S3 Group, a TV testing and professional services firm, has licensed Comcast's Reference Design Kit (RDK) to provide professional services to integrate the RDK onto set-top box platforms.
The Comcast RDK is a pre-integrated software bundle designed to provide a common framework for the development and deployment of advanced set-top, gateway and system-on-chip (SoC) platforms. The software stack includes CableLabs' tru2way middleware reference implementation.
Comcast licenses the RDK to manufacturers, systems integrators, software vendors and cable operators, aiming to spur the development of multiscreen TV home entertainment services. Other vendors working on RDK projects include Broadcom, Entropic Communications, Intel and Itaas.
"With the RDK, Comcast is seeding the growth of a community-driven software platform that addresses one of the industry's biggest problems -- the lengthy process of device development and deployment," Steve Reynolds, Comcast's senior vice president of customer premises equipment and home network, said in a statement. "With the cooperation of S3 Group and others, the RDK provides operators, developers and device vendors the foundation required to innovate at a fast pace -- a requirement in today's rapidly-changing multiscreen TV environment."
S3 Group will support RDK development along with its StormTest suite of automated testing solutions. The company is adding Comcast RDK to its portfolio of supported middleware, which includs OpenTV, NDS, Microsoft Mediaroom, Ericsson and Zenterio ZIDS.
Founded in 1986, S3 Group is based in Dublin, Ireland, with offices in San Jose, Calif., and other countries.
