Suggesting that there is a viable business model for the distribution of digital data, Southwick, Mass.-based Thales Broadcast and Multimedia reports that its OPAL IP Encapsulator, designed specifically for such applications, is now deployed in more than 1,000 facilities worldwide. The company said the Opal is used most often to broadcast Internet or data files within an ATSC or DVB MPEG-2 transport stream.
U.S. broadcast companies, such as PBS member stations, Raytheon, Globecomm, Aloha Networks, BitCentral Inc., GlobeCast America and Marshall Communication Corporation have all created new data-broadcasting businesses around the Opal.
Opal provides a full-featured GUI with multiple graph stats on every stream, right down to the PID and filter level. Additionally, the software component, OpenMux is a real-time software multiplexer that can playback video files, inject an interactive application, and mix live feeds, all at the same time as IP encapsulation.
The system supports Uni-Directional Link Routing (UDLR) that will soon become an Internet standard. This will allow a uni-directional satellite link to look bi-directionally in networked Ethernet system configurations.
For more information visit www.thales-bm.com.
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