Civolution and STMicroelectronics enter strategic alliance

STMicroelectronics and Civolution recently announced the integration of Civolution’s NexGuard forensic watermarking with ST’s UltraHD-4K Cannes and Monaco SoCs to detect unauthorized sharing of digital content and help deter piracy. The integration was demonstrated at STMicroelectronics’ private suite during the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (January 6-9).

“The strong adoption of ST’s Cannes and Monaco SoCs globally is the result of the powerful ARM multi-core processor-based design, incorporating superior 2D/3D graphics performance and integrated hardware Faroudja multimedia subsystem with HEVC-capable robust video decoder,” said Philippe Notton, group vice president and GM, Consumer Product Division, STMicroelectronics. “Adding Civolution’s NexGuard forensic watermarking to the Cannes/Monaco security toolbox for UltraHD-4K premium content complements the chips’ existing industry-leading security capabilities and raises the bar in content-rights protection.”

Digital watermarks are used to enforce contractual compliance between a content owner and the intended recipient. It provides proof of misuse and a link back to the source of a leakage. By integrating Civolution’s NexGuard with its Ultra HD-4K Cannes (STiH314/318) and Monaco (STiH414/418) SoCs, ST ensures that its leading-edge set-top box chipsets can offer a powerful deterrent against digital-content piracy.

“Civolution and ST work together to add support for the industry-leading digital-watermarking solution with the powerful Cannes and Monaco SoCs for UltraHD-4K services,” said Alex Terpstra, CEO, Civolution. “As the leading provider of forensic watermarking solutions for pre-release, digital cinema, Pay-TV and streaming, we are proud to be working closely with ST to deploy our solution in the powerful Cannes and Monaco chipsets. This recent integration is further proof of NexGuard’s role as a core component to providing best-in-class innovation for high-value-content protection.”

ST’s Cannes and Monaco SoCs already support Conditional Access (CA) and Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems to enable the efficient delivery of next-generation 4K TV (broadcast and Internet) services. The addition of Civolution’s NexGuard raises the bar to meet the MovieLabs guidelines, which require platforms distributing and playing 4K content to support encryption methods, a secure media pipeline, a hardware root of trust to protect studio content, as well as forensic watermarking to securely mark video on the server or client side to facilitate the detection and location of breaches.