Delivering live video content quickly, reliably, and at scale is a mission-critical capability for the media industry. Media companies need to deliver content from destination A to multiple destinations (often in the millions) to ensure they reach the right audiences wherever they might be. 

While last-mile consumer delivery has been leveraging IP for some time, so far, industry players have been a lot more willing to opt for cloud and IP-driven video transport technologies for their Tier 2 or 3 content contribution and primary distribution, choosing more ‘traditional’ transport workflows for their high-value Tier 1 content.  

However, innovation in software-defined transport networks that are media-centric in nature renders them fit for purpose for the stringent quality, synchronization, and reliability requirements of the media industry. When it comes to valuable live content, media companies shouldn’t continue missing a trick — here is why!

Building Media-Centric Foundations in Video Delivery
In the media industry, we often hear that the internet wasn’t built for primary delivery of media content. Pretty much any cloud provider can move packets from point A to point B or even to C and D over an IP network. 

However, when these workflows are live video streams any packet loss will lead to failures. This is because a generic IP network lacks the critical foundations, by design, that are required for critical live media transport to platform partners, especially when transporting high-value media content. 

For broadcasters and media services providers, the answer to this challenge isn’t shying away from cloud and IP innovation. The next-generation software-defined networks that are built specifically for media transport combine the benefits of hardware-defined networks and the cloud by leveraging media-centric foundations: 

Observability
Sending a video signal to a destination over a generic IP network is like taking a stab in the dark. By choosing the correct transport protocol chances are that your signal will reach the destination, but you’ll have no visibility of how it got there and what its quality is like at the other end. You’ll be unaware of any problems the signal might have encountered at any point in its journey. In other words, you’ll be completely blind and unable to take any preventative or restorative action. 

The answer comes with a software-defined network that breaks down the network into smaller segments. In doing so, it delivers monitoring metrics that provide insight into the video signal delivery every step of the way. This visibility enables broadcasters and media service providers to have control over their media delivery and ensure it is efficient, high-quality, and seamless.

Protection
Using a generic IP network to deliver video signals also runs into the problem of protecting these signals. Video delivery requires tight uptime and 24/7 robust and redundant services that are simply not available by generic IP networks.  

A media-centric approach to enhancing the protection of video delivery requires a smart combination of ‘traditional’ broadcasting and cloud engineering that can apply some of the traditional broadcasting engineering methods to next-gen IP networks. This is why traditional broadcasting engineers are extremely valuable in this new era of cloud-powered media. With the right approach and innovation, IP networks that are tailored to the needs of video transport can overcome reliability challenges.  

This is where flexibility is key. The more protected the IP networks are, the more expensive they get. With the right media-centric network, media companies can pick and choose which of their content (typically the most valuable) will be the most protected on an input/output basis. In this way, they can control when, which, and how they choose to protect the media they deliver without having to make huge investments upfront.

Scalability
Another critical foundation of a media-centric delivery network is the capability to scale up or down content distribution quickly, easily, and efficiently, depending on demand. This is what we call a "jellyfish" network that is based on an agile and nimble architectural approach that enables broadcasters to scale their streams as and when they need it.

Synchronization
Ensuring accurate timing information across the IP networks and synchronizing contributed with distributed video signals removes the challenge of having different partners receiving feeds with millisecond delays depending on their region. Synchronization is also a critical capability for the betting industry as any millisecond delay can have a big impact on the real-time betting experience and overall fan engagement and cause the broadcaster financial and reputational damage. 

A Media-First Approach
There’s no doubt that IP and the cloud have redefined the media industry, sparking previously unthinkable innovation and use cases. However, not all IP networks are born equal and, in this case, fit for purpose.

Having the right media-centric IP media delivery network is a competitive advantage. It empowers you to drive new levels of efficiency, scalability, and flexibility while protecting your most valuable video content. It also grants you the control you need to optimize quality and prevent any issues with signal delivery.

For the media industry, this isn’t simply the era of the cloud and IP — it’s the era of the media-centric cloud and IP, and smart broadcasters and media services providers will harness their power today. 

LAS VEGAS--Mobile TV Group is launching its newest outside broadcast truck equipped with an Evertz IP core.

Critical requirements of Mobile TV Group’s 45FLEX included dual feed, the ability to perform two simultaneous productions, super slow-motion capabilities, 4K/HDR upgradeability and enough scalability to accommodate the largest production events.

