Overview of Frog Middleware Platform
Feature-rich open-source set-top-box middleware-development platform to trigger innovation for end users
Wyplay, creator of software solutions for leading pay-TV operators, and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, today announced the availability of a satellite broadcast-enabled reference implementation of the open-source Frog by Wyplay set-top-box middleware for ST’s range of system-on-chip processors based on ARM® architectures (Cannes, Liege2, Monaco, and Orly).
Wyplay’s Frog Initiative and Community
Frog is an initiative built around Wyplay’s software solutions, made available under a shared-source model for a growing community of companies across the entire digital-TV ecosystem which includes chipset vendors, device manufacturers, independent software vendors, software-service providers, and operators.
Within the Frog initiative, Wyplay offers to development teams of member companies a hardware platform based on ST hardware on which Wyplay has ported its solution. This serves as a “turnkey” example of an implementation and as the basis for further customization of projects for Pay TV operators.
Details of the Frog Reference Hardware
The latest Frog reference implementation relies on a production-grade hybrid satellite / IPTV1 decoder that incorporate the Orly STiH416 system on chip from ST. In addition, this reference hardware provides support for Satellite Digital Video Broadcast (DVB-S/S2), a TV-content delivery technology that covers the majority of pay-TV subscribers around the globe.
The porting of the Frog software on this reference implementation relies on ST’s “SDK2” software environment and offers a straightforward and natural migration path to all of its ARM architecture-based system-on-chips, including the ‘Cannes’ and ‘Monaco’ families, as well as the recently announced Liege2 for broadcast markets.
The reference platform empowers operators to use the complete, reliable, and well integrated Frog environment to freely build their own applications, encouraging innovation that expands features for the consumer and grows revenue for the operators. With most broadcast-infrastructure work done, developers can focus on expanding services.
Industry Leaders Comment on Partnership
“Operators will be able to work on ST platforms with an even higher level of confidence as they will have an already complete environment for their development,” said Hervé Mathieu, Group Vice President and General Manager of ST’s Unified Platform Division. “In a dynamic, fast-growing and highly fragmented market, the Frog initiative will expand the popularity of our devices.”
“The new Frog reference hardware is the latest milestone in our fruitful ongoing collaboration with ST,” said Wyplay CEO Jacques Bourgninaud. “It offers a high-performance platform for our Frog Licensees and will allow the implementation of innovative use cases such as 3D user interfaces, transcoding, home media streaming, and more for pay-TV operators.”
The ST-based Frog by Wyplay reference hardware will be available for order by Frog Licensees in April 2014 through the Frog Community portal website (https://portal.frogbywyplay.com ).
Showcase and Availability Information
Wyplay’s and STMicroelectronics’ solutions are showcased at the TVConnect 2014 event at the London Olympia from March 18th to 20th (booths 63 and 19, respectively).
