Jimmy Bernard

The CAM (Control Access Module) is quite unknown in France. Even peoples who are working in embedded Systems will not know what use it can be. Since Neotion’s main activity is to conceive CAMs, there is for me the occasion to teach a few things about them.

Function

The main function of a Module is to give access to Pay-TV channels. In France, everyone is used to have a Receiver provided by an Operator next to his TV. Control Access Modules are replacing such receivers and can directly be plugged in the TV (using its PCMCIA Slot). After that you just have to insert the Operator’s Smart Card in the Module in order to access to Operator’s Pay-TV Channels. You will also find kinds of Receivers who are embedding PCMCIA Slots. The idea would be to add in a basic DVB Receiver the possibility to access to Pay-TV Channels.

Deployment

While CAM is not very deployed in France, you can find many country around the world that are very familiar to use it. In some European Countries, Operators are massively proposing CAM to their customers. CAM market is also each year getting bigger with a higher number of CAM being sold.

Advantages

The use of a module offers several advantages:

• Ergonomic – The use of a module suppress of awful and bulky Receiver that stands next to your TV. This is also the occasion to spare a few wires.
• Economic – A Module is cheaper than a receiver
• Ecologic – A Module cost less electricity than a Receiver.
• Effective – If you use a CAM, you will no more need two remote controls – The TV remote will enable you to do everything!

Monday, October the 3rd of 2011, after seven hours in a Plane (and with a neighbor quite chatty), I am finally going to take a breath… out! This is weird… I feel wet… yet it is not raining? And I feel so hot… yet we are in the middle of the night? That’s it; I had just landed in Dubai in the Middle East.

I already had the occasion to travel a lot with Neotion, mainly in Europe but also twice in Russia. However this is the first time that Neotion gives me the chance to travel in this part of the world. I have never been in Dubai and I can’t wait to compare how exactly is this city to what we can hear through TV. My objective during that Business Trip was to check at a customer’s place that the deployment of a new CAM will not bring any problem on the field. First day at customer’s place, this is in the middle of Dubai’s STB Market that the meeting has been set. It is in the back shop of their showroom that I am welcome. The customer is eager to see the product and have a very high opinion about the Company. I will try to not disappoint him.

Everything finally went fine. Our product was working as it should and is ready to be deployed. I could then come back to France with good news and full of pictures.

                For two months now, my life has completely changed! I moved in Aubagne in the Bouches-Du-Rhône (near Marseille) for a three months mission. The company that gave me that opportunity is Neotion. This company develops PCMCIA Modules tailored to decrypt Pay-TV Channels. The Digital Television is according to me a very attractive sector.

                This is simply the particular job I always dreamt : Support & Application Engineer. Being in contact with World’s Major TV Makers and move across the world to meet them. This is the occasion to meet many people with both so different cultures & way of life. This job also requests to have a large set of technical skills in order to be able to debug anything about the Module we are manufacturing.

                For the company, the challenge was the following : hire a engineer that would quickly be able support Neotion’s Key Products. With no experience in this sector but with real motivation to learn&progress, I accepted and succeeded since Neotion is now proposing me to continue the adventure with an open-ended contract.