[SatNews] Irdeto, a global software security and media technology company, has announced that Optus has selected Irdeto’s conditional access (CA) technology to provide viewers with superior sound and picture quality and greater program choice with access extended to new digital-only channels including HDTV channels.

Optus, owner of the largest fleet of domestic satellites in the region, delivers satellite-based pay TV, free-to-air (FTA) , radio, Internet, voice and data services areas across Australia. Optus selected Irdeto as a key partner for the company’s Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) effort, recently implemented by the Australian Government to allow all Australians to enjoy digital TV including HDTV. Optus has deployed the Irdeto CAS 3 solution, which uses unique ‘Elliptic Curve’ asymmetric encryption. This encryption technology, combined with secure silicon STBs provided by STB suppliers, is optimized to protect content from unauthorized viewing. Irdeto will also include a security strategy in its solution, which includes the ability to renew the software of smart cards already in the field – effectively swapping the code instead of the card. This radically reduces the total cost of ownership of a CA system and enables Optus to respond to the changing demands of this marketplace quickly and dynamically.