mPhase Technologies today announced general availability of an integrated conditional access feature to its flagship IPTV platform, the mPhase TV+ System, incorporating content and revenue protection software from Latens Systems, a leading provider of rights management and conditional access solutions. Latens' latest generation dynamic Conditional Access System (CAS) is a pure software security solution that protects operators' content and revenues.

"Conditional access in an all-software form is a cost-efficient and time saving feature for service providers," said Phil Thompson, mPhase Technologies executive vice president- Product Management. "The open architecture of the TV+ System is specifically designed to incorporate value-added capabilities like Latens CAS as part of our carrier-class turnkey offer to telecommunications operators looking to improve their return on investment in broadband technology with IPTV services."

The Latens CAS utilizes a downloadable software strategy, offering greater security levels at lower cost than that possible with proprietary smart cards or embedded set top box solutions. In addition, Latens' dynamic security increases an operator's flexibility and, because it is standards-compliant, the software does not lock the operator to a single set-top box (STB) hardware supplier.

"It's particularly pleasing to have mPhase as a partner, as it has the same philosophy and approach for how to best serve IPTV operators as ourselves," says Jeremy Thorp, CEO, Latens Systems. "A major part of this approach is the belief that it's crucial for the operator to be able to cost-effectively get 'under the hood' of the IPTV platform to continually enhance the IPTV consumer experience - this is exactly what Latens and mPhase are enabling through the Latens secured mPhase TV+ System."

With an integrated Latens CAS, the mPhase TV+ System offers IPTV service providers a scalable and flexible option for cost-effectively managing content authentication and quickly defining and provisioning packaged content offers. The key advantage is operational savings with Latens' all-software solution as compared with STB smart cards, which are costly to maintain in inventory and inefficient to replace. The Latens CAS features downloadable security modules that can be updated in minutes either to respond to hacking activity or to pre-empt hacking. This feature promotes fast recovery from security breaches and reduces revenue leakage.

"With digital piracy an ever present threat to popular commercial media, it is critical that we and our affiliates deploy only the most effective systems to protect and track content distributed across our networks," said Dom Stasi, TVN Chief Technology Officer. "Our evaluation of the Latens FCAS technology has shown it equal to the challenge. The seamless implementation of Latens FCAS by TVN's VOD affiliates ensures that they will continue acquiring premium content from TVN, and that our content will be secure."