Swisscom deploys 802.11ac Android IPTV set-top powered by Marvell silicon

Tuesday, April 8th, 2014
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Swisscom Deploys Industry’s First 802.11ac Android IPTV Set-top Box Powered by Marvell’s Award Winning ARMADA 1500 Plus Platform

  • Leading European telecom provider selects Marvell’s ARMADA 1500 Plus platform to deliver Swisscom TV 2.0-based IPTV set-top box to its over 1 million subscribers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) today announced its partnership with Swisscom, a leading European telecom provider, to introduce the industry’s first 802.11ac Android IPTV set-top box powered by Marvell’s ARMADA® 1500 Plus (88DE3108) system-on-chip (SoC) platform. A full HD media processor designed for a vast array of Smart video products, the ARMADA 1500 Plus Platform – featuring Marvell’s Avastar® 88W8897 Wi-Fi processor – will power Swisscom’s TV 2.0 set-top box, delivering high performance, enhanced connectivity and immersive HD video to the operator’s more than 1 million subscribers to date. The Swisscom TV 2.0 set-top box is currently available to subscribers.

“I am very proud of our close collaboration with Google and the world’s leading telecom providers in bringing high quality, immersive entertainment experiences to the ‘Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle’ of global consumers. I would like to congratulate Swisscom for the successful deployment of the industry’s first 802.11ac Android IPTV set-top box to its more than 1 million subscribers,” said Weili Dai, President and Co-Founder of Marvell. “As consumers increasingly demand seamless access to high quality content, it is critical that service providers offer the end-to-end solutions for ubiquitous video delivery of uncompromised image quality at an affordable cost. At Marvell, it is our passion and commitment to deliver breakthrough technologies that enable our customers and partners to better the lives of all consumers.”

“In selecting a technology partner, Marvell’s proven track record in powering the ‘Smart Lifestyle’ underscores Swisscom’s mission to deliver on the key attributes for Swisscom TV what you want, when you want and wherever you want, it’s always on,” said Volker Dietzel, Head of TV Services at Swisscom. “We are extremely pleased to introduce our new IPTV set-top box based on the ARMADA 1500 Plus platform that will deliver on the promise of Swisscom TV with powerful features like unlimited CatchUp TV, blazing channel change speeds and seamless connectivity.”

The ARMADA 1500 Plus platform is designed to enable a broad range of innovative and low cost form factors such as small set-top-boxes, over-the-top media players, hybrid set-top boxes and Smart TVs. For this implementation with Swisscom, Marvell now supports one of today’s most prominent wireless protocols, 802.11ac, delivering high speed connectivity for HD video and multimedia content delivery.

Key features of the ARMADA 1500 Plus platform:

  • Operator grade conditional access system to secure premium 1080p content served over Swisscom’s DSL/Fiber network (Verimatrix’s VCAS for IPTV and VCAS for InternetTV) for LiveTV, VoD and CatchUp TV use cases
  • Premier viewing experience with industry-leading FCC (Fast Channel Change) algorithms
  • Network PVR with Local Timeshift buffer
  • Playready DRM and Smooth Streaming for certain VOD services
  • Marvell’s advanced Avastar 88W8897 combining 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi solution with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) supporting HOGP for an advanced remote controller for the STB

Key features of the Swisscom TV 2.0 Android IPTV Set-top box:

  • Seven day replay on over 250 channels
  • Record any number of programmes in parallel in the cloud
  • Home TV screen featuring full Teleclub on-demand range, with a personalized recommendation engine
  • App store presenting more than 50 popular Apps