NDS was also selected to act as systems integrator and technology provider for Hathway's digital network upgrade. In this capacity, NDS is overseeing the integration of the Humax set-top box, Barco compression and Miindport subscriber management system.

Integrating these systems from NDS and other third party vendors for the Hathway network is quite a complex task. Deploying an end-to-end digital pay TV system requires a considerable investment as well as expert knowledge about the many components that make up the system. These include compression, scheduling, set-top boxes, middleware and, of course, conditional access.

NDS has helped operators worldwide to successfully deploy digital pay TV services than anyone else. Their customers have come to rely on the experience and expertise offered by their Professional Services team, from planning through deployment and service launch.

NDS has the experience and the delivery team is on site at the Hathway operations now. In addition, NDS integration facilities in the UK and Seoul are working with the set-top box vendor to test the set-top boxes sent to India , which has saved substantial time for Hathway.

NDS supports the use of open standard interfaces and implements these in its headend systems and components. This results in a significant benefit for Hathway, because it can select from a wide variety of solutions and systems components not supplied by NDS. This will enable Hathway to choose the best technical and operational solutions for their overall requirements.

The first interactive TV service to be deployed on the Hathway network is an electronic program guide designed by NDS. An EPG is the window through which viewers access this content while Hathway can also use it to promote revenue generating services.

Hathway Partners with SA (Scientific Atlanta )

For digital compression & delivery of channels Hathway has selected Scientific Atlanta. Scientific Atlanta one of the largest Cable TV solutions provider has set up Asia 's first one of its kind unit at Hathway for digital compression and transmission which can provide upto 1000 digital channels.

As a major provider of transmission equipment, Scientific-Atlanta has an outstanding product-by-product optics offering, an exceptional understanding of network architectures, and unparalleled capability of bringing it all together.

•  Capable of delivering interactive video, voice, and data services

•  Capable of supporting a variety of subscriber services

•  Flexible and adaptable to advancements in technology as well as changes in subscriber base, demographics, and service demands

•  Capable of migrating fiber deeper into the network with minimal changes to the network infrastructure.

Hathway Partners With Entriq

Hathway has selected Entriq end-to-end Subscriber Management System (SMS) to develop and maintain a sophisticated Customer Care and Billing application for it's digital Conditional Access Services.

Entriq, a global solutions provider of media commerce technologies for pay-TV and the Internet has over 7 million subscribers and 35 installations worldwide.

Hathway will be using Entriq proven and scalable SMS to manage customer account, orders and contacts with customers for its digital Conditional Access System. One of the core competencies of Entriq is understanding of, and ability to integrate with Conditional Access System. Entriq currently support 11 different CA interfaces including NDS, which is being used by Hathway.

Entriq's Subscriber Management System, called MPort will provide complete end-to-end solutions to Hathway that encompasses CRM, Billing, Provisioning, Hardware Tracking, Product Management, etc. MPort is an event driven system, which means that an event record will be generated if customers, signs up, cancels, or suspends its services. The SMS runs on a sturdy Oracle 8i software application and on SUN server platform.

Through Entriq Hathway will be able to bill customers using a flexible billing engine which will allow Hathway to do various flexible billing modules for its customers depending upon the service offerings provided by the broadcasters. It will also perform other functions such as sales and marketing functions, manage hardware product inventories and logistics.

HUMAX already has a manufacturing capacity of 4.5 million Set Top Boxes per annum in two production sites in Korea & UK . HUMAX will be setting up its third manufacturing unit in Noida , India , which will be operational by October 2003.

HUMAX has strong R & D resources that lead to high-end technology in the Set Top Box industry. HUMAX commitment to remain at the cutting edge of innovation in the Set Top Box industry is also reflected in its employee profile - 58% of HUMAX employees work in R & D related activity.

Features of Hathway-HUMAX Digital Set Top Box

• BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) compliant [Tested by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL)]
• Fully DVB-C compliant
• Embedded with NDS Conditional Access System
• Can receive up to 1000 channels
• Software upgradable (which will enable it to add additional functionality)
• MPEG quality picture with digital stereophonic sound