Arrow’s technical and supply chain services support advanced BRIDGETECH IPTV platforms

Arrow’s engineering and supply chain support have played a key role in helping BRIDGE Technologies (BRIDGETECH) bring to market a family of advanced platforms that allow operators to verify the quality of service (QoS) of internet protocol television (IPTV) delivery.

BRIDGETECH’s VideoBRIDGE family of IP-PROBES comprises carrier-grade hardware solutions for monitoring and measuring IPTV traffic at all points on the network - from the point of origin, via regional sites, to the customer’s home. Such hardware is becoming increasingly critical for telecom operators and other IPTV service organisations who need to non-intrusively verify and optimise Qos in real-time.

At the heart of the VideoBRIDGE architecture is Kontron’s PowerPC-based EB8541 E2Brain ‘Computer on Module’ from Arrow. In addition to supplying the hardware, Arrow’s engineering teams have worked closely with both BRIDGETECH and Kontron to customise the module to meet the specific application requirements. This included custom software development, providing a modified memory solution, and modifying the thermal management of the board for compatibility with the BRIDGETECH product design.

In addition to the benefits of high level of engineering support and their strong links with Kontron, Arrow was also able to meet BRIDGETECH’s need for tailored supply chain services. This included the ability to support design, development and manufacture at BRIDGETECH’s headquarters in Oslo, Norway, as well as global requirements such as delivery of the customised Kontron modules to the company’s US-based manufacturing facility.

Discussing the importance of the strategic relationship with Arrow, Rolf Ollmar, the BRIDGETECH CEO, comments: “When we started the company in 2004 we knew we needed to minimise the time-to-market for products in the VideoBRIDGE family while making the best possible use of our internal resource. Working closely with Arrow we were able to identify a Kontron module and a range of optimised components that would significantly reduce embedded system development time, allowing us to concentrate on FPGA programming and other critical aspects of the design.”

He adds: “The combination of Arrow’s engineering resource and close links with Kontron simplified and shortened the necessary customisation, while the company’s global supply chain services are fundamental to meeting our needs for multi-national manufacture and sales.”

The Kontron EB8541 module supplied to BRIDGETECH by Arrow is based around the Freescale MPC8541 PowerPC processor operating at 660MHz. On-board memory comprises 256MB DDR-SDRAM, 32M Flash and 1MB SRAM, while two Gigabit Ethernet and two Fast Ethernet interfaces, two terminal ports, and four high-speed serial interfaces address connectivity requirements. An integrated hardware security engine provides the functionality needed for encryption and decryption, and additional on-board devices include a real time clock with power backup, a watchdog timer and temperature sensor.