP [Converged Cable Access Platform] with D3.1 capability on both the downstream and the upstream signal directions. We’ll issue a request for proposals on consumer premises equipment [CPE] later this year, with selections early next year. Deployment will be end of 2016, early 2017, depending on how long it takes to certify and trial the new devices with a new chipset.

MCN: Will it evolve like the prior versions of DOCSIS — modems and gateways first, then headend gear and CMTS [cable modem termination system]?

KH: Yes, I think that’s the expected sequence of events. I think the CPE in general is a little behind the curve, but over the next few months you’ll see changes there.

BN: Ditto.

MCN: Gigabit services: All the rage! And then there’s the reality of it: The fastest tiers are invariably the lowest subscribed. Is it a necessity or a red herring?

BN: You know, there’s lots of smoke and mirrors with Gigabit services. Our bull’s-eye product offering now is 150 Megabits per second. That’s plenty competitive, and it’s doing quite well. Gigabit is still a niche product, but I think it’ll be mainstream in about three years — mainstream for us, anyway. Our cost to get to Gigabit will be an order of magnitude less than a telco deployment, on a cost-per-passing basis.

KH: We rolled out our G1GABLAST service about a year ago, so we’re slightly ahead of the curve on that one. We’ve had a good take rate where it’s available, but not everybody needs a Gig today. As we evolve it, it will continue to gain traction. More importantly, we doubled our speeds this year on our most popular tiers, across our entire footprint. Our focus is trying to make sure we’re delivering high-quality speed, with minimized constraints, to the majority of our footprint.

MCN: What should this audience know about speed vs. throughput? KH: Speed is one thing. Concurrency of devices is another. It’s a function of the weakest link in the chain. If the WiFi router or gateway isn’t 802.11ac, speeds are going to drop — even if there’s a Gig coming into the house.

TW: Very few things need a burst rate of more than 4 to 10 Mbps, but multiple devices at low speeds do accumulate to higher traffic. We’re always engineering our networks for both burst rate and throughput. Ultimately, all of the attention around Gigabit is a very good thing for the industry and for consumers, because it drives us all to stay well ahead of the curve as we engineer the access networks of tomorrow.

MCN: The upstream path: To widen, or not to widen? If widen — when, how much and how?

BN: Upstream is important, but not as important as downstream. We are mostly a society of consumers, not publishers. So far, anyway.

KH: I think the reality of applications and the leveraging of the cloud are just putting more pressure on the upstream. We’ve seen a couple percentage points of upstream growth, year over year. Bonded channels are an option; moving the upper boundary of the upstream [from 42 MHz] is also an option. There are definitely some levers for us to pull, particularly as we take fiber deeper.

TW: The nice thing about DOCSIS 3.1 is that it allows for a higher [spectrum] split, all the way up to 204 MHz. I think we will take advantage of this in certain places. I don’t think it is absolutely required, but we have the tools.

MCN: To what extent is the RDK a part of your or your company’s day-to-day technology work?

KH: Tony and Balan are farther down the RDK path. As we leverage the X1 platform to be the user interface of our Contour 2 app, we’re moving to RDK as a part of our home architecture system. So we’ll be doing more with RDK in the future, with our video products. Also, as we continue to improve our in-home WiFi presence, we’ll be looking at RDK-B for our in-home gateway and architectural designs.

TW: I think the same advantages that we have obtained in RDK-V [for video] will be evident in RDK-B — meaning the power of a community, and the significantly faster time-to-market for new technology, and the faster release of features. Same story for both.

BN: I challenge all the other cable companies to really adopt this. RDK-V and RDK-B [broadband] are a big part of our future development. We need scale in our collective development — that way, we can drive some amazing things, together, with a common underlying stack. RDK has all of the relevant checkboxes: Open source, cloud, scale, embedded in most chips, expertise in our development community, vendor support — it leaves no reason to want to go do your own thing.

MCN: Anything in particular you’re on the lookout for at this week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo?

KH: I’m looking forward to seeing some of the great advances in energy conservation and disaster recovery. Cox is making several good advances in both categories, and we’ll have a few demos onsite in New Orleans. Tell your readers to check it out.

BN: Agree again with Kevin, sans the demos. As the co-chair of the Energy2020 program, I can attest — it’s big, it matters, and everybody should know more about it.

TW: Distributed access architecture — products and technologies.

Arris said it has begun to deploy a new DOCSIS 3.0-powered gateway with Comcast that supports 802.11ac WiFi, IP video and integrated home automation and security, and represents a component of the MSO’s new “XB3” service.