Evertz' Software Defined Video Networking (SDVN) solution was selected by Mobile TV Group because its advanced capabilities were the only industry solution available that could meet their aggressive schedule and demanding technical requirements according to Evertz. SDVN's advanced IP infrastructure enabled a more flexible and scalable production environment where truck resources could more efficiently be utilized enhancing their overall production capabilities.

45FLEX features 25G infrastructure and its IP routing core is an Evertz EXE-VSR16 25G high capacity IP switch. The fully non-blocking architecture of the EXE-VSR 25G switch enables the seamless interconnect of all IP systems on the truck, including the IP replay systems, IP production switcher, IP audio console and IP cameras. For interfacing baseband SDI systems into the IP core, 45FLEX utilizes Evertz' 570IPG-X19-25G gateways. The 570IPGs versatile bidirectional architecture, supporting both IP and SDI interfaces enables baseband systems to interface with the IP core. Monitoring requirements on 45FLEX are handled by Evertz' 3067VIP-HW-10G IP multiviewer. 45FLEX's infrastructure features advanced IP timing technology with an Evertz MSC5700 IP Network Grand Master Clock distributing ST 2059 Precision Timing Protocol throughout the truck.

Evertz' SDVN IP Technology features comprehensive support for industry standards and in order to facilitate interoperability between internal and external systems, this OB truck utilizes SMPTE ST 2110 and AES67 for the routing of video, audio and data.

The 45FLEX is also using Evertz' MAGNUM Orchestration platform to enable a single point of unified control and monitoring for all of the resources on 45FLEX. Along with MAGNUM, VUE, Evertz' Intelligent User Interface platform, is utilized to create customized user interfaces enabling highly efficient operational workflows. MAGNUM is utilized on several of Mobile TV Group's fleet of production trucks and was a major contributing factor for the selection of an Evertz SDVN solution for 45FLEX according to Evertz.

The search for increased productivity pushes many broadcasters towards IP technology. Considered less expensive than broadcast-specific baseband, one of its main attractions is its ability to handle any video and audio technology.

In many cases though, broadcasters initially opt for a “like-for-like” network replacement. This misses the key point that IP brings with it the so-called “IP LAN/WAN convergence,” which makes it easier to achieve savings and increased flexibility by sharing equipment, studios, control rooms and production staff across locations.

Many broadcasters misguidedly turn to poorly-informed IP switch vendors for advice, when they need an approach that accommodates the specific needs of broadcasting. For that reason, the initial focus should be on getting the network architecture and the control right, which means considering the three main architecture layouts that are typically used.

CENTRALIZED STAR NETWORK

In architecture terms, the tendency for most broadcasters is to adopt what is known as a “centralized star network” with all connections transiting through a large IP router that can be located in the master control room.

The main disadvantage is that everything needs to travel to the central router, requiring expensive fiber connections with every single device.

[Read: IP Is Changing The Future Of The Broadcast Control Room]

Scalability is another problem. Capacity is often reached sooner than anticipated, necessitating replacement of the central router. Since every connected device occupies one expensive high-bandwidth port on the central router, the cost-per-port for low bandwidth devices is high.

Moreover, lack of aggregation means redundancy needs to be handled by edge devices, necessitating two connections to the central router, or one to each of the main and backup switches. Finally, the assumption that all traffic will transit through the central router makes star network architecture unsuitable for treating remote locations as extensions of the main location.

SPINE LEAF

The second model is “spine-leaf architecture,” involving two or more routers at the core (spine) and other smaller routers at the edge (leaf).

This reduces the number of connections going directly to the main routers, leading to simplified fiber management. It requires fewer ports on the central router(s), and delivers more effective cost-per-port, especially for low-bandwidth devices.

Spine-leaf architecture reduces the cost of building-in redundancy and also provides optimal flexibility and scalability. Networks no longer have to be oversized from the outset, since capacity can be added over time.

While true spine-leaf architecture can be more complex than other approaches, it is a scalable, resilient and high-performance structure perfectly suited to the needs of broadcasters.

DUAL STAR

This third architecture model is “dual star” architecture which still involves the use of two spine routers, but with the difference that each leaf in the network is only connected to one spine.

Unfortunately, this is not a flexible approach when it comes to load distribution and optimization of total network capacity. As a “pseudo” spine-leaf approach, it puts special requirements on end devices that need redundant connections when the network evolves and it also suffers from redundancy problems.

