Irdeto, SafeNet resolve Mobile TV technology war

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
SafeNet, the foundation of information security, and Irdeto, the proven expert in content security for digital TV, IPTV, and mobile, have announced their partnership in mobile TV protection. The resulting joint solution unites two normally competing technologies: conditional access and digital rights management (DRM) to reduce risk and uncertainty for broadcasters and operators, and enable mobile TV to reach its potential.

According to Deepak Prasad, Vice-President, Global Outsourcing, SafeNet Infotech, "Traditionally, broadcasters and operators had to choose between conditional access and DRM when deploying mobile TV. Each solution has strengths: conditional access brings the experience of decades of deployment in cable, terrestrial, broadband and satellite, while DRM exploits open standards favored by the mobile community."

This partnership brings together the world leaders in each area – Irdeto with more than a million mobile TV conditional access users in South Korea, South Africa and Germany, and SafeNet with the world's first commercial DRM deployment for mobile TV in the UK.

Through support for SimulCrypt, a part of the overall DVB standard, the joint solution even supports simultaneous deployment of multiple mobile TV protection standards within a single system. This allows the system to use OMA BCAST smartcard profile with standards-enabled handsets and SIMs, and DVB-OSF with other handsets and broadcast-only devices.

"SafeNet and Irdeto bring complementary skills to the table. Irdeto has decades of experience in the day-to-day operation of broadcast systems, and protects the world's largest mobile TV deployment. SafeNet is the recognized leader, driving deployment, innovation, and standards in DRM for mobile TV. This fit makes a compelling partnership, both for us and for our customers," said Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto.

Under the terms of the partnership, Irdeto and SafeNet will also collaborate on an end-to-end OMA 2 DRM solution, integrating SafeNet's DRM Fusion Toolkit server solution, and Irdeto's mobile DRM client solution.