Something is brewing in the air There are some things circulating in Europe these days and most of us in North America are speculating that it is all rumors.
Do the early baby boomers still remember Dick Tracy and his talking wrist watch? Well, many were skeptical in those days and ridiculed the idea of cell phone communication possibilities. But Dick Tracy's wrist watch is no longer a novelty. It is reality.
When the Kudelski group developed nagravision three, they were sure that it is a foolproof system that can't be hacked. So far, they have been right...but for how long?
Well, just to keep business going, Kudelski has diversified. It now fully owns openTV and here is what this is all about (from their site):
"OpenTV is one of the pioneers in the development of advanced digital television solutions. Founded in the early 1990s as a joint venture between two prominent technology companies, Sun Microsystems and Thomson S.A., OpenTV was one of the first technology companies to design and develop software and products for interactive and enhanced digital television. From the beginning, the company has been focused on technology innovation, including in respect of the delivery of interactive and enhanced television services, systems and methods for distributing digital video, enablement of advanced forms of advertising and secure transactions within an interactive television system. These efforts now form the foundation of OpenTV's industry-leading intellectual property portfolio.
"OpenTV benefits from early patent filing dates and one of the broadest portfolios in its industry, developed through internal research and development as well as several acquisitions, including ACTV, Intellocity, Spyglass and Wink Communications. As interactive and enhanced digital television continues to gain traction around the world, and, more importantly, as the methods and channels for delivering video continue to expand, OpenTV's portfolio is increasingly relevant beyond the traditional video distribution environments."
While it may not be readily apparent to most people, Kudelski's business interest is no longer primarily into producing, maintaining, and servicing digital security systems (like Nagravision). They have branched out into what might be a very lucrative business internationally (tv broadcasting) in the future.
In a very subtle way, they are now competing with their clients (Echostar, Globecast, Bell in NA; Sky Germany, Canal, Mediaset, APS, etc. in Europe; Starhub, HongKong Cable Skylife, etc. in Asia).
How then would this ultimately play out in the long run? What degree of importance would "nagravision" be in the wide diversification of Kudelski's business that now includes international tv and digital broadcasting?
How long can Kudelski keep its engineers fairly happy and secretive with their highly classified information about digital security? When will reverse engineering become attractive again?
As of this moment, talks about Liberty Card and Zebra 2 are dismissed as nothing but old rumor and nothing to get excited about. They also say that what works in Europe will not necessarily work in North America. Is that true? If that is so, why is it that smart techie programmers are now busy testing some of the math formulas discerned from "these cards". A little bit of research disclose interesting discussions about mapcodes, and roms, and cmds all pertaining to N3. From what I can discern, these discussions amongst reverse engineers are not just to kill time.
The market is being primed for a big payoff - in millions of dollars.
How long can Echostar & others milk the PPV market with the advent of available international media broadcasting sources (of which Kudelski is now one of the biggest players)?
In short, do you still believe that N3 is not hackable? That Dick Tracy's watch is still a myth?