Pace announced today that its Elements middleware platform was now available with full Reference Design Kit (RDK) compatibility.
Pace also said it had expanded its relationship with RDK Management by signing up for the RDK Advanced Support Program (ASP) and Media Sponsorship Program (MSP). RDK Management was created last year as a joint venture between Comcast and Time Warner Cable with Liberty Global becoming a partner earlier this year.
Pace was among the first vendors to license the RDK two years ago when it was under the auspices of Comcast. While Time Warner Cable said earlier this month that it would have an RDK-based box from Humax deployed later this year, Comcast is the only cable operator to date to deploy boxes based on the RDK. The Xi3 boxes from Pace and Humax that Comcast is using for its X2 update are also RDK-based.
Although Pace didn’t single out Comcast, the vendor said it had shipped more than 3 million RDK compliant devices in the United States. Pace also said it was planning to expand into the DVB markets with RDK product deployments in partnerships with other MSOs, namely Liberty Global.
The RDK Advanced Support Program provides access to a suite of development tools, testing platforms, advanced training, testing frameworks, and more. The MSP enables enhanced communications between Pace, RDK Management, LLC, and the other RDK stakeholders.
“It’s great to see Pace expanding its role as a key member of the RDK community, their expertise across hardware and software has been an integral part of evolving the RDK,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management.
Since last year’s Cable Show, the number of RDK licensees has grown to more than 140 licensees including, CE manufacturers, SoC vendors, software developers, system integrators, and TV service providers.
The RDK is a pre-integrated software stack that provides a common framework for powering customer-premises equipment (CPE) from TV service providers, including set-top boxes (STBs), gateways, and converged devices. It was created to accelerate the deployment of next-gen video products and services. It enables TV service providers to standardize certain elements of these devices, but also easily customize the applications and user experiences that ride on top.
RDK Management is currently finishing work on RDK 2.0.
