p17-20 IPTV@IBC08 Security v3 23/7/08 14:47 Page 20
IPTV@IBC08 > Security Cable & Satellite Europe
NDS Metro combines
NDS’s IP middleware
and VideoGuard
content security to
enable users to access
on-demand and DVR
content.
Verimatrix’s Christian says the company has seen an originally designed for the film industry, it has recently
increase in platform convergence over the last two years. been developed for the consumer TV market. One of the
But, he adds, the challenges of protecting hybrid networks market-leaders, Dolby-owned Cinea (IBC Stand 2.B28),
will become easier as the technical specifications of those focuses on developing a number of watermarking tech-
platforms begin to merge. “There is only a shade of dif- nologies for various uses, including a specific application
ference between formats as the cable operators, telecom- for the on-demand space. The benefit of the technology is
munication providers and linear broadcasters are all pro- that it can mark the content at the VOD server headend
ducing similar delivery models,” he says. “These compa- which means that there is no requirement to add any-
rable platforms make the process of providing protection thing to the set-top box. “Initially, the use of watermarking
considerably easier than before, as they lend themselves will be for premium content, either early window on-
to requiring a more common set of standards and a uni- demand content or HD content,” Cinea’s director of prod-
versal method of protection.” uct management and forensic watermarking products
Nagravision is heavily involved in major hybrid projects Rick Whittemore told Cable & Satellite Europe earlier this
with operators including Numericable and Portugal year. “Operators have started to ask conditional-access
Telecom. Uldry says the company is able to offer condi- vendors whether their systems provide watermarking.
tional access services to operators with hybrid networks These questions are being asked because the content
without the need for re-integration in set-tops or the head- owners are enquiring about it. We’ve been working on
end. Its card-less system, designed specifically for IP net- showing people that it can be implemented fairly easily,
works, also supports the use of smartcards. It can there- and on legacy systems. That’s how we can get the studios
fore support hybrid DVB/IP networks with a single head- to recognise that watermarking is a viable means of pro-
end and a single conditional access client in the end-user tecting premium content.”
devices. “We have the advantage of developing card-based Some conditional-access vendors license watermark-
systems for years and have recently migrated to card-less,” ing technologies from the likes of Cinea, Thomson and
says Uldry. “We are now capable of having one single- Philips. Others have decided to develop the service in-
piece of CA software in the set-top box that can run in house. Verimatrix is one of them and Christian puts a
both modes – card-based and card-less.” surge in interest down to studios demanding that opera-
tors offer enhanced security options. “Our approach is to
offer layers of content security, which can be adapted to
Additional security layers apply to different types of video and devices. If forensic
watermarking is used in conjunction with conditional-
Aside from conditional-access systems, some operators access technology, security is extended beyond the storage
have extolled the virtues of additional layers of security and transport of the content, for example.”
such as watermarking and fingerprinting as a means of While the most effective forms of protection are a mat-
policing and deterring criminal activity around content. ter of debate, the main players agree on one thing: to per-
Watermarking works by allowing illegally-sourced con- suade content owners to part with valuable content, IPTV
tent to be traced back to its leak. While the technology was operators must be trusted to keep the pirates at bay. ●
searchable archive at www.informamedia.com
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