Cardless Conditional Access Systems (CAS) in cable networks is estimated to grow from five million units (2012) to 21.5 million by 2017, according to ABI Research, which sees a new wave of cardless CAS delivered over one-way cable or satellite networks, and advances in software security.

In addition, the report notes that Cisco Systems, Inc. is the lead vendor in shipments due to deployments by Cablevision Systems Corp of the company's K-LAD downloadable security system.

Furthermore, it notes that some operators today see software security as catching up to hardware security in terms of ability to cost-effectively protect content, especially in emerging markets with low content value, as measured by monthly pay TV ARPU.

“Cisco (News - Alert) (NDS) has shipped the most units of cardless security to Cablevision based on its K-LAD system,” according to Sam Rosen, practice director at ABI Research. “However, Nagra and Irdeto are leading this wave of shipments in low ARPU regions, while Verimatrix’s (News - Alert) cardless technology is robust and gaining market attention.”

CAS is a combination of hardware security protections built into the System on Chip (SoC) video processor, containing software mechanisms that protect secrets, and software/hardware that detects and responds to tampering attempts.

CAS has been used for years in two-way IPTV (News - Alert) systems, using a set-top box to exchange information continuously with the CAS server, providing opportunities for many security options verses the limited options of traditional broadcast (one-way) networks.

In summary, the forecast stated that the  CAS market is changing slowly, based on downloadable and renewable CAS technologies and DVB standardization, with the digital rights management (DRM) market shifting its focus from traditional telco IPTV and PC’s to connected TV networks, tablets and smartphones.