Louisville, Colorado, August 11, 1999—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.(CableLabs®),and SCM Microsystems Inc., have announced the availability of a test tool they jointly designed to facilitate development of point of deployment (POD) modules for removable security in OpenCable™ digital devices.

The FCC's Report and Order released on June 24, 1998, (63 Fed. Reg. 39095) requires that cable operators make separable security modules available by July 1, 2000 in order to facilitate commercial sale of navigational devices. The POD Tool™ is the first component of a complete test bed that will be progressively set up by CableLabs to verify that receivers and security modules have properly implemented the OpenCable interfaces.It now is available to consumer electronic manufacturers for developing cable-ready receivers that will support OpenCable compliant POD security modules to be deployed by the cable industry.

"SCM Microsystems has been a key partner in developing the POD Tool™ that will be used to facilitate the interoperability of OpenCable products and will play a significant part in the compliance testing of OpenCable Host devices. We appreciate the expertise demonstrated by SCM Microsystems and their contributions to the OpenCable project," said Lisa Lee, Director of OpenCable at CableLabs.

The POD Tool™ designed jointly by CableLabs and SCM Microsystems was demonstrated the week of July 26th during the FCC Interoperability test hosted by CableLabs. Its primary function is to emulate a POD module, which plays known test scripts and checks host replies.

The test scenarios are compiled in libraries that will be verified by CableLabs to cover the POD Interface Module Interface Specifications (SCTE DVS 131) and the Copy Protection for POD Module Interface Specifications (SCTE DVS 213). SCM Microsystems will sell the tool and maintain the latest revision of the Test Scenario Library on its web site.

"Consumer electronics manufacturers will now be able to manufacture digital set-top boxes and televisions that will support every POD module to be provided by cable operators," said Nick Efthymiou, executive vice president and general manager of SCM Microsystems' Digital TV and PC Security Division. "This is a necessary condition to develop a strong and profitable retail market for both cable and electronic industries. SCM is very pleased that we could lend our expertise to this project, and we are excited about the market opportunities it creates."

In addition to the POD Tool™, SCM Microsystems designs and manufactures POD module platforms for leading conditional access system providers. The POD Tool™ is available direct from SCM Microsystems.

SCM Microsystems, Inc., is a leading developer and supplier of plug-and-play OEM peripheral interfacing technology, including ASIC interfacing solutions, firmware, and software. By bridging smart cards, digital media cards and other secure devices with PCs, Workstations and digital set-top boxes, SCM Microsystems provides cost-effective solutions for conditional access to mobile, handheld and desktop computers, workstations, digital video broadcasts, virtual private networks, electronic files, and e-mail. The company maintains a Web site at www.scmmicro.com.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org and www.ebif.tv.

CableLabs® is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Other CableLabs marks are listed at http://www.cablelabs.com/certqual/trademarks. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.