CableLabs has announced that the OpenCable Certification Board has awarded qualified status to a point-of-deployment (POD) removable security module from Scientific-Atlanta (SA). .

An official release states that the POD modules are 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. PODs enable a device to decode encrypted, or scrambled content that crosses the POD-host interface. A host may be a set-top box, an integrated digital television receiver or any other digital device. .

This POD-Host architecture is a key component of the recently announced MSO-Cable “Plug-and-Play” Agreement. Timely testing and qualification of Scientific-Atlanta’s product demonstrates the cable industry’s ongoing commitment to that historic industry agreement, the release says.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the FCC to create rules that would allow consumers to obtain set tops and other equipment from commercial sources, such as retailers, manufacturers and other sources besides cable operators. The cable industry, through OpenCable, began working on the next-generation set top in 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.