I think perhaps "virtualized cloud processing" and "integrated
playout-in-the-cloud platform" might refer to the type of new and different way
of producing news shows, that a network of distributed servers would allow? As
opposed to choreographing the whole linear stream in the studio?
Not sure. The article also talks about replacing existing special-purpose video
equipment with specialized software operating in commercial off the shelf
hardware, which is a more straightforward advantage of using software-defined
equipment.
I don't see the author making a case for software-defined networks (SDNs)
specifically, even if he mentions SDNs, but the general topic of adopting
software-defined infrastructure seems believable enough to me. The DoD has been
doing this for quite some time.
Bert
--------------------------------------------
http://www.tvtechnology.com/resources/0006/a-softwaredefined-future-for-broadcast/276789
A Software-Defined Future for Broadcast?
IP is revolutionizing the production process
August 24, 2015
By James Careless
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.
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."
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