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Here’s another glance at other news making waves at week’s CES confab in Las Vegas:
-WideOpenWest has selected Universal Electronics Inc. to develop and make a new remote control that’s optimized for WOW’s “Ultra” whole-home DVR platform, and will include a dedicated Netflix key. The new remote, expected to reach Ultra subs by early 2017, also featured embedded RF4CE tech (removing the need for line-of-sight between the remote and the set-top), laser-etched keys and backlighting, and a simplified three-key set-up process.
-You.i TV said it has adapted Cartoon Network’s app for Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV devices, complementing its reach on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets and Kindle fire devices. You.i TV was also tapped to power the UI for Turner’s new FilmStruck multiplatform SVOD service.
-ViXS has launched the XCode 5516, a dual-stream over-the-air transcoding chipset that is a central piece of the company’s “CordCutter TV” product platform. The new SoC is designed for CE vendors interested in building low-cost, low power and small form-factor dual-tuner OTA streaming products.
-Netgear has launched the Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router, a DOCSIS 3.0-certified product that integrates support for Comcast’s digital voice service. The device supports 24x8 channel bonding and will be offered at retail later this year for $299.99.
-Ericsson and Cisco Systems have expanded a strategic partnership to include WiFi solutions. The companies, which formed a massive tech-business partnership in 2015, now feature an offering called Evolved Wi-Fi Networks that combines Ericsson’s 3GPP access, core networks and apps with Cisco’s WiFi portfolio. They’ll use the combo to target several opportunities, including indoor small cell and operator WiFi deployments.
-CSG Systems International said Buckeye Broadband will use its revenue and customer management solutions, including its Advanced Convergent Platform, to baseline a next-gen customer experience platform that will support Buckeye’s 170,000-plus residential and commercial subs in Ohio and Michigan. Buckeye Broadband will enable it by converting its sub base using a disruption-free process, CSG said.
-Opera TV and MStar Semiconductor introduced an OTT platform based on MStar’s system-on-a-chip set-top box platform. They’re offering the combined system to set-top makers and service providers as a pre-integrated platform that builds in Opera TV’s suite of OTT products.
-Broadspeak, a provider of CDN technologies and VOD servers, and Wyplay, a maker of software systems for pay TV operators, have introduced a joint solution that combines Broadspeak’s nanoCDN tech with the Wyplay’s “Frog” middleware. They have integrated those products for set-tops boxes targeting cable, satellite and direct-to-home video operators.
-Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and AT&T are embarking on interop testing and over-the-air field trials based on 5G New Radio specs being developed by the 3GPP. The trials intend to help move the mobile ecosystem to faster 5G deployment based on standards-compliant 5G NR infrastructure and devices once 3GPP completes the first release of the official specifications, they said. The trials will support operation in millimeter Wave (mmWave) spectrum, shooting for an accelerated deployment in the 28GHz and 39GHz bands.
