NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today announced Synamedia Metro, a complete IPTV middleware solution for telecommunications companies (telcos) and broadband operators. The new full-feature product brings the world’s leading television technologies to the telecommunications industry, enabling telcos to offer the power of IPTV to their subscribers. The solution debuts this week at GlobalComm 2006.

Synamedia Metro IPTV middleware allows IPTV operators to offer attractive Electronic Program Guides (EPG), interactive TV applications (iTV), Video on Demand (VOD), digital video recorder (DVR) or network DVR capabilities and interactive games, in either standard (SD) or high definition (HD) all of which are built using the NDS MediaHighway middleware application development tools. Synamedia Metro also protects premium content and revenue streams through NDS VideoGuard, the most widely deployed, robust and secure encryption technology for content protection, revenue protection and rights management.

Synamedia Metro will be demonstrated at GLOBALCOMM 2006 on a Samsung IP-set-top box along with on-demand video servers from Broadbus. By integrating these technologies into a single solution, the NDS Synamedia Metro architecture enables the telco operator to deploy a single integrated IPTV system, saving time in the critical startup phase of any new service. The solution is also standards-based, allowing telcos to choose their system components according to their current infrastructure needs.

Nigel Smith, vice president NDS Broadband Internet Group said: “A telco launching IPTV services is likely to enter into an existing competitive market with cable or satellite companies that have significant experience in this market and already have a strong middleware solution. Using an untested or unknown middleware solution decreases the likelihood of success. The Synamedia Metro middleware is built upon MediaHighway – used by some of the most successful broadcasters in the world. Telco operators can benefit from the experience that NDS has gained in delivering middleware solutions to over 38 million subscribers and be sure that they can launch advanced TV applications at least comparable with their competitors – while also taking advantage of the two-way nature of IPTV. ”

He continued: “We have been working with telcos around the world for the last six years as they deploy IPTV solutions and we bring all of that expertise along with our deep knowledge of television technology to the telecommunications industry in this exciting new offering. We believe that only an open solution will meet the requirements for providing new and exciting IPTV services – and with Synamedia Metro being fully standards-based and having open interfaces, the operator can choose to mix and match components and not be locked into a single supplier.”

Key features of the Synamedia Metro solution include:

• Electronic Program Guide - Synamedia Metro’s consolidated, intuitive Electronic Programming Guide gives instant access to TV channels, VOD items and broadband communication services. It has a powerful search function, on-screen information bars and other features include user-friendly shortcuts, customizable views for multi-channel navigation and picture-in-picture elements.
• Digital Rights Management – Synamedia Metro relies on the NDS industry-leading VideoGuard technology to provide content protection, rights management, device authentication and usage tracking. VideoGuard facilitates negotiations for high-value content on the best possible terms, based on NDS’ global reputation for stringent, end-to-end security.
• Standards-based and Open - Synamedia Metro is built with open software interfaces and is based on internationally recognized standards. It uses the latest video codecs, integrated into high definition decoder chips, for bandwidth economy, keeping STB prices low. It also uses standards-based content protection technology to facilitate choice and interoperability with a wide range of hardware suppliers, thus driving down the total cost of IPTV deployment and ensuring faster and easier integrations.
• Powerful Development Environment – Synamedia Metro enables IPTV operators to develop SD and HD enhanced TV and interactive TV applications quickly and economically using the MediaHighway application development environment. It utilizes standard Web authoring tools and supports all the common formats in use today, including HTML, Java, Flash, OCAP and MHP.
• Ease of Operations Management - NDS Monitor, a Synamedia Metro sub-system, monitors all headend software and hardware components using SNMP and can interface with existing OSS platforms. Alternatively alerts can be displayed on a color-coded GUI and alarms can be provided remotely via email or SMS to mobile devices.