Harmonic and Nagra Team to Power the World's First Commercial MPEG-DASH OTT Multiscreen Service

Deployed Jointly by Abertis Telecom and Nagra, the Live and VOD Multiscreen Cloud Service Leverages Harmonic ProMedia™ Suite and Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen

SAN JOSE, Calif. and CHESEAUX, Switzerland — Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, today announced that it has teamed up with Nagra, the digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) and world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, to power an innovative cloud-based OTT video service for broadcasters and pay-TV service providers offered jointly by major Spanish infrastructure telecom operator Abertis Telecom and Nagra. The multiscreen hosting service is already in use by Spanish broadcasters for their HbbTV based services and will be enhanced to become what is expected to be the world’s first commercial deployment of MPEG-DASH, a standards-based adaptive streaming protocol that supports multiple DRM systems via common encryption, as well as the first deployment of HbbTV 1.5.

As part of a fully integrated multiscreen solution, Harmonic’s ProMedia™ suite and Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen solution provide the Abertis Telecom-Nagra cloud service with an integrated video infrastructure capable of delivering high-quality OTT applications, including live, VOD and time-shifting, to TVs, PCs, tablets, smartphones, set-top boxes and other IP-connected devices.

To ensure a successful deployment, Nagra and Harmonic worked closely to define and implement the necessary interfaces between Harmonic’s video processing solutions and Nagra’s master DRM key server, allowing the service to simultaneously protect content with multiple digital rights management systems, including Nagra PRM, Microsoft® PlayReady®, and Marlin.

Leveraging Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen’s multi-DRM capability, the Abertis Telecom-Nagra cloud service can support a broad range of connected devices while reducing the total cost of ownership. The end-to-end Nagra solution includes the flexible MediaLive Service Platform for digital asset management and service delivery; the company’s award-winning digital rights management technology (Nagra PRM); Nagra Media Player, a sophisticated media player that securely delivers services to open devices; and the MediaLive “Ninja” Client Framework, a flexible cross-device application framework that accelerates the deployment of innovative services to multiple connected devices.

“Nagra is committed to providing flexible solutions required to cost-effectively deploy multiscreen services that address future market needs. With this MPEG-DASH and HbbTV 1.5 deployment, Nagra and Harmonic continue to lead the industry in supporting innovative television services,” said Jean-Michel Puiatti, vice president, multiscreen products for Nagra. “The multi-DRM support provided by Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen simplifies the encryption of video content to multiple devices and lowers capital and operating costs for service providers.”

The joint Abertis Telecom-Nagra cloud service uses Harmonic’s software-based ProMedia family of video preparation and processing solutions to streamline the delivery of its new OTT service. ProMedia performs a broad range of processing and streaming tasks — including capture, transcoding, packaging, and origin server functions — to enable high-quality multiplatform video creation and delivery. The flexible, high-performance solution can scale to support hundreds of simultaneous streams, simplifying the deployment of the live OTT service.

“As a member of the DASH Industry Forum and recent participant in the first live, public MPEG-DASH trial at the London Olympic Games with European broadcaster VRT, Harmonic is excited to continue its support of the industry’s premiere standard for streaming multimedia over the Internet. By launching the world’s first OTT service supporting MPEG-DASH, Abertis Telecom and Nagra are breaking new ground and helping to build the future of multiscreen delivery,” said Thierry Fautier, senior director, convergence solutions, Harmonic.

The joint Abertis Telecom-Nagra Multiscreen Cloud Service will be showcased at IBC2012 in Amsterdam, Sept. 7-11, at Nagra stand 1.C81. Harmonic will demonstrate its comprehensive range of multiscreen solutions at stand 1.B20.