NDS Unveils Initiatives to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Demonstrating its Commitment to the Environment
Highlights:
- R&D to focus on reducing power consumption
of set-top boxes and DVRs
- Company aims to reduce its carbon emissions
by 10 percent by 2012
- At IBC, NDS to show commitment to ‘Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle’
LONDON, UK – IBC Stand 1.171, August 30, 2007 – NDS,
the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV,
today announced a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon
footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce their energy
consumption. The cornerstone of the NDS environmental strategy
is its research and development efforts to reduce the power consumption
of set-top boxes (STBs) and digital video recorders (DVRs). The
initiatives illustrate NDS’ full support of the global
energy program of News Corporation, NDS’ parent company.
News Corporation has launched a range of measures to reduce its
impact on climate change and to engage audiences, employees and
business partners on the issue.
The first initiative is an innovative Auto Standby solution
which NDS has developed to automatically switch inactive devices
into standby mode overnight. The standby consumption of an STB
has been estimated to be 10 Watts. If this figure is multiplied
by the 500 million digital set-top devices which are projected
to be deployed over the next five years, it is clear that reducing
standby consumption will yield massive benefits, potentially
saving the equivalent carbon emissions of five ‘super’ power
stations.
“Currently, an HD DVR can use as much power as a domestic
refrigerator and we want to address this,” said James Field,
NDS Director of Technology and New Initiatives at NDS, and the
company’s ‘Carbon Czar’. “With this new
Auto Standby feature, we can help our customers’ customers
- namely, consumers of digital TV - to reduce their carbon footprint,
with the additional benefit of lowering their electricity bills.
We look forward to supporting both the environment and our consumers
in this way – one set-top box at a time.”
The new feature monitors whether viewers are using their DVR
or HD STB between, for example, the night-time hours of 23.00
and 04.00. If the unit has not been used for a period of two
hours after 23.00, an ‘Auto Standby’ warning displays
on screen for a few moments. If there is no further use, the
box will go into Standby mode automatically and the hard disk
will stop spinning.
The Auto Standby solution is just the first step in the NDS
environmental strategy. The NDS R&D team is working with
STB manufacturers and platform operators around the world to
develop innovative solutions to continue to reduce STB power
consumption.
NDS is leading the way in the industry; the company is the only
middleware vendor participating in the EU group developing a
Code of Conduct for digital TV services with the aim of optimizing
the energy efficiency of user devices.
Focus on Emissions
Within its own organisation, NDS is engaging with key stakeholders across its
business with a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent over
the next five years, and to become carbon neutral by 2010. Its environmental
management program focuses on cost-effective, practical solutions for avoiding
and reducing emissions across the business.
NDS is currently working to reduce energy use and where possible,
to procure electricity from renewable sources. To that end, the
company has spearheaded numerous energy- and carbon-saving initiatives
including: investing £1 million in video conferencing equipment
across its 25 offices worldwide to reduce the need for travel,
conducting IT energy audits to optimize use of technology, using
energy-efficient light bulbs in its facilities, and providing
staff with practical advice on how to save energy
At IBC 2007 in Amsterdam (September 7-11), NDS is sponsoring
trams to encourage public transportation, is using recycled paper
for its marketing documents and is recycling much of its exhibition
stand.
About NDS
NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), a majority owned subsidiary of
News Corporation, supplies open end-to-end digital technology
and services to digital pay-television platform operators and
content providers. See www.nds.com for
more information about NDS.
###
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-looking
Statements
This document may contain certain “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s
views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance
as of the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic,
business, competitive market, regulatory and other factors. More
detailed information about these and other factors that could affect
future results is contained in our filings with the US Securities
and Exchange Commission. Any “forward-looking statements” included
in this document are made only as of the date of this document
and we do not have any obligation, nor do we undertake, to publicly
update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.
For further information:
| NDS |
|
| Cynthia Ritchie |
T: +44 (0)20 8476 8378 |
| Director, Corporate Communications |
M: +44 7799 768464 |
| |
critchie@nds.com |
| |
|
| Susbauer PR for NDS |
|
| Ansgar Gerber |
T: +49 (0)40 / 39 90 63 57 |
| |
M: + 49 172 515 2484 |
| |
a.gerber@susbauer.de |
| |
|
| Breakaway Communications for NDS |
|
| Kelly Fitzgerald |
T: +1 212 616 6006 |
| Managing Partner |
M: +1 917 731 5734 |
| |
kfitz@breakawaycom.com |