Korea Telecom to Deploy DASAN STBs Powered by Sigma Media Processors

Sigma Designs’ chip also makes DASAN’s set-top boxes ready for IPTV

Milpitas, Calif. — Sigma Designs (Nasdaq: SIGM), a leader in digital media processing for consumer electronics, and DASAN Networks, Korea’s leading supplier of broadband access equipment, announced that Korea Telecom (KT) has selected DASAN Networks for deployment of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) equipment for their Megapass TV service. Under the contract, customers that sign up for KT’s flagship Megapass TV service will be offered a DASAN Network IPTV set-top box that is powered by Sigma Designs’ market leading SMP8634 media processor.

“Korea is committed to high-volume deployment of FTTH technology and we are pleased to win this contract with Sigma Designs as they are the only silicon supplier with experience in deploying IPTV set-top boxes in the millions of units,” said Min Woo Nam, CEO, DASAN. “Our partnership will enable us to meet our goal of delivering costeffective, reliable, and high performance FTTH network equipment supporting triple-play services of video, voice, and data.”

Korea Telecom’s New Megapass TV Advanced Video Services

Megapass is the flagship high-speed broadband service of KT, currently providing broadband rates up to 50 mbps, the highest speed among all broadband services in Korea. For their new Megapass TV offering, KT intends to use fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), a fiber-optics deployment that is carried all the way to the customer’s home. FTTH is a more upgraded version than the existing copper-line-based ADSL service, ensuring a safer connection and serving as a bridge to the next generation telecom broadcasting convergence services, such as internet protocol television (IPTV).

The new Megapass TV will feature a multitude of services, including live television, pay per view, high definition content, video-on-demand, and a host of interactive services. Video-on-demand is expected to be one of the most compelling aspects of the service and will offer more than 2,500 titles for consumer selection. KT expects to begin volume deployments of Megapass TV in July of this year.

About DASAN’s Powerful New Set-Top Box

DASAN’s Gbps EPON solution and associated IPTV set-top box is capable of delivering premium-grade triple-play services–voice, data and video–to Korea’s growing FTTH subscriber base. Powered by Sigma’s SMP8634 media processor, the solution supports a wide range of video services, including broadband IPTV, broadcast ATSC reception, and personal video recording. An internal hard disc drive enables the download and play option for personal video recording. The set-top box also includes a port of ACAP middleware to support data broadcasting reception of the ATSC digital TV standard. DASAN’s new solution utilizes a passive optical network (PON), which delivers gigabitper second bandwidth to the consumer using high-bandwidth optical fiber instead of copper wiring. This bandwidth enables the low-cost delivery of bandwidth-intensive services such as video services, 10-40Mbps and greater data access and integrated VoIP telephone services.

About Sigma’s SMP8634 Media Processor

Sigma’s SMP8634 media processor integrates a complete complement of next-generation capabilities for a single-chip system-on-chip (SOC) solution with powerful multimedia processing, robust content security system, and a full complement of peripherals. Its advanced decoder engines support video decoding of H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10), VC-1, Windows Media® Video 9, and MPEG-2 with multiple streams, up to the equivalent of two high definition video streams. High-performance graphics acceleration, multistandard audio decoding, advanced display processing capabilities, and HDMI/HDCP output round out its multimedia core. Powerful content security is ensured through a dedicated secure processor, flash memory, and a range of digital rights management (DRM) engines for high-speed payload decryption. The SMP8634’s 300-Mhz host CPU, 3.2 GB/second unified memory controller, Ethernet 10/100 controller, USB 2.0 controller, and IDE controller provide for a single-chip solution for most set-top boxes and consumer players.