NAGRAVISION, GEMPLUS AND THALES DEMONSTRATE SIM-BASED CONTENT PROTECTION SOLUTION TO ENABLE PAY TV ON MOBILE DEVICES
3GSM World Congress, Cannes, February 14th, 2005 – Nagravision, Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), and Thales, demonstrate a SIM/USIM-based content protection solution to deliver broadcast content on mobile devices at the 3GSM World Congress. This solution will enable live, over-the-air broadcast content to be viewed on any mobile device on a free-to-air, subscription or pay-per-view basis, following the business models chosen by premium content aggregators and service providers. This solution will be shown using content provided by the CANAL+ Group on the Gemplus booth, Stand B19, Hall 1, at the 3GSM World Congress 2005 in Cannes (France) from 14-17 February 2005.
The Pay TV solution integrates Nagravision's new Nagra Mobile Content Protection System with Thales' delivery solution and Gemplus' latest SIM card family, GemXplore Generations, to secure broadcasting of content to mobile devices. The SIM is used to decode content decryption keys regularly needed to decrypt the streamed content. This integrated solution brings together the technologies required to secure content in a hybrid 3G and DVB-H environment. Thales, as a system integrator, provides the products used to generate and broadcast DVB-H services: IP content generation and encapsulation, modulation and transmission. Mobile users can use an SMS-based service to subscribe to specific programs or purchase the rights to view specific video-based events, such as sport matches or news.. The SIM card, already used for its highly secure, authentication functionality, can also be used as an electronic wallet to purchase token-based or Pay-TV programs on a mobile device.
This solution provides exceptional flexibility to drive more advanced content uptake. The Gemplus' SIM card ensures that upgrades can be easily executed, providing operators with a long-term solution for offering multimedia services. Nagra Mobile enables consumers to access pay-per-view programs offline, greatly reducing the technical load and associated costs on the mobile network and security servers. Acquisition of content rights can be done regardless of network availability, thus providing a key enabler to sell pay-per-view content to a mass audience.
"This shows how broadcast mobile TV content protection can be integrated into a secure SIM/USIM to offer the highest level of security with optimized long-term cost of ownership for the operator", said Adrienne Corboud, Executive Vice President Business Development of the Kudelski Group, Nagravision's parent company. "Nagra Mobile client empowers "Gemplus' new SIM card to become a personalized key to access services and content. With Nagra Mobile solutions operators can build a Pay TV service with their content partners quickly and effectively. We very much look forward to working with world-leading partners such as Gemplus and Thales in this market."
"By removing the limitations of memory capacity on SIM cards and increasing the high speed data transfer between the handset and the SIM, mobile operators can deliver new value-added services going beyond the scope of traditional telecommunication, such as video, TV, MP3s and games and create truly differentiated offerings for themselves," says Philippe Vallee, Executive Vice President, Telecom Business Unit, Gemplus. "We are very pleased to be working with industry leaders Thales and Nagravision to deliver and, more importantly, protect what we see as the next phase of mobile content."
The partners have chosen Nagravision's open, multi-standard support to offer service operators the greatest choice of DRM schemes to fit their service requirements and business plans. Nagra Mobile solutions are OMA and DVB-CBMS compliant.
About the Kudelski Group/Nagravision
The Kudelski Group (www.nagra.com) is a world leader in digital security. Its technologies are used in a wide range of applications requiring access control and rights management, whether for securing transfer of information (digital television, broadband Internet, video-on-demand, interactive applications, etc.) or to control and manage access of people or vehicles to sites and events. The Kudelski Group is headquartered in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland, and its stock is listed on the Swiss Market Index.
Nagravision (www.nagravision.com), a Kudelski Group company, is the world's leading independent supplier of open conditional access and integrated solutions for digital TV operators and content providers. Its technologies are currently being used by more than 100 leading operators worldwide serving over 50 million subscribers.
About Gemplus
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2004), Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor.) It has sold over 5 billion smart cards.
With security at its core, and 2400 patents produced by its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable, personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control. Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros. www.gemplus.com
About Thales
Thales is an international electronics and systems group serving defense, aerospace and security markets. The group employs 61,500 people worldwide and generated revenues of 10.6 billion euros in 2003. The Thales Group's broadcast & multimedia business designs, develops, manufactures and markets equipment, systems and solutions in the fields of terrestrial transmission (radio and TV), digital video processing and multimedia distribution for broadcasting, cable TV, satellite and telecommunication service providers worldwide. Thales’ broadcast & multimedia systems are deployed in 170 countries. www.thales-bm.com
Press contacts
Catherine Hugon
Kudelski Group / Nagravision
+41 21 732 01 54
[email protected]
Jane Strachey
Gemplus
+33 (0)676493593
[email protected]
Véronique Mauduit
Thales
Broadcast & Multimedia
+ 33 1 34 90 36 87
[email protected]