Quick Jump Menu to this Issue’s Articles December 16th, 2003 Overview Cable in the Classroom – A Refresher Course: Cool Content I See ICTV Gift of HDTV Presentation
by Ken Pyle
December 16th, 2003 Issue
ICTV used the Western Show to announce that their HeadendWare product is available for commercial rollout. This product is of interest to independent telcos, as it has the potential to be a new middleware choice for their networks. What makes it unique is it allows operators to leverage existing web content and PC-based content.
Content is sent to the set-top boxes via MPEG2 streams. The set-top box can be relatively simple and, thus low cost, as its main requirement is the ability to decode MPEG2. The network needs to be a fairly robust two way implementation. ICTV supports Hybrid Fiber Coax, but they also suggest they will be able to support pure IP networks.
ICTV showed several examples where PC games had been quickly ported to their system. ICTV has actually helped facilitate a game channel, such that it makes it very easy for an operator to offer online gaming via the television with a vanilla digital set-top box. This product opens a whole host of new applications, such as Skyworks‘ advergaming approach highlighted in the last issue of the Viodi View.
Having being around since the early 90s, it may be that ICTV has hit the right combination this time. They have always been on the leading or bleeding edge of technological innovation. Through all of those years and product iterations, they have had a philosophy of putting more intelligence in the headend, allowing the client devices to require less memory and processing power. ICTV’s current product is a result of several years of refinement and it looks like it could be ready for prime-time.
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