Digital TV Europe

April 2010

Technology > in focus

Pace acquires gateway specialist as profits soar

Gaydon:

Pace has acquired France-based IP and cable gateway specialist Bewan systems for €12.5m via its Pace France unit. The UK set-top supplier said

Bewan’s residential gateway capa- bilities – including expertise in DSL and cable DOCSIS 3.0 IP technologies – will combine with Pace’s existing gateway business, enabling it to offer converged gateway and digital TV solutions to pay-TV customers. Bewan has customers in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. “As pay-TV operators develop converged home entertainment services, advanced residential gateways will become increasingly impor- tant – both as standalone devices and integrated into set-top box products that drive whole home networks,” said Neil Gaydon, CEO of Pace. The acquisition is expect- ed to close in the second quarter. Pace reported 2009 revenues

of £1.133bn (€1.254bn), up 52% on 2008, and pre-tax profit of £76.5m, up by a staggering 405%. Adjusted group profit before tax (excluding amortisa-

Advanced gatways will become more important.

tion) was up 168% to £76.5m. The company’s strong perform-

ance was attributed to a 31% increase in the volume of ship- ments across all markets, as well as cost synergies from the acqui- sition of Pace France (the former Philips set-top business). The company said it expected

solid single-digit growth this year, with further improvements in its margins. Pace said that, accord- ing to recent research, it was not the second largest set-top suppli- er in the world, up from number three in 2008. Separately, Pace has deployed

its Multidweller distribution plat- form for the first time in the UK. The product, which aims to

deliver digital services to hard-to- reach residents in multidwelling apartments, has been installed in

MoCA finds European coax

The market for coax cable-based home-networking in Europe is more significant than many have believed, according to a survey commissioned by the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) in four European Union countries. Of the four countries surveyed,

Poland came top for availability of coax outlets per home, with 71% of respondents to the survey having two or more coaxial out- lets and 36% having three or more. In the UK, 56% had two or more outlets and 27% had three or more, while the comparable figures for France were 55% and 25%. Perhaps surprisingly, the

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cable-rich Netherlands came bot- tom of the table, with 45% and 15%. “We found substantial cable –

we knew it was not like the US but it was more than people had thought,” said Rob Gelphman, chair of the marketing group at MoCA. MoCA promotes the use of in-

home coaxial cable to deploy home-networking applications. A number of set-top vendors have announced support for the MoCA specification, with silicon suppli- ers Broadcom and Entropic hav- ing released MoCA-compatible chipsets.

In Brief

apartment blocks in South Yorkshire as part of a project with not-for-profit organisation The Advanced Digital Institute and broadband provider Thales. Pace said the project was designed to determine how best to provide fast internet access to residents in multi-dwelling, digitally disen- franchised areas. The results will be announced next month. The MultiDweller converts

existing co-axial distribution cabling into high-speed, triple- play, bi-directional networks, allowing operators to deliver broadcast and broadband servic- es to multiple end subscribers without the need for any modifi- cation or additional cabling. Pace has also been chosen by

Luxembourg-based DTH operator M7 to develop HD and HD DVR set-top boxes. The HD box has been deployed, while the DVR version will be delivered later this year. Both boxes will include con- ditional access from Nagravision and the OpenTV middleware- based NagraGuide, a suite of interactive applications.

Service model helps Kudelski

Conditional access company and interactive TV provider Kudelski posted strong full year results, thanks in part to its decision to transition selected large accounts to its new service model during the first half of 2009. By end-December, it had 124 million active smart cards/mod- ules, of which 59.8 million were in the service model. Full-year revenues reached CHF1.05bn (€717m), up 2.4% year-on-year. The company’s digital TV seg- ment increased revenues by 3.6% to CHF685m.

Humax supports Canvas

Set-top supplier Humax has been named as a manufacturer supporter of Project Canvas. Humax, which already offers the BBC iPlayer catch-up service on its boxes for free-to-air satellite platform Freesat, welcomed the common standard for Canvas, the BBC-backed over-the-top platform to deliver on-demand content to Freeview and Freesat TVs. “The common standard is a positive step, guaranteeing the viewer a quality service that is reflective of UK broadcasting standards, delivered on a plat- form with a trusted name,” said Graham North, commercial director, Humax. “It will also guarantee a viewing experience that is consistent regardless of the hardware or device being used to access the content.”

Arris in ad splicing tests

Cable technology group Arris has successfully completed interoperability testing for the EGT VIPr ad splicing solution with it ConvergeMEdia SkyVision digital advertising system, as well as with other ad system suppliers. Arris said the tests validate that the EGT VIPr Ad Splicer supports cable oper- ator dynamic ad insertion in full compliance with the SCTE 30 and 35 specifications.

Viaccess teams with NEC

Conditional access company Viaccess and NEC Electronics are to collaborate to incorporate the former’s CA in the latter’s new EMM 3SL/P system-on- chip, targeting MPEG-4 HD hybrid set-top boxes. Viaccess said the combined offering would deliver set-top vendors a secure, easy-to-integrate and cost-effective solution. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56