Conexant Systems, Inc. has teamed with Espial and Tematic to deliver a complete platform for telecommunications operators looking to quickly deploy low-cost, high-performance set-top boxes (STBs) for IPTV networks. "IPTV" refers to the delivery of services such as multimedia and digital video over a broadband IP network. The optimized hardware and software platform enables operators to offer a powerful and customizable client IP STB that supports revenue-generating services such as video-on-demand (VoD) straight out of the box. The platform is based on Conexant's advanced video coding MPEG-4/H.264 coprocessor and standard definition host decoder, Espial Evo IPTV middleware and applications, and Tematic's IPTV software.

Espial, a leading provider of client applications and middleware for set-top boxes and consumer electronic devices, and Tematic, a key solutions provider for the digital TV and broadband industries, teamed to develop the pre-integrated IPTV client software stack. Tematic also provided development and integration services to support the deployment of this highly integrated platform.

"Time to market and cost are two of the most significant challenges facing telco TV operators today," said Jeff Crosby, vice president and general manager of Conexant's Broadband Media Processing business. "Our jointly developed platform directly addresses these issues, and provides telecommunications operators with a comprehensive solution that allows them to quickly and economically deploy IPTV services."

"With an innovative architecture designed for maximum performance and minimum footprint, Espial Evo will reduce operator time-to-service deployment and operational costs," said Amanda McKay, director of Strategic Alliances for Espial. "Within this tightly integrated client platform, Espial Evo will ensure that operators have Beyond Brandable capabilities for developing best-of-breed EPGs and applications. Espial Evo's complete and customizable feature set offers operators complete control in their ability to develop user interfaces that build strong relationships with their subscribers."

Andrew Moyler, vice president of Marketing for Tematic, said: "Working in partnership with Conexant and Espial has demonstrated our technologies' ability to integrate and run seamlessly with other best-in-class IPTV solution providers. Our software supports full video-on-demand, and enables the development of innovative DVB-T and DVB-S hybrid platforms. In addition, high levels of software integration and optimization are setting new benchmarks for both STB cost and performance."

Conexant's CX24183 is the world's first standards-compliant MPEG-4/H.264 video decoder. This technology allows digital broadcast TV service providers to improve bandwidth utilization and deliver a wider, more cost-effective, range of video, voice, and data broadcast programming. Bandwidth gains achieved by using H.264 compression can be utilized to provide a greater number of streams into the home or to increase the number of homes served from a central office. The new platform also includes the CX24436 MPEG-2 video decoder device which includes a high-performance ARM920T processor, integrated Ethernet 10/100 MAC and MII, as well as transport stream interfaces to enable hybrid IP and DVB-T or DVB-S set-top boxes.

Espial Evo supports a wide range of applications that allow operators to offer differentiated services from a single, integrated platform. These include: Evo Video, a robust electronic program guide (EPG); Evo Portal, a standards-based application for interactive portal content design and rendering; Espial Escape, a browser that facilitates the development of on-demand portal content services, and supports Internet-on-TV functionality; applications for managing or viewing the STB, and user settings and controls. Espial Evo also includes a VoD application which can be integrated with third-party servers to support flexibility in operator-specific business models.

Tematic's IPTV software is designed to support the delivery of MPEG-2 and H.264 digital video over broadband IP networks. Tematic provides a deployment-proven high-performance IPTV STB software platform capable of supporting a range of leading middleware, video servers, and content protection solutions. Tematic's IPTV solution has been used by major telcos in Asia Pacific and North America. The latter represents the largest deployment of TV over ADSL in the region and is powered by Tematic's IPTV STB software.