NDS Group plc is jumping into the IPTV-middleware race, unveiling its “Synamedia Metro” product line.
The middleware provides plugs for creating and managing IPTV services. That includes tools to create interactive program guides, interactive-TV applications, video-on-demand and digital-video-recorder functions for standard-definition or HD services.
Synamedia Metro draws on NDS’ mainstay “MediaHighway” middleware application-development tools, as well as its “VideoGuard” content-protection technology.
At last week’s Globalcomm telco trade show, NDS staged demos of Synamedia Metro-based services displayed via a Samsung TelecommunicationsAmerica IP set-top box, fed by Broadbus Technologies Inc. on-demand servers. Integrating with these two technology partners will widen the appeal among IPTV operators for Synamedia Metro by offering an all-in-one IPTV system, according to NDS.
“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,” said Nigel Smith, vice president of NDS’ broadband-Internet group.
