Set-top-middleware vendor Alticast has tapped David Housman, previously a technology executive at Charter Communications, to be CEO of its Americas unit, as the company looks to win business with cable operators deploying tru2way-based set-top boxes.
Housman most recently was senior vice president and general manager Vidiom Systems, a developer of interactive TV software and set-top middleware now part of Switzerland-based set-top provider ADB. Prior to Vidiom, he was Charter's vice president of corporate development and technology.
Jeff Bonin, vice president of business development and marketing for Alticast Americas, will continue to lead the company's business development and marketing efforts.
Alticast hopes to get a foot in the door at the largest U.S. MSOs, given the industry's adoption of CableLabs' tru2way standard. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks have pledged that 20% of the leased set-top boxes they buy starting this month will be based on tru2way, until 10 million such boxes are deployed, as part of agreements with major consumer-electronics companies signed last summer. Those operators missed a July 1 deadline to support retail tru2way products in all their systems but claimed they're continuing to work with CE firms on rollouts.
Alticast sells middleware software for devices including from DVB-MHP set-tops and OCAP/tru2way cable set-top boxes in Korea and North America, as well as Blu-ray Disc worldwide. Alticast's partners include Intel, Broadcom, TiVo and Samsung Electronics. Time Warner Cable has been deploying tru2way-based set-tops supplied by Samsung.
Alticast's corporate headquarters are in Seoul, South Korea, and its U.S. offices are in Broomfield, Colo.
