Chicago, June 8, 2006 – The popularity of Verimatrix’s VCAS video content security system continues to rise, as evidenced by several announcements regarding new contracts which the company made during Globalcomm 2006.
First, the company announced that T2TV and T2 Communications have deployed the VCAS on its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Holland, Mich. T2 reportedly selected VCAS when one of its premium broadcast providers required a content protection solution in order to gain access to premium broadcast channels. According to a
press release, Verimatrix was able to successfully install VCAS for T2 within 10 days of purchase.
“Today, content encryption is being mandated by more and more broadcasters, and as contracts come up for renewal, operators must have encryption in place, or they risk losing their programming,” said Steve Oetegenn, EVP of global sales and marketing, Verimatrix, in the release. “Our customers rely on us for a content provider approved solution that is easy and cost-effective to deploy. We are delighted that T2 entrusted us to secure this crucial component of their network and proud of what we accomplished in such a short turnaround time.”
Second, the company announced that Arkwest Communications, a service provider headquartered in Danville, Ark., has also selected VCAS to protect its digital video content. According to a
press release, Arkwest will be the first broadband provider in Arkansas to offer triple play services. Again, Verimatrix was chosen because it enabled Arkwest to receive premium Hollywood content and broadcast channels.
“We wanted to offer our community a better TV alternative in terms of price, service, quality and choice,” said P.T. Sanders, vice president of operations for Arkwest. “VCAS proved to be a more compatible and highly integrated solution for our platform. It was a perfect choice for us to quickly deploy both live broadcast and Video-on-Demand services over our network ahead of our competition. Based on initial feedback, we anticipate an aggressive rollout to our entire subscriber base.”
Third, Verimatrix announced that it has selected Sigma Design’s SMP8634 system-on- chip (SoC) solution to integrate with its VideoMark user-specific forensic watermarking. This means set-top box manufacturers can now have VideoMark (a stand-alone feature of VCAS) and hardware encryption embedded directly into Sigma’s new SoC that will protect premium content by tracing piracy to the culpable individual.
“Verimatrix offers advanced content protection and a forensic watermarking solution that is gaining momentum among large IPTV (
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press release. “We want to provide a complete solution that will bring their IPTV services to market faster, more cost-effectively and more securely. Verimatrix is helping us accomplish this.”
Fourth, the company announced that Philips’ Nexperia has incorporated VCAS and VideoMark in the reference design for its soon-to-be-released system-on-chip (SoC) platform. Pre-integrating Verimatrix’s content protection solution at the SoC level will enable any service provider deploying the Philips STB810 to take advantage of the built-in VideoMark forensic watermarking.
“Verimatrix has a unique approach to watermarking that is easily incorporated on our STB810 and adds a great deal of value to any STB manufacturer,” said Roger Gregory, marketing director for IP-STB systems, Philips Semiconductors, in a
press release. “VCAS with the VideoMark forensic watermarking is a critical component to address the security needs of all device manufacturers, and ultimately the content owners.”
Finally, just prior to GlobalComm (
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“Security is a major concern for our customers and we see Verimatrix as providing a key additional layer of content protection to detect and deter digital piracy,” said Aidan O’Rourke, marketing director for Broadcom’s IP STB solutions, in a
press release. “Verimatrix’s software-based content security solution is a perfect match for the BCM97398 platform because of its highly-efficient and low-overhead processing techniques.”
The Verimatrix Content Authority System (VCAS) is a software-based content protection and encryption solution built on the principles of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Verimatrix claims VCAS is the only solution that embeds an electronic fingerprint in video content as it is played back at the set-top box. This additional layer of digital watermarks enables telecommunications carriers to detect piracy all the way to the guilty party’s STB.
Operators of IP networks directly benefit from integrated forensic watermarking. Primarily, they can bid for earlier release or higher quality Hollywood content due to a superior and highly protected distribution channel.
Many content owners have already indicated they will mandate the use of digital watermarking for high definition (HD) content. Therefore, operators are now able to future-proof their networks through the deployment of VCAS and VideoMark.
Integration and deployment costs are minimal since VideoMark is a pure software upgrade that does not require any disruptions or hardware upgrades for existing customers.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the U.S. motion picture industry loses more than $3 billion annually in potential revenue due to piracy, which does not include Internet piracy losses. The VideoMark solution is an effective way for Hollywood studios to trace illegal copies to deter peer-to-peer file sharing, and consequently capture more revenues.
For more information about Verimatrix, visit
www.verimatrix.com.
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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.
