Hardware
India enters niche STB global market with indigenously designed CAS system, funded by DeiTY
New Delhi: ByDesign India Pvt Ltd of Bangalore has successfully completed development of Conditional Access System (CAS) for Set Top Boxes (STBs) and enabled India to enter a niche market hitherto dominated by five big global companies.
The Communications and Information Technology Ministry said in a note today that the CAS had been developed under a project funded by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) for promotion of Electronics design and manufacturing in the country.
Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that Doordarshan’s free-to-air DTH Freedish has also adopted a version of this design for raising the number of channel slots on the platform from 64 to 112.
The global STB market is estimated to be about 250 Million (25 crore) STBs per annum and the CAS market is expected to be nearly $2 billion ($200 crore) per annum. The projected demand in India for completing the digitization of broadcasting network is nearly 100 Million (10 crore) STBs, thereby signifying an attractive domestic market.
ByDesign India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, was selected and awarded the task for development and implementation of Indian Conditional Access System (iCASTM) in association with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in November 2014 with technical specifications that were the best in the world.
C-DAC was responsible for design review, code review, monitoring, testing and validation of the entire project. The Development Stage of iCASTM was successfully completed on 14.11.2015 within the specified time.
The developed iCASTM already supports seven Indian Languages and will support fifteen more languages in the near future. The iCASTM has been tested at the Cryptography Verification Labs, accredited by NIST in the United States and has also been widely field tested under Indian conditions.
ByDesign is required to tie up with at least five Operators and install STB with iCASTM in atleast 2,50,000 STBs. The implementation of iCASTM in the cable networks has already started.
More than 25,000 STBs with iCASTM have already been deployed across the country in the last two months, from Haldwani in the North to Madurai in the South and Durgapur in the East to Satara District in the West.
iCASTM exemplifies successful collaboration between industry and Government for R&D and IPR generation in Electronics design and manufacturing. The iCASTM is also beneficial to domestic STB manufacturers because it is available to them at a price of $ 0.5 license for a period of three years as against market price of $ 4 to 5 license for other competing products.
Hardware
Specs Inc. partners with Qualcomm for next-generation smart glasses
Snap subsidiary to power future Specs with Snapdragon XR platforms.
MUMBAI: Snap’s Specs are about to get a serious upgrade and this time, they’re teaming up with Qualcomm to make sure the future looks crystal clear. Specs Inc., a Snap subsidiary, has announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Qualcomm Technologies to power future generations of its advanced smart eyewear with Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology.
This marks the first flagship engagement for Specs Inc., which is preparing to launch its standalone, see-through smart glasses for consumers later this year. The Specs are designed to seamlessly blend digital experiences into the physical world, allowing users to see, hear, and interact with digital content as if it were part of their real surroundings.
By integrating Snapdragon XR platforms, the glasses will benefit from edge AI and high-performance, low-power computing. This combination enables intelligent, context-aware experiences to run directly on the device, delivering faster and more private interactions.
The partnership builds on more than five years of collaboration between Snap and Qualcomm, during which Snapdragon platforms have powered multiple generations of Snap’s Spectacles.
Snap Inc., co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said, “We believe the future of computing will be more human and grounded in the real world. Our work with Qualcomm provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs, bringing advanced technology and performance that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Qualcomm Incorporated president and CEO Cristiano Amon added, “The next era of computing will be defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say, and respond instantly to the world around you. Our collaboration on Specs will enable power-efficient interactive AR devices that feel natural and intuitive.”
The agreement establishes a scalable foundation for developers and partners building experiences for Specs, supporting a predictable product roadmap and increasingly sophisticated digital interactions over time.
In a world racing toward augmented reality, Specs Inc. and Qualcomm are ensuring that the next pair of smart glasses doesn’t just look good on paper, they perform brilliantly in real life. The future of wearable computing just got a powerful new lens.
