The Year Ahead
Published on Thursday, 16 January 2020 15:32
It looks like it’s going to be an exciting year ahead for OBS as we move in to 2020. With industry events to attend, projects beginning with new and existing customers, and many exciting technological developments planned.
The major theme for us this year is the RDK software platform; developed by Comcast as an open source platform to simplify STB development. RDK is now gaining interest from other Operators, who see it as a credible alternative to Android. However, although it has limited DVB-C support, today RDK is largely focused on IP delivered content and lacks a standard way for offering true DVB support. To gain traction with Operators a standard way of implementing DVB, and particularly DVB-S/S2, in RDK is required. This is where DTVKit has a role to play, and OBS has been helping DTVKit integrate its market proven DVB stack with the RDK platform.
Accordingly, the first few months of 2020 are going to be busy for us as we make preparations for the RDK Americas Summit in Philadelphia in March where we plan to demonstrate our DVB integration with the RDK platform. We are looking forward to the range of speakers at the event, and the opportunity to discuss DTVKit, what it has to offer RDK, and how OBS can support Operators and Manufacturers with their DVB enabled RDK products.
Hot on the heels of the RDK summit, we will be attending the SES Industry Days in Luxembourg. This year we will have own demo booth, and are aiming to have a presentation slot to discuss some of the market trends we are seeing. The rise of RDK is a key trend, but it is not the only DTV software platform available. Android and Android TV deployments are increasing, and emerging platforms such as Fire TV and Roku TV are also gaining traction in the market. Such platforms are transforming the DTV market, offering a wealth of IP sourced content. However, DVB is still a key video delivery method, and this is where DTVKit can help by bringing a standardised solution to the various software platforms in the market. This is a topic we’d like to explore further at the SES event where we will discuss the advantages of DTVKit and how OBS has integrated DTVKit’s DVB software in a range of platforms from RTOS, to Android, and now RDK.
After SES, our focus will turn to IBC where we will be sharing DTVKit’s stand once again, helping to promote the benefits of the community, and providing demonstrations of OBS’ latest DTVKit based software developments for RTOS, Android, and RDK. We are hoping the event will be even more successful than last year, and that we get to meet with a wide range of customers, partners and colleagues. We will also attend the RDK European summit that follows directly IBC in Amsterdam, where we will be emphasising our message of how DTVKit and OBS can enable DVB support in RDK based products.
In between the major events for OBS in 2020, we will be announcing more design wins for our CI Plus 1.4 and 2.0 Host Stack solutions, the first of which should be in Q1. In addition we have several new set-top box projects targeting Europe and South-East Asia starting in early 2020, and will also be occupied with various Conditional Access Systems integrations. We will also be launching a new MHEG for Android project in Q2 of 2020, details of which will follow in the coming months. Lastly, 2020 will see OBS using its expertise to engage in more projects outside of the digital TV market, so stay tuned for further information on that.