Siemens Communications has integrated Entone Technologies’ Hydra IP Video Gateway set-top box into its SURPASS end-to-end, open-architecture, multi-vendor IPTV solution. The Hydra box is designed to allow service providers to use existing coaxial wiring for multistream video distribution within the home. "The SURPASS Home Entertainment solution, coupled with Entone’s IP video gateway technology, provides broadband operators with a way to avoid many of the costs and complexities involved with set-top boxes that require Ethernet cabling," Chris Coles, president and CEO of IPTV middleware provider, Myrio (a Siemens subsidiary), said in a prepared statement. "This is another example of how the standards-based SURPASS Home Entertainment solution enables service providers to choose the industry’s most desirable IPTV hardware and applications such as digital TV, pay-per-view, video on demand, personal video recording, Web access, and much more."
The Hydra box is also designed to enable line sharing for simultaneous TV viewing and Internet access: according to Entone, it supports up to three simultaneous video streams over a single DSL, FTTH or Ethernet connection. In addition, it supports such telephony features as caller ID and call waiting. It also provides an RF remote, allowing channel changing throughout the home. The box was integrated with the Myrio middleware that is at the core of the SURPASS solution, using Myrio’s Interactive Development Kit. SURPASS also features a standards-based Java client, designed to provide portability across different CPU and operating system combinations. Siemens claims that SURPASS is now used by over 75 regional telcos in the US.
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