Open Standards Elevate Middleware and Multimedia Devices

An open, standard-based approach generates revenue for everyone in the value chain.

In these challenging economic times, it’s nice to get a little good news for a change. One of the great untold success stories in today’s flat consumer-electronics market is tru2way. This interactive technology platform is changing how we watch television while driving the demand for new products and services.

The momentum behind tru2way technology is powerful. The six major cable MSOs in the U.S. recently pledged that 20% of all new cable set-top boxes will be tru2way-enabled by July 1. Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest operator, has already deployed 1.7 million tru2way set-top boxes to customer homes. On the hardware and software side, companies providing tru2way technology include chip suppliers Intel, Broadcom, STMicroelectronics, and AMD; head-end infrastructure providers Motorola and Cisco; consumer-electronics manufacturers Panasonic, LG, Samsung, and Sony; and software specialists like Alticast.

Blu-ray Disc Continues To Grow

The high-definition successor to DVD, Blu-ray Disc continues to grow its market share. Analysts estimate that over 100 million Blu-ray Discs will be sold in 2009. By 2012, 50% of all discs sold will be in the Blu-ray format. Blu-ray Disc players continue to drop in price and will soon become “impulse buys.” At the same time, manufacturers will continue to try to differentiate their products in the market. They’ll do so by adding features that extend the use of the devices—much like what’s been done with Netflix-download capabilities.

The hardware and software companies involved with Bluray Disc are a mirror-image of those working with tru2way technology: chip suppliers Intel, Broadcom, and STMicroelectronics; consumer-electronics manufacturers Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Sony, and Sharp; and middleware software providers like Alticast.

Standards-Based Interoperability Is Key

Adherence to open standards is critical to ensuring that software applications, cable services, and hardware devices will all work together seamlessly. At the core of both the tru2way and Blu-ray Disc multimedia platforms are two technologies: Globally Executable MHP (GEM) and Java. They provide a readily available, open, standards-based platform and specifications for developing applications, building devices, and installing into homes. In addition, they offer everything else that goes into the delivery of interactive services (see the Figure).

Figure: This architecture enables the delivery of interactive applications.

DVB-MHP, tru2way technology, and Blu-ray Disc Java are all built around this GEM/Java core standard. As a result, they share a common application programming interface (API). Application code written with the Java programming language is delivered to a set-top box. The set-top box, in turn, uses the API to run the application, thereby creating the consumer experience.

This approach allows multiple cable operators to leverage a common technology foundation and then differentiate their applications and services for specific markets and geographies. For example, Blu-ray Disc Java applications on a disc can be easily repurposed for cable set-top boxes using tru2way technology, thanks to the commonality of the GEM/Java platform. In Europe, cable operators can repurpose these applications the same way using DVB-MHP.

This “convergence specification” fits neatly into the objectives of open-standard embedded-software initiatives and the “write once, read anywhere” objectives of interactive- TV application developers. Furthermore, this specification minimizes the software to a single engine and set of APIs in a device for services over differing transmission systems. In doing so, it paves the way for hybrid tru2way+ACAP DTT set-top boxes, tru2way+Blu-ray Disc devices, MHP+Blu-ray Disc devices, and more.

Expanding The Market For Retail Products

Open standards like tru2way and Blu-ray Disc are the door openers for a booming retail market. Only standards can provide the economies of scale that consumer-electronics manufacturers need to be successful in a market. At the same time, they provide the technology needed to build more sophisticated devices. The convergence of these standards will allow manufacturers to build hybrid devices like Blu-ray Disc players that incorporate cable’s tru2way technology.

This trend dovetails neatly with Intel’s strategy for the Intel® Media Processor CE 3100. That media processor provides a high-speed Intel® architecture core with all of the components necessary to build advanced, multi-function, Internet-connected devices. The arrival of 3D televisions and Blu-ray Disc movies also plays into the hands of Intel, as the Media Processor CE 3100 contains a powerful 3D graphics engine.

A Closer Look At The Details

Perhaps BD-J technology’s most significant benefit and its raison d’être is the value-added, two-way interactive services that it enables. Such applications can include downloadable trailers, games, chat, and t-commerce. For movie studios, the potential to generate additional revenues per household with Blu-ray Disc technology is enormous.

Because tru2way technology provides a common software foundation, every device looks the same to applications. As a result, it’s easier for consumer-electronics designers to create combined products, such as a Blu-ray Disc player with a builtin set-top box or a TV with a built-in set-top box and Blu-ray Disc player. The overlapping core technology simply makes it easier to conceive of those kinds of multi-function products.

Perhaps the most exciting benefit of Internet-connected devices like Blu-ray Disc players is the opportunity for creative companies to build new forms of interactivity. Netflix customers can now stream movies to their Samsung or LG Bluray Disc players, thereby increasing the value of these devices while adding revenue for the movie studios. Most importantly, the devices have created a new way to reach customers.

Yahoo! Connected TV recently announced TV Widgets. TV Widgets are as rich, varied, and useful as the most popular sites on the Web—just reinterpreted for TV. Consumers can use their TV remote controls to check stock quotes and weather, follow sports teams, read blogs, or catch up on missed episodes of their favorite shows. The Intel Media Processor CE 3100 is well suited for devices that combine Blu-ray Disc functionality with technology like TV Widgets. It boasts a powerful 2D graphics engine with HD video processing, multiple decoders, and a sophisticated composition engine.

The bottom line is that the open, standard-based approach generates money for everyone in the value chain from cable operators to device makers, application developers, and content producers. Looking ahead, open-standard technology is set to become the cable and consumer-electronics industries’ best story of 2009. And it will only get better as more households begin converting to tru2way and Blu-ray Disc devices.

Jeff Bonin, Alticast vice president and General Manager As vice president and general manager for Alticast (www.alticast.com), Jeff Bonin oversees the company’s North American operations and business development and marketing activities. He is focused on expanding the company’s position as a leading provider of open-standard technologies that enable consumer-electronics manufacturers to more quickly bring to market high-definition and iTV home-entertainment products. Bonin has been a frequent speaker on topics including emerging iTV technologies at tradeshows and conferences around the world including TV of Tomorrow, Milia, IBC, NAB, JavaOne, and NCTA.