Motorola clarified Friday that the downloadable set-top security technology it presented to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week is expected to become commercially available to cable operators in the first half of 2008.
Meanwhile, Scientific Atlanta’s downloadable PowerKEY security solution will be available to operators by early 2008, according to director of public relations Sara Stutzenstein.
The FCC mandated that all cable set-tops deployed after July 1 have a separable security mechanism. For the near future, that means set-tops will need to have removable CableCARD devices, but the cable industry would like to deploy less-expensive downloadable security.
On March 20, Motorola met with FCC officials to discuss Downloadable MediaCipher, a version of Motorola’s conditional-access system that delivers security features as software rather than hardware.
In the letter Motorola filed documenting the presentation, the company appeared to imply that Downloadable MediaCipher would be ready for the July 1 deadline: “While Motorola continues to develop CableCARDs and a broad line of CableCARD-compatible navigation devices, DM offers operators another option to comply with the integration ban.”
However, the Downloadable MediaCipher technology will not be ready for deployment until next year, according to Motorola spokeswoman Amy Valli. Motorola said DM will work with any digital set-top deployed in a cable system that uses MediaCipher.
On a parallel track, the cable industry is moving forward on the Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS), which is being licensed through Cable Television Laboratories and developed by PolyCipher, a Denver-based company backed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications. DCAS is supposed to provide a vendor-neutral downloadable security mechanism that can be implemented in consumer-electronics gear, as well as set-top boxes.
Motorola said it is committed to supporting the DCAS imitative. “Motorola developed DM as an interim solution for downloadable security until DCAS is ready. We hope that our operator customers will see DM as a useful security alternative,” the company added in a prepared statement.
Motorola said its DM will be "forward-compatible" with DCAS, and SA has made the same promise for the downloadable version of PowerKEY.
Another player in this game is Beyond Broadband Technology, a virtual company formed by three small cable operators, which has developed its own downloadable-security scheme. BBT expects to have its low-cost set-tops shipping in quantity by September.
On Jan. 10, the FCC released a public notice “clarifying that cable operators preferring not to employ CableCARDs may use a downloadable conditional-access solution to comply with our rules.” In the same notice, the agency noted that BBT “has already developed such a solution.”
