Thomson's NexGuard Watermarking and Conax Chipset Pairing into Its Leading Digital...

Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:00pm EDT

[-] Text [+]

Thomson's NexGuard Watermarking and Conax Chipset Pairing into Its Leading Digital Television Reference Designs to Offer Turnkey Solution in the Growing Threat of Illegal Content Theft and Redistribution

TURKU, Finland--(Business Wire)--
Digialist Ltd, a leading digital television design house and
system integrator, announced today that it has integrated the
NexGuard(TM) forensic watermarking technology from Thomson, (Euronext
Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS), and Conax Chipset Pairing from the
conditional access provider Conax into its low-cost MPEG-2 set-top-box
reference design.

The Digialist reference design supports Terrestrial, Cable and
Satellite DVB transmissions using only a single antenna input. The
reference design is powered by the Digialist Media Engine, a
state-of-the-art DVB software stack. Digialist Media Engine is highly
modular and easy to port to various hardware platforms. It provides
fast time-to-market for products ranging from cost efficient
set-top-boxes to highly advanced twin-tuner PVRs with IP
functionality. It has a command interface to support IDTV applications
over serial port (UART). All Digialist reference designs are turnkey
solutions, which are targeted for mass-production and can easily be
adjusted for various market needs.

"Integrating Conax Chipset Pairing and Thomson's NexGuard
technologies into the Digialist reference design offer customers'
turnkey solution of advanced security as a way to secure their digital
television assets from content theft and illicit redistribution," said
Pasi Vanttinen, President of Digialist. "The solution offer compelling
advantages, which include setting watermarks into the video signal to
provide additional security in the content delivery within and beyond
the set-top-boxes and able watermarking adjustments without changes in
the headend infrastructure," says Esa Wahlroos, CTO of Digialist."

Conax CA system with chipset pairing offers the market with an
additional level of security to ensure that the digital content
reaches only the end users it is intended for. By combining the Conax
security solution with watermarking, illegally redistributed content
can be tracked to the original subscriber.

"A new milestone has been reached through the combination of Conax
Chipset pairing and watermarking technology. Now the origin of illicit
copy or redistribution of content can be identified" says Geir
Bj0rndal, COO/Director of Sales & Marketing, Conax. "Through the
successful cooperation of partners, Digialist can now make an advanced
solution available to the market that combines both high level
security and watermarking, reducing time-to-market for high security
solutions."

"Together with our partners Digialist and Thomson, we can provide
a market advantage for digital TV operators selecting Conax," says
Wictor Nicolaysen, Vice President of Strategic Partner Management,
Conax.

''We are pleased that NexGuard watermarking technology complements
Conax security scheme and supports the expectation of operators to
identify and revoke subscriptions which are at the source of illicit
redistribution of Pay-TV signal, in a matter of minutes," says Pascal
Marie, Thomson NexGuard Product Line Manager. ''The reference design
by Digialist is a turnkey solution, readily available for production,
and with utmost content security, ideally suited for Pay-TV operators
who want to protect their subscriber base from erosion and maximize
revenue from premium channels and exclusive content."

Forensic watermarking, also known as content serialization,
enables a unique, session-specific ID or serial number to be placed
upon display in every video stream, including for live program
broadcasting or for push-VoD services. By watermarking video based on
the individual recipient, the natural flow of content distribution
remains unchanged, yet any illegally redistributed content can be
traced back to the source. Forensic marks also provide a proactive
"deterrent" value by removing the anonymity usually associated with
the downloading and sharing of content.

About Digitalist (www.digialist.com)

Digialist Ltd was founded in 2005 by experienced digital
television professionals. The company is innovative digital television
specialist located in Turku Science Park. The company's main expertise
and experience is in digital television (DVB-C/T/S/H/IP) hardware and
software reference designs for STBs, PVRs and digital TVs. Digialist
has extensive knowledge in conditional access systems and content
protection integration. The company offers consulting services in the
field of digital television technology.

About Conax (www.conax.com)

Since 1994, Conax has been a pioneer in its field and leading
developer of security solutions for digital TV. Today, core product,
Conax CAS7, provides content protection for premium pay-TV content via
all types of networks - cable, satellite, IP, terrestrial, and MMDS.
Through its global network of partners, Conax is able to offer
state-of-the-art content security to more than 250 digital TV
operators in over 70 countries around the globe. Conax is ISO 9001
certified and ISO 27001 security certified. All Conax products are
compliant with open standards.

Conax is backed by and fully owned by global player Telenor
(www.telenor.com). Telenor has ownership interests in 12 mobile
operators across Europe and Asia and more than 143 million active
mobile phone subscribers worldwide.

Conax headquarters are located in Oslo, Norway, with subsidiaries
in USA, India and Germany and sales & support offices in Russia,
Singapore, China, South Korea, Canada and Brazil.

Visit Conax at IBC, 12.-16.9.2008: Hall 1, Stand 1.B39

About Thomson

More information at http://nexguard.thomson.net

Visit Thomson at IBC, 12.-16.9.2008: Hall 1, Stand 1.D11

Conax(R) is a registered trademark of Conax AS.

Digialist is a registered trademark of Digialist Limited

Thomson is a registered trademark of Thomson, Inc. NexGuard is a
trademark of Thomson, Inc.

Digialist Ltd
Pasi Vanttinen, President
Mobile: +358 50 35 100 94
pasi.vanttinen@digialist.com
or
Conax
Geir Bj0rndal, COO/Director Sales & Marketing
Mob: +47 91 81 80 58
geir.bjorndal@conax.com
or
Thomson NexGuard
Pascal Marie, Product Line Manager
Mob: +33 685 53 12 52
pascal.marie@thomson.net