The Arris TG1682 can bond 24 downstream channels (enough to support bursts of up to 960 Mbps in North American DOCSIS systems that use 6MHz-wide channels), two analog voice lines, a four-port Gigabit router, MoCA 2.0, and and a dual-band 802.11ac WiFi access point.

The deployment announcement comes almost a year after Comcast and Arris said they would collaborate on a trial of a broadband-enabled version of the Reference Design Kit (RDK) running on the Arris TG1682. The RDK, a preintegrated software stack originally developed for video set-tops and gateways, is being extended (via a project commonly referred to as “RDK-B”) to support DOCSIS-based broadband modems and all-service gateways.

"We are committed to providing our customers with the best, fastest in-home Wifi experience, and the XB3 is a powerful tool for delivering on that commitment," Ken Klaer, SVP of premises technologies at Comcast, said in a statement. "ARRIS has been a valuable partner in our effort to continually evolve the high-speed data experience for our customers."

"We are pleased to work with Comcast to launch the TG1682 as part of their XB3 service," added Larry Robinson, president, customer premises equipment at Arris.

"We are committed to continue introducing additional advanced broadband devices based on this new software ecosystem to make our customers more competitive. We will continue to invest in these solutions during this very exciting and dynamic time in the industry."

S3 Group said it has struck a deal to sell its TV technology division, which includes its StormTest automated testing platform, to Accenture.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Accenture said it will integrate S3 TV Technology’s StormTest platform with Accenture Digital Video Services, a unit that’s part of the company’s communications, media and technology group.

The acquisition should also boost Accenture’s profile with respect to the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable. In 2013, S3 Group was tapped to oversee RDK Management LLC’s code management function, ensuring that contributions to the common code base are properly assessed, merged and tested before becoming part of RDK releases. S3 TV Technology is the unit of S3 Group that has been managing that key piece for the RDK. According  to a spokesperson, RDK Mananagement LLC looks forward to its relationship with Accenture

S3’s known customers from the pay TV world include Sky (UK), Astro, BT, Comcast, Kabel Deutschland, Liberty Global, Mediacom Communications, RDK Management, Swisscom, Time Warner Cable, Videotron, and Starman, a TV and Internet provider in the Baltic region.

“I believe that Accenture will provide an excellent new home for our TV Technology business and its people, and I wish them continued success into the future” John O’Brien, CEO of Ireland-based S3 Group, said in a statement.  “This announcement highlights S3 Group’s strategy and ability to create high-growth, market-focused businesses. We continue this exciting journey with our expanding Connected Health and Semiconductor Solutions businesses, and the creation of new businesses in the future.”

Mooreland Partners has acted as exclusive financial advisor to S3 Group.

Tele Columbus, a German cable operator with about 2.8 million subs, work with Espial on a next-gen, IP-powered video platform that will lean on the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a preintegated software stack for IP-capable devices that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.

Under the deal, Tele Columbus will license Espial’s G4 set-top client and Media Services Platform (MSP) backoffice, and tap Espial to integrate the MSO’s next-gen IP video platform. Espial’s role on the set-top box (Tele Columbus has not announced its STB suppliers for the project) will include the resulting platform’s user interface, according to Jeff Huppertz, Espial’s vice president of marketing and business development.

Tele Columbus, which grew in size when it acquired PrimaCom Holding earlier this year, is expected to start trials on the new platform later this year, and follow with full deployments sometime in early 2016.

Huppertz said Tele Columbus’s approach follows a trend/new model in which the operator separates the hardware from the software and develops UIs using a third-party design partner. He said Espial’s platform, which uses HTML5, will position Tele Columbus to provide an advanced platform on set-tops as well as mobile devices.

Ottawa-based Espial introduced G4 in May. It’s a fourth-gen set-top client can be applied not just to cable operators, but to telcos, satellite TV providers and other type of operators looking to provide a unified offering that blends on-demand, linear and OTT content. At the time, Espial said three operators, including one “major” MSO in North America and two in Western Europe, had selected G4 for their next-gen video platform. Those three operators have about 8 million subs between them.

The Espial G4 STB Client, Espial Media Service Platform and the Espial Experience professional services team were selected based on their industry leading software and expertise in RDK and user experience,” Ronny Verhelst, CEO of  Tele Columbus, said in a statement.

Tuesday’s announcement is Tele Columbus’s first public acknowledgement that it will use the RDK for its next-gen platform, and is an example of the platform’s progress outside the U.S.

RDK Development LLC has more than 25 MVPD licensees around the world. In addition to Tele Columbus, known MVPD licensees include Comcast, TWC, Liberty  Global, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Rogers Communications, Kabel Deutschland, and Japan’s J:COM.