STMicroelectronics has revealed that its Orly system-on-chip (SoC) is powering a new generation of advanced set-top boxes announced on April 17 from NTT Plala Inc., an Internet / IPTV service provider in Japan. This STB has been developed by Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc., a Japanese equipment producer for home entertainment and broadband service providers, with operations around the world.

ST’s Orly was selected as the high-end SoC best fit for Sumitomo’s global set-top box middleware platform based on Linux, Android Ice Cream Sandwich and HTML5. In particular, the Orly’s dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor allows the set-top boxes to run the Android operating system and so connect easily to new marketplaces including mobile ecosystems. Moreover, the integrated ARM Mali 3D graphics processor has allowed Sumitomo to create a rich user interface for Android-based services.

By integrating a dedicated real-time multimedia processor, multi-standard video decoding engines, and high-performance video encoding with support for HD and 3DTV standards, ST’s Orly provides the ideal platform enabling operators to deliver high-quality, innovative broadcast and Internet-based services. Its high processing capabilities enable fast transcoding for true multi-screen experiences on PCs, televisions, tablets and mobile devices throughout the home. Other important features include a high-performance security engine supporting the latest conditional access specifications and Digital Rights Management (DRM) for IPTV, OTT (Over-The-Top) and multi-screen, multi-room services with DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), ST’s proven Faroudja video-enhancement technology, media and data-driven applications, and support for Internet video standards.

ST’s Software Development Kit (SDK), created specifically for the SoC, supported Sumitomo’s efforts to simplify and accelerate the development of smart IPTV set-top boxes. The SDK provides components and tools needed to run Android on the set-top box and integrate proprietary IPTV middleware, while also supporting rich user-interface development leveraging native Android tools.

"By offering new smart IPTV STBs, we enhance user interface operability and deliver triple-tuner functionality," said Katsumi Nagata, Board Director, Executive Director, Technology and Engineering Division, NTT Plala Inc. "By supporting Japan’s first cloud game called ‘Hikari TV Game’ and various applications called ‘Hikari TV Apps’, we are offering more convenient smart TV services that perfectly fit the lifestyle of our customers."

"We are very proud to introduce our new generation of set-top boxes offering smart features for IPTV services and high performance for seamless end-user experiences," said Hiroaki Nishimoto, Director & Co-CTO, Sumitomo Electric Networks, Inc. "The new generation of our StreamCruiser SmartTV common STB platform middleware allows our customers to choose the SoC that is best suited for the strategic positioning and expected use-case of the STB, since our solution is independent of the architecture of the SoC while providing the APIs to allow Android, native Linux and HTML5 applications the secure access to the hardware engines and optimized usage of the multi-core."

ST’s Laurent Remont, Digital Convergence Group Vice President and Unified Platform Division General Manager, added, "We are delighted that NTT Plala and Sumitomo have chosen to work with ST, resulting in successful delivery of advanced set-top boxes capable of delivering seamless high-quality viewing and innovative services to multiple connected devices throughout the home.