The proponents of this architecture usually favor automatic protocol-based routing rather than software-defined networking. Yet, despite being better suited to automated routing, the dual star is not a preferable option overall. Only a true spine-leaf architecture enables broadcasters to get the most out of their IP infrastructure investment in their facilities.

However, as well as network architecture, broadcasters also need to orchestrate and control the IP media network, weighing up the comparative advantages of automatic routing and SDN.

AUTOMATIC ROUTING

Automatic routing means leaving the decision about how to transport individual media flows to the network, rather than the operator.

While automatic routing — and the IGMP and PIM protocols — are used widely in IP networks across the world, they have disadvantages in terms of performance and bandwidth management.

Automatic routing may not be fast enough for live production and can run into trouble with network loops. This can only be fixed through higher operational complexity — and unless care is taken in designing and controlling the network there is a risk of oversubscribing it, causing instability and signal drop-outs. On top of this, there are also concerns around protection and security, as streams to destinations are not explicitly controlled.

SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORK ROUTING

SDN puts routing control in the hands of a centralized control layer. The management and orchestration software holds a complete view of the available equipment, the network infrastructure and the services. This enables it to make intelligent decisions on routing and controlling flows and provides the explicit routing capability that broadcasters expect and need.

This has many advantages. Firstly, it guarantees a higher level of performance when compared with automatic routing, since the software is also in control of every media flow. It is even beneficial from a protection and security perspective as the orchestration and control software can easily create path diversity to protect failures and can also reduce security risks by fully controlling which destination is allowed to receive which multicast.

Unlike automated routing, SDN can, with the right software, easily handle any network architecture. Ultimately, all its advantages make it the control of choice for the creation of truly flexible, scalable and high-performance IP media networks.

Despite the obvious benefits of IP technology, broadcasters should bear in mind that a successful IP infrastructure is built around the “ground-up design” of infrastructure. Success is also largely determined by the way in which individual elements within the network are controlled.

Broadcasters should be architecting a network using a true spine-leaf model, and controlling the elements within it using SDN routing. It is the most effective way of maximizing IP technology, in turn helping deliver optimal return on investment and higher chances of operational success.

Olivier Suard is vice president of marketing for Nevion.

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Over the course of the past decade we’ve seen a proliferation of servers, often as commodity-based products from the usual sources, being added to facilities for nearly every system in the video production equipment room or the delivery network.

Servers—in a general sense—have steadily become the defacto device that provides the operational engine to much of the functionality seen in the modern digital media age.

From an implementation perspective, design practices have layered consecutive sets of hardware (e.g., servers and storage) to the mix of already a dozen to upwards of hundreds of other servers, each with a purpose aimed to support the next set of software applications or implementations.

Historically, each server would impart its own dedicated purpose within the workflow. Sometimes you would find the same functionality across different servers; see them in augmented segments of ingest, post production or news; and now we’re seeing them utilized extensively throughout the entire delivery chain.

With each device comes a primary connection and configuration to a network. Sometimes, depending upon the facility’s directives or budget, another secondary network interface to another network section would be added for protection or overall system resiliency. This continued duplicity and individuality of servers and fixed network topologies is costly and cumbersome to manage.

Fig. 1: Software-defined network (SDN) reference architecturePROFESSIONAL MEDIA NETWORKS

Virtualization is changing this legacy model. When similar functions can be distributed amongst a pool of servers whose functions can be modified to serve other purposes once a work task is completed, the efficiency of the system improves and the CapEx and OpEx costs are reduced. Virtualization, among other factors, is aimed at reducing the hardware components in a facility without reducing performance or other workflow support. Yet there is another evolving concept that has grown out of the compute (IT) industry and is filtering its way into professional media networks (PMN) for file-based and real-time video over IP.

This month’s introduction to SDN follows up from my April 2016 column on data- defined storage. In the IT industry, where entirely software-based systems are rapidly becoming the norm, the organizations that wish to accelerate application deployment and delivery—while dramatically reducing their overall IT costs—are transitioning to what is called “software defined networking” or SDN. Essentially, an SDN is policy-enabled workflows built on the principles of automation. In cloud-based systems, SDN technology is the catalyst that enables the cloud architectures, which provide for automated, on-demand application delivery, portability and mobility at scale.

