IWEDIA licenses DLNA technology from Philips

RENNES, France — IWEDIA Middleware, the international provider of embedded software solutions for connected digital television devices, today announced that it has been granted a marketing license by Philips for Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) software stacks.

Philips is a founding member of the alliance and its software stacks are being used as the reference implementations during compliance workshops (plugfests) and by the DLNA certification process.

The announcement was made to coincide with the opening of IPTV World Forum, which is taking place in London from March 23rd through 25th.

The DLNA product portfolio that IWEDIA is in charge of marketing consists of a collection of full-featured and DLNA 1.5 certified software components: Digital Media Player (DMP), Renderer (DMR), Controller (DMC), and Server (DMS). Already “2.0 ready”, the offering will go through official 2.0 compliance testing as soon as the test suite is available.

The solutions are marketed either as stand-alone software components, to be used to enhance a device with DLNA capabilities, or integrated within IWEDIA’s turnkey software solutions targeted at TV sets, set-top boxes and digital video recorders.

At the same time, IWEDIA has reached an agreement with Philips for the provision of DLNA software services based on the licensed material. The contract covers both corrective maintenance (targeting DLNA 1.5) and adaptive maintenance (especially targeting the migration towards DLNA 2.0).

Playing its role of software publisher to the full, IWEDIA is committed both to ensuring its DLNA solutions remain compliant with changes to the specifications and to guaranteeing interoperability with the various (existing and forthcoming) DLNA-enabled devices.

The software offering is backed by a full range of associated professional services to assist the customer in porting and integration of the DLNA solutions, as well as in the testing, validation and qualification of the final device.

Patrick Desproges, CEO, IWEDIA, says: “We’ve always seen DLNA as a major enabler of our vision of a digital audiovisual home network, seamlessly interconnecting a variety of devices and allowing end users to access compelling content and services. With this in mind, we are extremely proud that Philips has decided to entrust us with the marketing and maintenance of its DLNA software. These key technology building blocks will dramatically enhance the two facets of our offering: stand-alone software components and turnkey software solutions.”