Widevine has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research. Verimatrix and NDS claimed the second and third spots in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide IPTV digital rights management vendors.

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. For this Vendor Matrix, 16 different criteria were divided into two main segments: Innovation and Implementation. Each has been weighted to give a total score out of 100.

The Innovation score is derived from measuring the system vendor’s R&D (often proven in the case of patent filings), interoperability of industry standards and de facto standards, support for multiple platforms, the entirety of the solution and integration between the components, and the number of end devices supported. Whether its products are based on open standards or proprietary technology is also taken into consideration, as well as whether they are software- or hardware-based.

The Implementation score is derived by examining the vendor’s capacity to produce in the marketplace, either alone or with partners. This means we look at how many customers and the size of the engagements, the partnerships and the strategic importance of each, as well as the diversity of the client base.

To view a list of the “top ten” firms in this Vendor Matrix, please visit IPTV DRM 2007. Registration on the ABI Research website is required. Access to the rankings and profiles of all companies surveyed is available to clients of ABI Research.

This Vendor Matrix forms part of ABI Research’s Digital Media Research Service.