DATA CENTERS AS CLOUDS

In a data center, the economies of scale are achieved in part through virtualization—that is, the sharing of like component to provide services as requested by the enabling software- based control and management systems. Referred to as “data center virtualization,” this functionality leverages SDN to provide for increased resource utilization and flexibility while in turn reducing the total costs for operations, including infrastructure costs and overhead.

Data centers can be considered clouds that may be private (i.e., services provided for internal organizations); public (i.e., any-services [XaaS] provided to others for a fee); or hybrid (where excess capabilities built for private services are sold publicly to entities outside of the internal organization). Regardless of the scale of the cloud data center, they all function primarily the same.

Typical cloud computing infrastructures— large sets of identical or very similar servers—live on large blobs (Binary Large OBjects), which form the common server structures. The blob is a collection of binary data stored as a single entity in a database management system. Blobs are usually composed of images, audio or other multimedia objects. Binary executable code may also be stored as a blob.

In a data center/cloud environment, myriad servers evolve much faster than in a traditional IT infrastructure built for specific functionality (such as for compute, back office or the like). Thus, blobs are not homologues (i.e., they may not be corresponding or similar in position, value, structure or function) to one another. In this scenario, server groups are fundamentally identical. For example, they are x64 architecture-based and they all share similar features, such as the peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) and Ethernet interconnects, which are essentially structured roughly the same way over repetitive subsystems.

This gives the data center/cloud the capability to scale—the capability to grow quickly without having to continually modify the physical (or software) infrastructures to “scale-up” to meet demands.

The management component for the orchestration of these capabilities is built on software-defined solutions including network components and virtual machines.

WORKFLOW DEFINED

An SDN allows systems to develop and adapt to varying workflows—that series of activities that are necessary to complete a task. Workflows are usually comprised of a series of stages or steps, each with a distinctive step before it (except for the first step), and are followed by another step after it.

Workflow steps are usually linear, but may also include looped steps with decision trees that allow the sequence to exit the loop and continue to the next step (or workflow) upon meeting certain conditions.

Workflows can be complicated and should be documented so they can be understood by external (human) sources or meshed with computer software built on a human-readable coding structure such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The written documentation is based on business processes modeled using principles found in business process management (BPM).

HYPER-CONVERGENCE AND ORCHESTRATION PLATFORMS

For a cloud or cloud-like implementation, the programming is called the “cloud orchestrator.” This platform manages the interconnections and interactions among cloud-based and on-premises business units. Orchestration may be applied to one or many sets of servers, but its best use is when applied to a system of servers, which, by themselves, have almost no understanding of what the adjacent server is to accomplish now or in the future.

Business objectives (e.g., a global ingest platform that brings content into a central repository) drive how the orchestration works and how workflows are developed (Fig. 1). SDN accomplishes these objectives by converging the management of network and application services into centralized, extensible orchestration platforms that automate provisioning and configuration of the complete infrastructure. Centralized policies collectively bring together disparate groups and workflows so they can deliver new applications and services in minutes, rather than the days or weeks required in legacy systems.

Depending upon its scale, this concept may also be known by the term “hyper-convergence”— a form of infrastructure with a software-centric architecture that tightly integrates storage, networking and virtualization resources (alongside other technologies) in a commodity hardware-based system; usually managed under some form of SDN.

SPEED, AGILITY AND FLEXIBILITY

When deploying new applications and business services, SDN enables the system to deliver speed and agility using existing components consisting of servers, storage and network switching. Programmability of these components is a key characteristic of a software-defining solution.

Another way to look at this is when various applications reside on servers that can be administered (delegated) when or as needed by the orchestration platform—while the associated server communications, instructions, process loading and data-steering throughout the network is being managed by the SDN.

SDN concepts are core components to making the emerging studio video over IP (SVIP) systems work using common Ethernet switches that can be configured per specific standards, some of which are currently in development.

Karl Paulsen, CPBE and SMPTE Fellow, is the CTO at Diversified. Read more about this and other storage topics in his book “Moving Media Storage Technologies.” Contact Karl atkpaulsen@diversifiedus.com.

OTTAWA—Broadcasters are starting to embrace video over IP using software-defined networks, virtualized cloud processing, and software-defined infrastructure. Entire production operations spanning the creation and management of broadcast-specific acquisition, editing, playout and distribution/storage functions are now using specialized software running on servers and in the private/public cloud. In doing so, these broadcasters are moving away from dedicated, broadcast-only proprietary hardware such as audio/video switchers, traditional editing suites, and signal routers.

