RDK at INTX
Reference Design Kit (RDK) featured prominently during INTX last week as the pre-integrated software bundle seeks to provide a common framework for supporting CPEs including set-tops. “INTX felt more intimate this year but also broader in scope,” Steve Heeb, pres/gm of RDK Management told us. “The show is clearly no longer simply about cable TV. Our industry has fully transitioned into one that spans broadband and video, with a shift to more open software approaches that drive speed and innovation… INTX provided us an excellent opportunity to meet with community members to share ideas and discuss our future plans together.”
A new RDK feature this year is RDK-B (broadband) for data gateways, and “we are seeing significant interest in the solution,” the exec said. Now operators have a software solution for both set-tops (RDK-V) and data gateways. RDK-B aims to manage broadband services such as home-networking interfaces, including WiFi, local area networking, device management and diagnostics, Internet of Things offerings and multicast video. Both RDK-V and RDK-B are open source-based and free to RDK licensees. Heeb noted RDK community member companies can contribute software changes and enhancements to either RDK stack. Operators around the world share a common understanding that more openness and standardization in the RDK software enables them to develop and offer services faster across devices, Heeb said.
Since last year’s INTX, the number of RDK device deployments has tripled from 5mln to more than 15mln. The newest member of the RDK community is Cadent Technology, formerly BlackArrow. Within the community, Cadent, which has previously deployed advertising solutions for on-demand and multiscreen services, will primarily focus on Linear Segmented Advertising that inserts targeted ads into live and time-shifted experiences on the RDK-V software. RDK Management is set to have RDK Tech Summit in July in CO, with a focus on code writing. “It’s a roll-up-your-sleeves code workshop for software engineers. The newest addition to the Tech Summit is that we will have an entire day forced on RDK-B for the first time, and we expect that to be a key reason why many of our members will attend,” Heeb said.
