Wyplay middleware to go open-source

Thursday, September 5th, 2013
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Wyplay’s Independent Pay-TV Offering to Become Open-Source

  • Frog by Wyplay Community Will Have Full Access to Wyplay Source Code

MARSEILLE, France — IBC2013, Stand 5.A11 — Wyplay, creator of software solutions for leading pay-TV operators, today announced Frog by Wyplay, an initiative aiming to free all actors in the TV ecosystem from being locked into proprietary solutions. Thanks to Frog by Wyplay, the full source code of Wyplay’s innovative and flexible set-top box middleware and backend add-ons – already being deployed to more than 10 million subscribers at Canal+, Belgacom, SFR, and Vodafone – will be accessible free of charge for evaluation and development purposes. Frog by Wyplay is based on the philosophy that traditional “black-box” models prevent software reuse, restrict partnerships, stop independent innovation, and cause development resource bottlenecks that lead to increased costs and delays in the introduction of new devices and services.

“Wyplay has been addressing the issues that arise from black-box development models by offering two of its major customers access to its source code,” said Wyplay CEO Jacques Bourgninaud. “We have now decided to extend full access to our entire solution’s code and tools so that everyone who participates in the Frog by Wyplay community is free to innovate and succeed.”

“Pay-TV operators are often slowed down when deploying new services by their dependence on the development cycles of third-party proprietary set-top box software platforms,” said IHS Senior Principal Analyst Daniel Simmons. “Pay-TV operators realize that this issue must be addressed and are seeking to migrate to new software platforms – similar to those Internet video providers, the main competitive threat, use and benefit from – that provide more open access to source code, allowing for greater development flexibility and faster deployment of new, more compelling services.”

Frog by Wyplay encompasses all of the elements needed to build a robust foundation for pay-TV products (satellite, cable, IPTV, over the top, and terrestrial), including development kits for TV client devices, reference hardware, optional backend add-ons, and companion apps for smartphones or tablets. Based on open-source technologies and open standards, the solution is agnostic with respect to chipset, delivery frontend, and existing TV operator backend.

Wyplay expects to release the source code of the core components incrementally – together with build and configuration tools and reference set-top box devices for development purposes – starting in the first quarter of 2014. Members of the community will also have access to extensive documentation and code samples, as well as a range of interactive channels such as forums and an issue tracker.

Wyplay will preview Frog by Wyplay at IBC2013 on stand 5.A11. Interested parties can preregister at http://www.FrogByWyplay.com. More than 15 early adopter companies will be showcasing Wyplay’s solution on the exhibition floor.