Pace Pioneers with New Media Gateway

New smartbox device delivers flawless converged services

SALTAIRE, England — Pace plc (LSE: PIC), a leading developer of technologies, products and services for global broadband and broadcast markets, has today announced its pioneering new Media Gateway. The Media Gateway, to be unveiled at IBC next week, is a highly advanced next generation smartbox that seamlessly interconnects pay TV and broadband content with any screen in the home, opening up opportunities for operators to monetise new over-the-top (OTT) and on demand content.

The Pace Media Gateway:

• Distributes broadband and broadcast content and data to a range of screens, including smartphones, laptops, tablets and Pace’s new range of client device set-top boxes, using MoCA, Powerline, wired or wireless networking.
• Repurposes content in real-time to suit the requirements of various consumer electronics devices, enabling consumers to take their viewing experience around and outside the home.
• Provides high-speed interfaces to support rapid download – for example, on a high-speed DOCSIS 3 network, the latest Steven Spielberg film, Super 8, could be downloaded in less than two minutes.
• Includes full network management capabilities that allow operators to monitor and manage the home network and user interaction, and troubleshoot and fix issues remotely. This resolves the escalating complexity of delivering converged IP and broadcast services across a broad range of devices to ensure a consistent and enjoyable consumer experience, and lowers costs by reducing customer service calls and truck-rolls.
• Is highly energy efficient, in line with Pace’s commitment to minimise the environmental impact of its products and operations. The device has the lowest power consumption of any product of its kind and can be built without a fan, further reducing both power consumption and ambient noise.

The Media Gateway can be integrated with Pace’s own Elements software platform, or with any other vendors’ conditional access, middleware and user interface software, according to operator requirements.

“With our new Media Gateway, the networked home can go beyond interconnecting multiple TVs,” said Mark Loughran, regional president, Pace. “End-users want home networks, but they don’t want to deal with the complexity of creating and managing them. This creates a clear opportunity for managed service providers that can meet this challenge.

“The Pace Media Gateway provides genuinely flawless delivery of complex home entertainment services. It gives operators the key to providing the autonomy and flexibility their subscribers want, but with a great user experience that they could not create for themselves.”

Neil Gaydon, Pace CEO, continued: “This is a major advance in the delivery of the connected digital home and builds on Pace’s unrivalled experience of live deployments of advanced payTV infrastructures to make us the clear world-leader in advanced gateway devices.

“For operators, it opens up a host of new revenue generating possibilities, from on-screen micropayment systems to fully interactive tablet and television functions. This immediately helps them widen their services to existing subscribers and attract new customers with a truly premium offering. Ultimately, though, this is an important step in subscribers receiving the home entertainment experience they want, anywhere, and on any device.”

The Media Gateway is the latest addition to Pace’s expanding product and service portfolio, which enables operators to evolve digital services at the speed they want, how they want. This portfolio includes a wide range of set-top boxes and gateways, sophisticated software, highly specialised customer care call centres, and business consulting and product delivery services. These products and services are designed to support telco, cable and satellite operators in different global markets, regardless of their technology needs or market stage.

Pace will be on stand B19 in Hall 1 at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam, September 9th – 13th.