Verimatrix providing VCAS for Swisscom TV 2.0

Content security specialist Verimatrix has revealed that it is providing its VCAS content security system for Swisscom’s new TV 2.0 offering. The company has separately announced that it is providing VCAS to pay TV operator M7 Group to secure its Online.nl on-demand service in the Netherlands.

Swisscom’s Android-based TV 2.0 offering provides integrated live and catch-up services for over 250 channels. Other technology partners for the project include Harmonic.

Verimatrix’s VCAS for IPTV is integrated into the Android IPTV set-top developed by Swisscom and Vestel. Thanks to a cloud-based architecture, subscribers can now record any number of programs in parallel within a storage capacity of up to 1,000 hours. High reliability service delivery is managed via geographically redundant headends.

M7 Group’s multi-network deployment features VCAS for IPTV and VCAS for Internet TV security solutions, which integrate security techniques for video over managed and unmanaged networks with a single security authority headend. The VCAS solutions are integrated with the Solocco Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and Content Delivery Platform (CDP), developed by M7 Group affiliated company Stream Group. The solution is delivered via Kaon set top boxes with Zenterio middleware.

As previously reported Verimatrix is highlighting its new VCAS Ultra platform – specifically designed to provide security for 4K services, to work in a cloud environment and to support a service-based offering via enhanced connectivity – at IBC.

Regarding 4K TV, VCAS Ultra is focused on meeting MovieLabs recommendations, according to vice president of marketing Steve Christian.

He said operators want to market 4K as a premium tier offering. Watermarking and hardware support on individual chipsets is integral to this, as is the ability to add and revoke individual devices types, he said.

Christian said that 4K would involve a “movable dynamic”. The company is working with all major chipset vendors to include hardware support. As chipsets mature and include HDMI support, operators will be able to deploy set tops ahead of next year and the 2016 Olympics which is expected to accelerate the development of UHD, said Christian. eChristian highlighted that 4K does not define UHD, which includes developments in dynamic colour range and depth and frame rates in addition to enhanced resolution.

The MovieLabs document covers encryption at 128-bit AES, hack containment to isolate subsets of devices and the ability to revoke and renew security on those. It also includes a hardware root of trust and watermarking as a hardware supported component of the proposition.

VCAS Ultra can also be deployed in virtual environments or in a cloud based deployment.

There is also an increased emphasis on connectivity, with communication to a central data collection point. Verimatrix can offer performance analytics as part of this as an additional value proposition. “Our role here is more to do with data gathering rather than data presentation,” he said.

The goal is to have continuous connectivity and this will allow Vermiatrx to manage the system and offer additional services. It will also enable Verimatrix to gether operations intelligence. “We want to establish this as a more routine part of the infrastructure,” he said.

One new commercial component of Ultra is that it can be offered on a subscription basis. This is designed to open up new market segments, with lower startup costs. This is the first time Verimatrix has made a service based offering.

Verimatrix will be exhibiting at IBC on stand 4.A55