Thomson Supplies Energy-Saving and Compact Cable Set-top Boxes to UPC

Major saving in power consumption in typical consumer use, without compromising functionality including data services and PVR

PARIS (France) — Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS), a worldwide leader of services to content creators, today announced that Leading cable operator UPC Broadband, the European division of Liberty Global, Inc., is the first operator to take up the latest design of its energy-efficient set-top boxes. The personal video recorder-equipped STB is rolled out on the UPC Broadband network in Western and Eastern Europe.

Central to the design of the Thomson DCI602 is a unique “deep sleep” mode, in which the STB consumes less than 1W, but is still ready to start. The small footprint chassis design of this new generation of compact and energy-saving set-top box allows reduction in materials usage such as plastics and transport costs, thus minimizing its environmental impact.

The DCI602 STB provides all the functionality required of a modern digital cable network, including a built-in DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS modem for advanced broadband and interactive services. It can support multiple conditional access systems and is available with an integral hard disk of up to 500GB for high capacity PVR functionality.

“Thomson is committed to environmental sustainability and environmentally-friendly product design,” said Georges Laplanche, Senior Vice President, Connect Division, at Thomson. “Our initiatives run right through the life-cycle of the product, from manufacturing, packaging and shipping right through to the ease of recycling at the end of a product’s life, as well as significant reductions in power consumption. We are delighted to be working together with UPC to bring this remarkable new product across Europe.”

Eric Lennon, Chief Technology Officer of UPC Broadband, commented: “We are very pleased that Thomson, as a long-term partner to UPC, has continued to develop set-top boxes in line with our requirements including those for reducing power consumption levels of our digital TV service. This is increasingly important as we launch more sophisticated services and work to achieve the right balance between technical innovation and environmental performance.”