There have been a number of announcements this year regarding cable operators' push toward deploying customer premise equipment that takes on the functionality of the residential gateway, set-top boxes, media server, and manager of remote user interfaces. So far, I've seen news from Liberty Global, and NDS is preparing to introduce its version at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo next week.

Demonstrations will include:

* Secure end-to-end delivery of triple and quad play services from a single managed gateway device: featuring NDS’ Unified Gateway - an advanced media server that enables unified delivery of video, data and voice services in and outside of the home network from a single point-of-access. The Unified Gateway integrates residential gateway, home networking connectivity and optional DVR functions through a single home-based device. It helps MSOs to converge and launch new offerings with home network connectivity supporting a wide range of IP-enabled entertainment and communication devices.
* Unified end-user experiences across multiple devices: using NDS Snowflake - an advanced user interface (UI) that provides an integrated portal for broadcast, DVR, on-demand and over-the-top programming. Snowflake UI enables high performance and unified experiences for the end user, on a wide variety of connected-devices, such as TVs, set-top boxes, DVRs, PCs, and smartphones.