A second run at interoperability testing for the OpenCable Applications Platform turned up good results, according to Cable Television Laboratories Inc.
The Louisville, Colo.-based cable-technology consortium hosted the second OCAP interoperability event in July. Fifteen companies answered the call with hardware, middleware, interactive-TV applications and other development tools.
Hardware platforms were submitted by companies including Advanced Digital Broadcast Ltd., Alticast Corp., Canal Plus Technologies, IBM Corp., NEC Corp., Matsushita Electric Corp. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and Thomson Multimedia.
Alticast, Digisoft.tv Ltd., Espial Group Inc., RTL Newmedia-Scip, Tality Corp., and Top 5 Media provided ITV applications and content. A slew of application servers, object carousels and other devices for inserting interactive content and applications signaling into the basic Moving Picture Expert Group transport stream were provided by Alticast, S&T Bulgaria Ltd., Tality, and Tektronix Inc.
Meanwhile, work on the OpenCable specification continues. Hardware and software specifications are done, but CableLabs continues to work with member companies and vendors to firm up the elements of OCAP.
"We've identified no major roadblocks," CableLabs vice president of advanced platforms and services Don Dulchinos said in a release. "There's a lot of work to be done, but both the cable operators and the vendors are committed to integrating the necessary hardware and software upgrades to support OCAP over the next several months."
