Rovi corporation and SeaChange International (News - Alert) have announced a partnership that the two companies hope will turn out a new kind of integrated guide and gateway for set top boxes that are still falling under the guidelines of the latest reference design kits (RDKs).

SeaChange is one company that is certainly no stranger to partnerships that are built towards improving customers’ television experiences, having recently announced a project with Amdocs (News - Alert) geared towards multi-screen television improvements.

For its part, Rovi is well versed in putting together programming guides for cable providers that seem to push the envelope and add new features with every release. This particular partnership has led to an integrated guide and gateway that is based on both Rovi’s TotalGuide and the SeaChange Nucleus Soft Box (News - Alert) and takes a little bit of both solutions to make this new technology.

This particular solution incorporates a guide that is built on HTML framework that can actually work on variety of different platforms. The guide is also rendered using a WebKit browser, which means that it can be pretty rapidly deployed in RDK based set-top boxes. By using this particular architecture, it really doesn’t matter who the actual set-top box maker is because it will be able to operate on almost anything.

RDK, in and of itself, is a standardized specification set that allows set-top box makers and developers alike to have a platform to work towards. Many cable operators have fully embraced RDK because it shortens the amount of time that it takes to get solutions like that which SeaChange and Rovi have managed to produce to market.

Thierry Lehartel, VP of product management for guides at Rovi released a statement about the joint project prior to the unveiling at the Cable Show 2013 saying that, "At Rovi, we're committed to making it as easy as possible for customers to roll out new products to the market. At The Cable Show, we are demonstrating the flexibility of TotalGuide to adopt innovative new industry standards and work with applications such as SeaChange's Nucleus Soft Box to enable the deployment of advanced new applications and experiences into the home."