Cloud vendor ActiveVideo has joined the cable industry’s Reference Design Kit (RDK) initiative, which would provide a virtual bridge between devices and cloud-based user interfaces, applications and services.
ActiveVideo will integrate its Nano Client software into the RDK common framework for testing. Once it’s approved, cable operators that use ActiveVideo’s platform will be able to compliment their set-top boxes and other devices with ActiveVideo’s cloud-based browser for interactive applications and services.
The RDK started out as a very device-centric Comcast project several years ago before morphing into the industry-wide RDK Management last year. Comcast and Time Warner Cable were the initial joint venture members of RDK Management prior to Liberty Global joining this year.
“ActiveVideo’s expertise and leadership in advancing cloud rendering of applications fills an important need within the RDK community, as operators seek to capitalize on cloud technologies to create their own user experiences on top of the RDK software stack,” said Steve Heeb, president and general manager of RDK Management, LLC. “The RDK is being embraced by more and more operators, technology partners, and systems integrators that are all committed to having a more open and flexible technical foundation for next-gen devices.”
ActiveVideo’s CloudTV software platform is a browser in the cloud that enables pay-TV operators to virtualize CPE functions for the purposes of delivering next-gen user interfaces, online content, and interactive advertising for TV across pay-TV operators’ entire footprints.
“By having our client, we can provide all of the RDK-capable devices a common cloud-based browser as a platform to download their services and applications,” said Sachin Sathaye, ActiveVideo’s vice president strategy & product management. “They can render these services and applications in the cloud and deliver them to various RDK implementations. There are also non-RDK devices in the market that ActiveVideo can serve by having this cloud-based browser as the services and application platform.
“The cloud-based browser for RDK compliments the heterogeneous implementation of all of the RDK devices and non RDK devices. It mitigates against device obsolescence. So if tomorrow any RDK device gets upgraded, operators don’t have to wait until the upgrade is done across the entire footprint. They can focus on services and time to market for different applications and deliver that through a cloud based browser while they upgrade these set top boxes.”
By connecting the RDK framework to the cloud, ActiveVideo said it also allowed application developers to evolve and normalize application experiences across RDK implementations.
