IP is a truly transformational technology for broadcast. The ability to deploy a network infrastructure that can be reconfigured quickly and relatively easily brings immense flexibility and genuine scalability. IP is enabling broadcasters to more elegantly interconnect multiple production spaces within facilities, to interconnect facilities across cities and the world, and broadcasters are gaining significant production efficiencies from it. Vendors have introduced a wealth of boxes and software widgets to bridge the gap between SDI and IP infrastructure that facilitate sensible integration of the new with the old, and to get the best of both methodologies.

IP is taking enabling yet further with the introduction of private and public cloud storage, scalable virtualized computer systems, and onwards into microservices which offer genuinely scalable processing power, and support the enticing prospect of ‘pay for use’ software licensing models. All of which is leveraging the huge benefits of COTS hardware and innovation from other, bigger and more agile industries. And then there is the, as yet unfathomable, impact of AI/ML on what software can do to streamline and expand both the creative process, and the technical capabilities of the infrastructure itself – AI is here because of IP and ‘the cloud’. Never before has broadcast infrastructure been so diverse, flexible and adaptable.

There are however side effects – the industry is migrating from a relatively simple model based on software running on discrete hardware hosts to a software stack, running on software defined hardware and a huge number of assignable human control interfaces. It is a fundamentally different paradigm; one where central control software systems (and probably the services of a really good SI who understands them) are becoming an absolute necessity. It is almost impossible to plan and deploy large-scale production infrastructure, to identify and control hundreds or even thousands of device & processor end points, without the help of a well-organized software interface. It is equally almost impossible to calculate, implement and control the underlying IP network fabric without Software Defined Networking and IP Monitoring tools to show you how your flows are performing and give you the intuitive tools to control them. As the complexity and scale of the data flowing through the infrastructure grows it seems inevitable that some form of network automation, and probably one that trusts ML to find the best path becomes a necessity too.

If the world is heading for a software defined future – IBC is an ideal opportunity to get a good look at what it might feel like.

On The Show Floor

Here’s a few companies to look at when you’re walking the IBC 2024 show floor.

Cisco (Stand 3.C37) will be demonstrating an impressive portfolio of innovative technology at the 2024 IBC Show, and their team are a superb source of expert advice on network design and management.

The network fabric is of course the foundation of any high-performance network and Cisco will show their Nexus 9000 Series Switches which support high density and bandwidth capacities with link speeds up to 400G and 800G enabling future-proofed IP routing systems for even the largest media environments.

Cisco will be showing their innovative Non-Blocking Multicast (NBM) technology which brings bandwidth awareness to PIM ECMP protocols to prevent oversubscription, a significant challenge faced by media customers. NBM is a capability that brings bandwidth intelligence to the network. Broadcasters can reliably extend bandwidth awareness across distributed facilities to support remote or centralized productions. In NBM Active Mode, the network orchestrates paths from source to destination (based on the Broadcast Controller’s intent) ensuring that networks are non-blocking and optimized.

A key element of any complex production network is Automation. Cisco will show their Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller which provides a single point of management, streamlined automation, comprehensive monitoring, and visibility, for IP Fabric for Media (IPFM) deployments. NDFC, using its telemetry capabilities, also provides end-to-end flow path visualization, flow analytics, flow statistics like bitrate, speed, and bandwidth coming out of the cameras, health of the network, PTP statistics to track any drift or offset in timing, and send notifications to the operator for monitoring and troubleshooting the network. NDFC can also monitor RTP flows to detect and pinpoint where the loss is happening in the network. The Broadcast Controller remains the final authority and controls how paths need to be stitched from the source to the destination – the Broadcast Controller provides the intent whilst the NFDC acts upon that intent. The Broadcast Controller can directly talk to the switches using the Nexus API or by leveraging NDFC as the management tool and using the NDFC device APIs. NDFC integrates with the best-in-class Broadcast Controllers facilitating secure, end to-end bandwidth efficiency for media deployments.

Evertz (Stand 2.B51) is showing a collection of new developments for its suite of system and network orchestration tools. There are updates to its SDVN, including a small form factor network and analog timing module – the MIO-PTP – which can be deployed in baseband and IP-based networks to provide timing synchronization, or to extend timing over a WAN to locations that do not have a sync source. There is also a new low cost switch fabric, the NATX-LT.

There will also be new features for MAGNUM-OS, their orchestration, monitoring and analytics platform for SDI, IP, or hybrid facilities, allowing broadcasters to connect facilities, resources, and devices together within a city, country or globally. MAGNUM-OS also supports hybrid workflows where devices or resources are located on premise or in cloud (public or private). The system supports NMOS or API based device discovery and flow management. MAGNUM-OS also provides control of network switches that include (but not limited to) Evertz EXE and NATX, Cisco, Arista, and cloud-based swxtch.io. It manages the link bandwidth between the discovered edge devices and the network switches and provides extensive monitoring and real-time analytics. MAGNUM-OS includes tools for PTP traffic and network monitoring and IP-flow tracking over the IP networks. For IBC 2024, Evertz will be introducing an updated AI/ML log anomaly detection feature called LogSNAP, which builds on the real-time analytics in MAGNUM-OS to perform detection based on learned models to identify root causes for issues based on logs.

Lawo (Stand 8.B90) will showcase its growing portfolio of server based, microservices powered HOME Apps that deliver flexible, scalable video and audio processing at the 2024 IBC Show – all of which are covered in other articles in this series. At the heart of the ecosystem is HOME itself - it’s the orchestration system which makes planning and running productions a more streamlined and intuitive experience. HOME is a management platform for IP-based media infrastructures that is designed to connect, manage and secure all aspects and instances of live production environments. HOME provides the software control suite and centralized services for fast and effective interaction of engineers with their tools. 

Inside HOME, once the system is configured, discovery of devices is automatic, while registering and admitting them to the network when building and running projects is simplified and highly efficient. It facilitates effective advanced planning and preparation and enables rapid addition of resources and devices during production when required. The HOME apps offer the immense flexibility and scalability of software that is microservices based to broadcast production, but it is HOME itself which brings it all together.

Other Options

Skyline Communications (Stand 1.A57) will be showing their full featured and well-established orchestration platform which was recently rebranded as ‘dataminer.MediaOps’. This article would not be complete without mention of the other three big players in broadcast (Grass Valley, Ross & Sony) who all have highly evolved orchestration and monitoring tools but who have not as yet made any specific product announcements in this arena for the show…but may delight us all with innovative new technologies as the show opens, and are inevitably a worthwhile destination on the show floor. 

Other articles in this IBC 2024 'Show Focus' series:

The Broadcast Bridge will be at the IBC Show – on stand 8.A52. Please come and see us and share your thoughts on what we do and what you would like to see from us in the coming year.