[SatNews] Bring on the products for NAB, and throw in a Tattoo™ while you're at it... NAB, Las Vegas, April 16-19 and it's showtime. The IDC Digital Tattoo™ portfolio enables DTH satellite operators to expand their customer base for existing services, and to extend the range of services they offer, by providing cost-effective, Ethernet-based content distribution within Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), including apartment buildings, hotels, campuses and gated communities. Ethernet content distribution within the MDU is easier, more efficient and less expensive to implement than the alternatives, and can be reused by MDU owners to offer lucrative value-added services to residents.

The Tattoo Gateway(TM) is a high density, multi-transponder satellite-to-IP converter designed specifically for the MDU market. A single rack unit Tattoo Gateway can process up to 8 transponders of satellite content and convert it to Gigabit Ethernet for distribution within the MDU. Tattoo Gateway is Conditional Access (CA) transparent, allowing DTH operators to keep their content encrypted all the way to the subscriber's Set Top Box (STB). Operators can use either a powerful IDC-supplied IP STB, or their own hybrid Satellite / IP STB, to provide MDU subscribers with exactly the same linear content offering as their existing DTH subscribers.

In addition to increasing the addressable market for its existing services, Digital Tattoo also enables DTH operators to expand their service offering. Digital Tattoo allows content to be delivered by satellite to a micro video server within the MDU which can be used to provide a comprehensive Video on Demand (VOD) service. Server content is delivered and managed using IDC's Centient media aware CDN platform. Once again, the content remains encrypted, and is accessed via the Digital Tattoo service portal, and streamed over the MDU Ethernet network to residents' STBs.

"IDC is committed to bringing innovative, cost-effective solutions to market that provide revenue generating opportunities for our customers," stated Frederick Godard, IDC President and CEO. "Digital Tattoo extends the reach of existing DTH services to MDU markets worldwide, and expands the scope of services satellite operators can offer."