CableLabs® Awards CableCARD™
Qualification to Motorola and NDS

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CableLabs® has awarded qualified status to Motorola and to NDS for CableCARDs™, formerly known as point-of-deployment (POD) removable security modules. Motorola and NDS join Scientific-Atlanta as having achieved qualified status for CableCARDs. The CableCARD architecture is a key component of the cable operator-consumer electronics manufacturer "Plug-and-Play" agreement announced in December 2002.

"We congratulate Motorola and NDS on this accomplishment. Three of the major suppliers of conditional access to nearly all cable systems now have qualified, interoperable CableCARDS," said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green.

The CableCARD is a critical element in enabling manufacturers and retailers to engage in retail sale of interoperable navigation devices, such as set-top boxes and integrated digital television sets that enable consumers to identify and select their programming. CableCARDs enable a device to decode encrypted, or scrambled, content delivered from the cable system.

"Timely testing and qualification of Motorola's and NDS's products demonstrates that devices covered by the "Plug-and-Play" agreement can be tested and certified," said Don Dulchinos, CableLabs Vice President of Advanced Platforms and Services and manager of the OpenCable testing program. Additional testing will continue over the next few weeks on other devices that have been submitted for OpenCable testing.

The cable industry, through OpenCable, began working on the next-generation set top in the fall of 1997. Later, the FCC acknowledged OpenCable as the most efficient vehicle by which to accomplish its regulatory objectives. OpenCable took on the technology mission of achieving interoperable, specification-based advanced digital video functionality allowing retail sale of set tops developed by multiple manufacturers.

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