Companies respond to OCAP RFP

By Susan Rush
From The October 1, 2002 Edition Of CED Broadband Direct

Less than two months after putting the call out, 14 companies have responded to CableLabs' OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) request for proposal for implementations.

OCAP, which is largely based on Europe's MHP platform, is a specification tied to middleware that eventually will populate OpenCable-based digital set-top boxes and other devices. OCAP version 1.0, published in January, includes an execution engine (EE) based on Java technology, while OCAP 2.0, published in May, calls for both an EE and a presentation engine (PE).

CableLabs said it put the shout out in early August to solicit industry implementations of OCAP to hasten the ability of cable operators to launch new services made possible by OCAP. "Most of the responding companies have extensive experience with the European MHP specification," said Don Dulchinos, vice president of Advanced Platforms and Services.

The 14 companies responding to the RFP include ADB, Alticast, Canal+ Technologies, Espial, Liberate Technologies, Microsoft, OpenTV, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Tata Elxi, Vidiom Systems and Zentek/DigiSoft.

Many of the suppliers have implementation target dates of as early as the first quarter 2003. "Most of the developers appear to have roadmaps for porting the software to various hardware platforms, so we expect to see some OCAP implementations in the labs for testing within the next several months," CableLabs CEO Dick Green said in a statement.