Irdeto, a leading expert in content and business model protection solutions and services, attained substantial market momentum in its fiscal year, which ended 31 March 2008. Irdeto started its year as a content security expert and emerged at the end of the year as a full-fledged end-to-end provider of content and business model protection and software protection for digital media.

The year was filled with numerous milestones for the company. Irdeto expanded its range of solutions beyond content security by acquiring U.S.-based customer care and billing specialist IBS Interprit and set-top box (STB) solutions vendor IDway, who are now both integrated into Irdeto's core Content & Business Model Protection suite of products. In addition, the company acquired North American software and datacenter security leader Cloakware, who will continue to operate independently as part of the Irdeto group.

Building on the strengths of recent acquisitions, the company launched Irdeto Digital TV SmartStart in September, an end-to-end DVB content and business model protection solution designed to ease the rollout of any digital television network. The SmartStart package incorporates proven Irdeto conditional access, integrated customer care and billing, STB middleware and an electronic program guide (EPG). In 2007, Irdeto signed India's VideoCon as SmartStart's first customer

In August 2007, Irdeto announced and implemented a dual headquarters strategy, listing the company's existing Beijing offices - Irdeto's second largest - as its headquarters in addition to its existing headquarters near Amsterdam. This was done in recognition of the increasing importance of the Asia-Pacific region in the company's operations and revenues. The dual headquarters creates a global network of 22 Irdeto group offices, placing the company in high-growth areas and closer to its global base of 400 customers. Irdeto CEO Graham Kill moved to Beijing with his family to inaugurate the new strategy, and other Irdeto management team members will follow suit on either a temporary or permanent basis in the coming years.

Commercial deployments in 2007 spanned the globe with Irdeto leaving its security footprint in Asia-Pacific, EMEA and the Americas. In December 2007, Irdeto announced a deal with China's Jilin Provincial Network to provide two million smart cards, the company's highest-volume contract in China to date.

"The Jilin Provincial Network deal demonstrates the large market opportunity for Irdeto in the Asia-Pacific region," said Graham Kill, CEO for Irdeto. "Creating a dual headquarters infrastructure opens new doors for Asia-Pacific customers and partner deals, which will only continue through 2008."

Irdeto drove strong growth in the Latin American market with new deals signed with WIND Telecom in the Dominican Republic and ESC 90 Telecomunicações in Brazil. Irdeto also continued to support the digitalization and further growth of cable and MMDS providers, especially in the Southern Cone region. On the North American front, Irdeto also expanded its channel sales program through partnership deals with TBC Integration and International Datacasting (IDC).

Irdeto continued to maintain its leadership in the mobile TV market over the past year as well, with participation in numerous trials and commercial deployments in Spain, Hungary, Australia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Nigeria and France. The company completed development and deployment of the latest security solutions for the DVB-H mobile broadcast standard, including OMA BCAST Smart Card Profile, and worked with partner Giesecke & Devrient to deploy a microSD-card based security solution for mobile broadcasters who do not have access to the SIM card. Irdeto is also committed to driving the Open Conditional Access (OpenCA) mobile TV standard in the U.S with its participation in the FLO Forum. The company actively supports all global mobile TV standards, including DVB-H, S-DMB, T-DMB and CMMB. To date, Irdeto remains the most-deployed service protection solution for mobile TV worldwide, with more active subscribers and more integrated handsets than any other provider.

In the IPTV space, Irdeto formed partnerships with leading telecom manufacturers such as the ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies to provide telcos with end-to-end IPTV solutions they can use to launch triple-play video services. Irdeto also announced watermarking partnerships with Thomson and Philips to help IPTV and other operators meet the requirements of premium content providers.

In related news, Irdeto leveraged its IPTV technology to help cable networks expand their reach through DVB over IP hybrid solutions. Irdeto and Denmark's Telia Stofa announced the upgrade of the cable company's existing Irdeto CA systems to deliver additional subscriber services like IP VOD and interactivity to a broader customer base. These services increase average revenue per user (ARPU) while meeting growing subscriber demand for VOD, PPV, PVR and other premium services.

Sourced From: Mutual Public Relations