Motorola Acquires IPTV Embedded Linux Developer 38
segphault writes "Ars Technica is covering Motorola's acquisition of Kreatel, a European company that designs Linux-based Internet Television Protocol (IPTV) technologies, including a set-top box powered by embedded Linux." From the article: "I'm not big on television (I generally prefer to wait for the shows I like to be released on DVD), but the sheer extensibility of Linux-based IPTV technologies is more than enough to capture my imagination. If provided with a good on-demand service that lets me watch what I want, when I want to watch it, I would definitely be interested. As tantalizing as this Kreatel stuff is, it appears as though the SDK isn't available to average consumers yet. I hope that Motorola has the sense to realize that a devoted fan base of eager Linux device junkies will be a good thing for the platform."
Cisco+SciAtlanta, Motorola+Kreatel (Score:5, Informative)
A few months ago Cisco bought Scientific Atlanta and now Motorola buys Kreatel (it makes sense, although Forbes said Motorola still had an advantage over Cisco [forbes.com]).
There's few independent players left in the STB arena. I wonder how long until somebody buys Amino [amino.com], I3Micro [i3micro.com] or FedTec [fedtec.com].
Kreatel isn't the only one.. (Score:5, Informative)
Having seen some Kreatel hardware, I can say that it's pretty cool, but certainly not unique. Amino [aminocom.com] makes the smallest Linux-based IPTV set-top box that I have ever seen. Their AmiNET110 is incredibly small. IIRC the only chip inside is an IBM system-on-a-chip (405GP, for those who care); not much else.
Anyway, the Kreatel hardware I've dealt with is huge in comparison. Both very cool products.
First Linux STB? Not by far! (Score:2, Informative)
If somebody would actualy know something about area of IPTV, one would know that we already have a nubumber of Linux based STBs. Amino [aminocom.com] being the most successful ones. Oh, I don't know... We have been deploying them from the start of 2004, when most of the people didn't even know what IPTV should mean. Swisscom on the other hand started testing Microsoft OS (Windows MCE) based STBs at the same time... and the still don't work properly. And those units cost more than ten times the cost of Amino 103 unit... BTW: Windows MCE is complete Windows XP with couple of applications. With W-MCE only SW licence without HW costs $200, with at least $200 for HW to run the beast. Amino on the other hand "Just works", costs in $30 a piece if you order in bulk. Thats SW and HW together!
Anyway, I know it's Slashdot, but not checking the facts is so 20th century journalism...
Some of us use Linux for more than just an STB (Score:3, Informative)
Kreatel is not European (Score:2, Informative)
It's Swedish. They are based in Linköping, the same city that the Swedish figherplanes JAS 39 Griffin are from. I3Micro is also Swedish (based in Stockholm).
Re:Kreatel is not European (Score:1, Informative)