In Broadcast - November 2020 - 68

68

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 11 | November 2020

InMedia

Cognitive TV Lies
In The Cloud
Disaster recovery was once the stepping
stone to cloud adoption but now cloud
workflows are the norm for on-demand
and live video distribution, Contributing
Editor Adrian Pennington expands...

I

n the last few months, we've seen
the industry decentralise a number
of traditional business models and
speed up the transition to cloud-based
workflows. This shift hasn't come as a
surprise, even if the rate of adoption
has.
According to a recent Cloud and
Virtualization report by the IABM, 45%
of respondent have already deployed
some sort of cloud technology while
40% are likely to do so. Cloud-native,
microservices-based software is being
deployed for workflows such as popup channels, remote live sport events,
channel origination and disaster
recovery.
Unlike on-premises deployments
that require pay TV operators to plan
their capacity in advance, cloud-based
infrastructures provide much needed
flexibility. That's why playout and
channel management technology
vendors have launched their platforms
on the cloud - nine times out of ten on
AWS. Cloud allows for virtually infinite
scaling when it matters most.
Moreover, cloud infrastructure is no
longer thought of just in the context
of business continuity or storage. The
entire broadcast workflow can be
automated on the cloud. This means
that content preparation, scheduling,
graphics,
playout,
distribution,

monitoring and monetization can all
be managed on the cloud delivering
broadcast-grade quality and viewing
experiences.
The next step is to add an intelligent
data layer to infuse AI capabilities
into all aspects of the TV service to
make what Kaltura calls 'Cognitive TV'
experiences a reality.
"TV services that are 'conscious' and
capable of learning while dynamically
adapting to user behaviour are
possible through the convergence
of cloud TV with machine learning
and AI," Kaltura says. This will allow
smarter data processing, realtime experimentation, and almost
unlimited flexibility for meaningful
personalisation of any element of
the TV experience, from UI through
content and advertising.
"I would say that owing to current
business climate, the broadcast
industry needs to innovate to survive
the downturn, create new revenue
models and respond to market
dynamics in an agile manner," sums
up Baskar Subramanian, CEO, Amagi.
For that, the transition to cloud is an
irreversible change - a new reality."
Over the summer, A+E Networks UK
transitioned its playout and service
delivery for its entire bouquet of 30
channels in Europe to Amagi's cloud

By adopting the "Kaltura Hybrid Video
Plane Solution", operators can reduce
operational complexities and costs
including distribution over public
and private cloud, while maintaining
broadcast-grade service availability

Amagi's onboarding team works with customer's technical team for transitioning
entire ingest workflow including storage options, and live integration

platform Cloudport running on AWS.
Initially set up as a business continuity
playout option, the operation was
transitioned to be the primary facility
in a matter of weeks. Over 50,000
hours of content was ingest to the
cloud, and playout and delivery of
30 channels were managed over IP,
satellite and fibre infrastructure.
Amagi has 60+ strong Network
Operations Centre with a full stack of
home-grown monitoring technology
platform that allows for effective endto-end monitoring and management of
the entire broadcast infrastructure.
"Virtualizing broadcast operations
on a public cloud infrastructure such
as AWS has become a key strategy
for decision-makers over the last 2-3
years," says Subramanian. "Every
top-tier TV network is implementing a
cloud strategy in some measure. Cloud
infrastructure is inherently agile and
comes with a shorter deployment time.
The biggest contribution in my view is
the rapid democratization of content,
that has been largely ushered in by the
power of cloud."
In order to provide cloud TV
providers the agility and speed to
adapt to current market dynamics,
Kaltura has included API integration
with AWS Media Services in its
TV platform. "This API integration
provides
highly
scalable
live
media processing, origination, and
just-in-time packaging to deliver
uninterrupted high-quality Adaptive
Bitrate streams and pay TV-grade
viewing experiences," Kaltura explains.
"Whether you are reporting the
news, delivering live events, or simply
looking to expand your content
offering and reach new audiences,
a cloud-based solution is a good fit
for you. Kaltura TV Platform includes
API integration with AWS Elemental

MediaLive and AWS Elemental
MediaPackage for live content,
allowing fast and simple set-up of
linear channels. This flexibility enables
service providers to offer optimal
live streams in a reliable and secure
manner to the full range of viewing
devices in a few clicks."
Recent clients include US media
company Newsmax which launched
a Cloud TV service hosted by Kaltura
in January; and Cellcom Israel which
migrated to the Kaltura TV Platform to
power its OTT service.
Middleware
provider,
Nordija,
along with set-top-box designer
and manufacturer EKT, and content
security experts Verimatrix, have
unveiled a new cloud collaboration
intended to help telcos and TV
operators remove the complexity
around IPTV/OTT and DVB-Hybrid
video service delivery.
Stratos offers a complete and preintegrated IPTV/OTT video delivery
bundle, enabling quick launch of a
fully-featured cloud video solution.
"Gone are the days when one had
to manage and engage with multiple
vendors to complete long and complex
integrations," says Vikram Felix, Sales
Director EMEA at Nordija. "Stratos is
an ideal solution for telcos, service
providers, and ISPs looking to enjoy
the benefits of TVaaS, but without
the risk of being locked-in to a single
vendor solution."
Other benefits of Stratos include
unified pricing, a single point of
contact in Nordija, and an intuitive way
to operate the system from a single
management console.
"Bringing all of our best of breed
products into a single cloud solution,
with a single point of contact, was the
next logical evolution and in line with
the market requirements for a
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.amagi.com/broadcasttv/channel-creation-and-broadcasting/ https://corp.kaltura.com/video-content-management-system/video-delivery-video-streaming-platform/
In Broadcast - November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - November 2020
