At the 2018 Connected TV World Summit, RDK Management provided its annual update about the adoption of the RDK (Reference Design Kit) software used to power customer-premises equipment (CPE) from video and broadband services providers worldwide. Steve Heeb, President and General Manager of RDK Management, said:
“With more than 40 million RDK-based set-top boxes and broadband gateways deployed globally, it’s clear that service providers, and their suppliers, have found a prime open source software development platform upon which to drive future growth and innovation. Our transparent approach to solving common technical challenges enables operators to focus their efforts on creating the UIs, applications and back-end data analytics that enhance the customer experience and business results. Our community will also be there with solutions, beyond TV and Internet, as the industry expands into IoT and new kinds of smart home services”.
RDK software resides on the chipsets within CPE, below the application and services layer, and enables video and broadband providers to standardise certain technical functionality. The open source software provides a common interface to SoCs, acting as a kind of universal SoC adapter. Specifically, the RDK-V (video) software solution provides a common method to manage various video functions on set-top boxes such as tuning, IP video, third-party DRM and media streaming. The RDK-B (broadband) software solution provides a common method to manage various broadband functions on gateways, such as home-networking interfaces, device management, diagnostics and more.
RDK software also includes core interfaces used in smart home and IoT devices, including Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee. Given the rising interest in connected-home services, the RDK community is developing open source software solutions for chipsets used in a variety of new devices, such as home video cameras and Wi-Fi extenders. RDK software is available at no cost to RDK licensees, and RDK community member companies can contribute software changes and enhancements back to the community. RDK software is typically released every two weeks and member companies are downloading RDK software components more than four million times every month—a fourfold increase from the same time last year.
Since last spring, the number of RDK devices deployed globally rose to 40 million from 25 million, an increase of more than 62%. Companies that have publicly announced deployment plans for RDK-based services include: Comcast, Cox, J:COM, Liberty Global, Melita, NOS, NOWO, Rogers, Shaw, Tele Columbus, Vidéotron, and Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutschland). In total, more than 25 video and service providers across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia are members of the RDK community and are in various stages of evaluation, testing, trials or deployment. RDK Management also disclosed that there are now more than 350 technology companies in the RDK community, up 17% from this same period last year. The community includes many of the world’s leading CE manufacturers, SoC vendors, software developers, and system integrators.
