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DiviCom Debuts DVB-SimulCrypt Solution
Broadcasters Gain Flexible Encryption Options with DVB SimulCrypt Complementing DiviCom's Experience with Multiple CAS Vendors
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 1998-- DiviCom Inc. (NASDAQ:CUBE - news), a leading provider of compression systems and networking solutions for digital television, today announced it has successfully developed DVB-SimulCrypt solutions for digital service providers wishing to deploy multiple conditional access (CA) systems and different set-top boxes supporting those CA systems.
Conditional access defines how a digital television signal is encrypted or scrambled and is at the heart of pay-TV systems worldwide. SimulCrypt allows several CA systems to be used in a single headend system, in conjunction with the DVB Common Scrambling Algorithm.
Developed by the worldwide standards organization DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), SimulCrypt allows the same broadcast (with different embedded conditional access information) to be viewed on several different CA-equipped receivers. By deploying SimulCrypt, DiviCom customers can increase their market penetration by enabling set-top receivers with multiple different CA vendors' smart cards to view their programming.
In addition, with SimulCrypt, service providers can select CA and compression vendors independently, ensuring that they can purchase the best-of-breed in both categories.
''Standards are becoming increasingly important as the complexity of broadcast systems increases,'' said Andrew Glasspool, chairman, DVB SimulCrypt committee, and consultant. ''The implementation of the DVB/SimulCrypt headend protocols reduces the initial integration time and the time required to add new systems to an existing implementation.''
''DiviCom is once again proving its commitment to standards,'' said Tom Lookabaugh, president of DiviCom. ''We stand apart from other headend suppliers through the successful integration of our systems with those from various CA system vendors including NagraVision, Irdeto, France Telecom [NYSE:FTE - news], Canal+, and Telenor, among others.''
Currently, DiviCom is testing an integrated DVB SimulCrypt system with the Canal+ MediaGuard and NagraVision CA systems.
DiviCom Inc.
DiviCom develops and integrates products that make digital video networking possible. Products include audio/video encoding, data broadcast solutions, network management systems, consulting and integration services. Based on the MPEG-2, DVB and ATSC international standards, DiviCom's products enable digital video broadcasting over a variety of networks including satellite, wireless, fiber and cable.
DiviCom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of C-Cube Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:CUBE - news), and both companies are based in Milpitas, Calif. C-Cube is the leading provider of digital video silicon solutions for the communications and consumer markets. DiviCom can be reached at 408/944-6700 or on the World Wide Web at divi.com.
Information for Editors:
At the set-top box, conditional access systems can be considered as having two parts: the 'decryption' and the 'descrambling' systems. The decryption system translates coded keys received by the set-top that are needed by the descrambler to work. The descrambler makes the received pictures and sound intelligible.
The area of conditional access has received particular attention within DVB. Owing to the ''closed'' nature of CA technology, an open standard was too simple a goal, and indeed not necessarily desirable, as a single CA standard, once ''hacked'' could cause immense losses of revenue for broadcasters. Discussions were difficult and lengthy, but common consensus yielded a package of measures. One of these is SimulCrypt, which uses a Common Scrambling Algorithm.
The Common Scrambling Algorithm was designed with the goal of minimizing the likelihood of piracy attack over a long period of time. The specification, prepared by the Conditional Access Specialists' Group, is lodged with a custodian.
The technical details are distributed, and the technology licensed, by the custodian to appropriate organizations upon signature of a license agreement. Using the Common Scrambling Algorithm and DVB SimulCrypt in the standard MPEG data transport it is possible to incorporate multiple messages that all enable control of the same scrambled broadcast but are generated by a number of different CA systems. This ''SimulCrypt' technique allows both the delivery of one program to a number of different decoder populations that contain different CA systems, and also for the transition between different CA systems in any decoder population, for example to recover from piracy.
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Contact:
DiviCom Inc.
Anne Hohenberger, 408/490-6688
anneh@divi.com
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