broadcast technology trends and insights 2015
Making the transition to IP
The media industry, recognising that new levels of agility and
flexibility must be introduced into production, playout and distribution
operations to respond to generational shifts in the consumption of
video content, is on an inexorable path towards the adoption of IT-
based technologies. The challenge facing broadcasters and other
media professionals is to modernise their infrastructures and facilities in
a graceful and gradual fashion, without stranding existing investments
in baseband or without disrupting current operations.
There are two big drivers
behind the shift to IT and
IP-based facilities. First, and
extremely important, is the
economic factor. The IT industry
is several orders of magnitude
larger than the broadcast and
media industries. Its massive
resources help to keep costs
low, as well as fuel substantial
investment in technology
research, driving performance
gains that accelerate at many
times the rate of purpose-built,
specialised equipment designed
exclusively for video production.
But the second driver is
equally important. The move
to software-based operations
and IP connectivity transforms
workflows. By breaking the
dependency between media
operations and underlying
hardware, media companies can
move operations to standard
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
equipment. The move to generic
computing resources eliminates
the need for specialised
hardware and allows media
companies to scale productivity
and introduce new services by
Magellan SDN Orchestrator
management and monitoring
system provides a software overlay
to control both SDI and
IP-based network
components.
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simply adding more off-the-shelf
computing resources.
This leads to huge efficiencies
through virtualisation and an
eventual move to cloud-based
operations. Moving processes to
the cloud, public or private, not
only enables media companies
to seamlessly scale operations
up or down, depending on
demand, but also allows them
to move to a services-based
operational model, eliminating
frequent investments in hardware
equipment with a limited shelf life.
CLOUD PLAYOUT
With standard CPUs now
capable of handling the
requirements of real-time content
delivery, it is practical today to
implement channel playout in the
cloud. Imagine Communications
is pioneering playout in the
cloud. The 100% software-
based version of its integrated
playout solution, Versio, is
enabling broadcasters around
the world to move operations
into a virtualised environment.
In addition to enabling media
companies to launch channels
in a fraction of the time and at
a fraction of the cost required
in a traditional, hardware-based
environment, Versio is the
engine behind unique disaster
recovery services that can back
up primary services from any
location in the world.
The nature of the cloud, and
its ability to scale resources up
and down as required, also allows
broadcasters to embrace a new
business model. Rather than
purchase a playout infrastructure,
broadcasters can now license
Versio software based on a
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
model. By only paying for the
services required at any time,
broadcasters can be much
more agile, launching new,
temporary and trial services as
their businesses demand, while
slashing capital expenditure
and linking their operational
expenditure directly to services
and revenues.
TRANSITION
Virtualisation and the cloud
are clear goals. But how will
broadcasters and oth