RDK Management, LLC announced today that the Reference Design Kit (RDK) now provides additional support for the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard that is widely used throughout Europe and other parts of the world.
Specifically, in-band DVB Service Information (DVB-SI) elements are now available to the RDK community. The advancement was made possible thanks to significant contributions by ARRIS Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) that will extend the RDK’s applicability for use in DVB markets.
The RDK is a pre-integrated software bundle that provides a common framework for powering customer-premises equipment (CPE) from TV service providers, including set-top boxes (STBs), gateways, and converged devices. DVB-SI provides RDK-based devices with critical, in-band table of contents and data required for Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) and other key services.
Notably, in-band DVB-SI provides a high degree of data reliability for TV service providers that operate one way networks, or that are in the process of transitioning to two way networks, a common situation across Europe and other global regions. Specifically, ARRIS’s new contributions extend the RDK Media Framework (RMF) to support a common method for extracting DVB streams, and also provide an open source reference DVB implementation that can be adopted and extended by DVB-based operators and suppliers. This new RDK capability adds to previously supported DVB components such as teletext and subtitles released last year.
“Given the RDK’s global reach and appeal, it was imperative to deliver DVB-SI functionality to support legacy networks,” said Steve Heeb, President and General Manager of RDK Management, LLC. “Thanks to a dedicated working group led by ARRIS and Liberty Global, operators in Europe and other parts of the world can more easily adopt the RDK across their markets.”
“ARRIS is fully committed to the success and adoption of the RDK in Europe, and around the world,” said Larry Robinson, President, Customer Premises Equipment at ARRIS. “We’re very proud to have helped drive the process and development of a DVB-SI solution that will have widespread applicability to our customers, prospects, and the broader RDK community.”
The RDK was created to accelerate the deployment of next-gen video products and services. The RDK provides a common interface to SoCs, acting like a “universal SoC adapter,” which enables the operator to focus and innovate at the revenue-generating services layer. To date, the RDK has been licensed by more than 20 operators globally, but its reach is far broader. Operators can either license the software directly, or receive the software through a third party, such as a set-top box supplier, system integrator, or software vendor. The RDK now has more than 200 licensees including, CE manufacturers, SoC vendors, software developers, system integrators, and TV service providers.
The RDK is administered by the RDK Management, LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Liberty Global. The RDK software is available at no cost to RDK licensees in a shared source manner, and RDK community member companies can contribute software changes and enhancements to the RDK stack.
Additional information about the RDK is available at www.rdkcentral.com.
