1997-04-03 , ESC9615

Irdeto Consultants BV, headquartered in The Netherlands, the world's leading digital pay television technology company, has received the Philips Semiconductors' Appreciation Award to mark the use of 1 million cryptocontrollers in its Pay TV systems.

In making the presentation, Wolfgang Hass, European Marketing Manager, Philips Semiconductors' Identification and Automotive Group Hamburg said, "We congratulate Irdeto on its success in this rapidly developing world market. Philips Semiconductors is delighted to have contributed to it." Irdeto used the million cryptocontrollers, purchased from Philips Semiconductors under a single-source agreement, in just one year.

Martijn Hoefelt, Chief Executive Officer of Irdeto Consultants BV, said "Philips Semiconductors supported us as production ramped up steeply. By using its quality cryptocontrollers we have been able to concentrate on development and marketing. We expect cryptocontrollers to dominate the Pay TV market, and aim to use another 2 million units by the end of 1997."

Philips Semiconductors is the leading supplier of high security smartcard controller ICs with onboard public key data encryption for high security applications such as digital Pay TV. These reliable, leading-edge cryptocontrollers are produced under the certified Philips' Security Management System - which provides security protection throughout manufacture and delivery. Together with other applications such as network access, banking, and POS-terminals, more than 3 million cryptocontrollers in total have been supplied to customers, representing a 55% share of the total cryptocontroller market.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional customer application labs.

Irdeto Consultants BV is a pay television technology company operating in the field of Conditional Access technology and systems, with special expertise in digital development and system integration. Irdeto offers complete turn-key solutions for Pay TV systems including Channel Management Systems, Subscriber Management Systems and Electronic Programme Guide.

Irdeto technology is implemented world-wide in more than 50 countries. Irdeto is an active participant on the DVB committee and has contributed major components to the DVB Common Scrambling Algorithm, which has been adopted by the DVB committee and is mandated for inclusion in all digital TV receivers in the EU Directive 95/47/EC of 24 October 1995. Irdeto supports DVB and MPEG-2 standards. Its head office is situated in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands.