OCTOBER 29, 2009 -- Latens, a European developer of software-based security and middleware for subscription cable and IPTV services, has launched its newest conditional access product, the Secure Distribution System (SDS). Programmers and broadcasters are increasingly taking advantage of the cost and transport efficiencies that faster, high-capacity terrestrial distribution networks provide over satellite, especially in the delivery of heavy, valuable high-definition (HD) content. Working with U.S. programmers, Latens developed the SDS to address content security over the fiber backbone connecting content owner and service provider networks.
"Programmers' recent shift away from satellite to terrestrial content delivery methods has raised new concerns over a significant security gap along the distribution chain. Up until now, securing the fiber backbone wasn't considered necessary nor vital, so content was, and still is, being sent in the clear," explains Philip Cardy, Latens product marketing director. "As traffic increases along terrestrial backbones, so do programmer calls for new, high-security conditional access solutions, like Latens' Secure Distribution System, that are multinetwork compatible and designed for fiber environments."
Latens' software-based SDS conditional access uses an encryption technology that allows content providers and pay TV network operators to securely transport content via IP or fiber from distributor origin to the operator headend. An extension of Latens' Pay TV content security product portfolio, the SDS enables operators to comply with increasingly stringent HD and on-demand security requirements levied by programmers and broadcasters, while also shoring up potential unrecognized holes in competitive legacy systems. The company touts its scalable SDS as the only software capable of providing secure distribution over any type of network, from traditional DVB-S to IP and fiber.
Latens' security technologies meet or exceed the security requirements of major content providers, protecting assets from the programmer contribution facility through the service provider network all the way to the residential set-top box. The open-standards design of the SDS simplifies integration over legacy equipment; its flexibility across varying network architectures makes it appropriate for hybrid networks.
The SDS does not require specially trained network engineers to configure and monitor performance, allowing it to instead be managed from a central location by existing staff. Latens designed the SDS to run on industry-standard servers so its performance scales in line with the performance of server technology, meaning content providers and pay TV operators do not need to invest in high-end router technology.
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