It is bad enough that DVB-H has to fight a war against all the other dozen or so mobile TV technologies out there, without it having to fight internally about just how to implement things like EPG, conditional access and even the underlying datacasting. And it is with this in mind that Siano Mobile Silicon has teamed up with Tata Elxsi, the embedded product design arm of India’s Tata Group, to create a software stack that will work with any DVB-H implementation.
This was another of the offerings in show at last week’s Mobile World Congress, being offered to handset and device makers, as a time to market advantage. Tata will also be a strong ally in taking this into the Indian market.
One of the key features of Tata Elxsi’s software platform, code named “Maverick,” is the ability to seamlessly switch between DVB-H networks that either use the OMA-BCAST or the DVB-CBMS protocol. It also supports, middleware and service guide components for both protocols, and conditional access for service purchase and protection for both of them. By this we assume that the BCAST smart card profile and the Open Framework system from DVB are both supported, something that is becoming increasingly common on a number of DVB-H systems.
The company also said that Tata Elxsi will add DVB-SH support shortly, which for us is really important given how strong Alcatel is in the Indian market and the fact that India will auction satellite, as well as terrestrial spectrum, later this year.