On a larger scale, they are taking the first steps towards making traditional master control rooms obsolete.

Grass Valley’s GV Convergent SDN control system transparently manages facility routing as the industry migrates from SDI to IP infrastructures.THE END OF ‘BIG IRON’
Case in point: Disney/ABC Television Group is moving its broadcast playout, network and delivery infrastructure into the cloud using Imagine Communications’ VersioCloud, an IP-enabled, integrated playout-in-the-cloud platform. In the simplest sense, Disney/ABC personnel will be able to perform their functions using IP-connected desktop PCs, rather than working in traditional master control facilities. “By leveraging evolving IP and cloud technologies we are able to move beyond what’s currently possible with traditional proprietary ‘Big Iron’ broadcast infrastructures,” said Vince Roberts, chief technology officer and executive vice president of Disney/ABC Television Group’s Global Operations.

Fox Networks’ Engineering & Operations is actively experimenting with SDNs, including the seamless switching of uncompressed broadcast signals using SDNs and commercial-off-the-shelf Ethernet switches and servers. Fox Sports has gone one step further by deploying Game Creek Video’s “Encore” production mobile, which is equipped with Evertz IP-enabled gateways and router to carry and switch more than 6,900 IP-based video channels.

“We are looking to SDNs and IP in general to create flexibility in our broadcast plant,” said Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering and development at Fox Networks Engineering and Operations. “Being able to spin new channels up and down using software on COTS hardware and the cloud, rather than having to build or reconfigure physical master control production facilities, will allow us to field new services far quicker and much more inexpensively,” he said. “This is vital, because we’re going to have to be a more agile broadcaster in order to stay competitive in the future.”

The trend towards SDNs in specific, and software-defined infrastructure in general, is readily acknowledged by equipment suppliers such as Dallas-based Imagine Communications. “We foresee the day when our broadcast customers are buying COTS data equipment from IT companies such as Arista, Cisco and HP, and we are providing the broadcast-specific software that run on these systems, alongside traditional SDI-based equipment,” said John Mailhot, systems architect for IP convergence at Imagine. “That’s why we’re not competing with those suppliers; we’re forming strategic partnerships with them.”

Grass Valley is also onboard the SDN train with the company’s GV Convergent SDN control system software. “Broadcasters see the value in moving from SDI to IP, with the tremendous potential of saving infrastructure cost,” said Louis Caron, GV Convergent SDN product manager for the Montreal-based provider of broadcast and production technology. “GV Convergent SDN provides a technology-agnostic operation paradigm requiring no additional training for the operators when migrating to an IP infrastructure,” he said. GV Convergent SDN is currently being tested by selected broadcasters according to Caron.

VIRTUALLY SPEAKING
Despite the introduction of SDN products by Grass Valley and Imagine Communications, media consultant Al Kovalick believes that these vendors’ clients have yet to fully embrace the full potential of SDNs and software-defined infrastructure.

“The problem is that most broadcasters are comfortable with the industry-specific proprietary technology they are accustomed to, and scared of moving into SDN, COTS data centers and virtualized production in the cloud,” said Kovalick, founder of Silicon Valley-based Media Systems Consulting, and TV Technology’s cloud columnist. “They just don’t grasp how much is possible by moving to a true software-based production model—and how much money they can potentially save.”

This possibility is not lost on Lawrence Kaplan. The co-founder of Omneon Video Networks recently launched the SDVI, an IP-focused SaaS company that provisions/ manages virtualized production applications for media clients; both on their premises and in the cloud.

According to Kaplan (who serves as SDVI’s president and CEO), broadcasters who cling to traditional forms of video production/ playout are “wasting” millions of dollars, because such functions can be done much less expensively using a virtualized broadcast facility. Those broadcasters who migrate to SDN by building in-house data centers could also be wasting money, “because such 24/7 facilities tend to be at peak usage 25 percent of the time, at most,” he said. “The rest of the time, you are paying for capacity that isn’t making you money.”

Whatever the economics, broadcasters are likely to take their time moving to SDN-based production/playout; in part because this paradigm shift will have such an enormous impact. “Think back 40 years, when broadcasters were still using 2-inch Quad tape and CRTs,” said Fox’s Edwards. “Broadcasting has changed radically since then, but the biggest changes—such as SDNs, virtualized production/playout, and software-defined infrastructure—are just starting to occur now.”