As an industry, we’ve now ticked box one of “how to build IP infrastructures” by reliably streaming video, audio and metadata over enterprise IP networks. Now, we need to greatly simplify IP broadcast infrastructures to improve their operation and integration.

This series seeks to clarify what is meant by Software Defined Infrastructure, how its fundamental design philosophy is key to the next evolutionary step for broadcast systems, and how it can benefit broadcasters with scalability, reliability, resilience and very high levels of security.

We discuss the fundamental differences between virtualization and microservices and how microservice based systems go hand in hand with Software Defined Networks in the design and implementation of truly scalable systems.

The next phase of our IP enabled journey is going to be one of delivering simplicity and integration through microservices. For IP to become the success it promises, we need to look more closely at how we make it work operationally so that simplicity and integration become as easy as maintaining a high-quality internet mobile phone connection when walking from the office to the park.

Building Software Defined Infrastructure will publish in four parts:

Part 1. System Topologies

AVAILABLE NOW - Download Part 1 HERE

Article 1 : What Is Software Defined Infrastructure?
What Software Defined Infrastructure is, what infrastructure models it enables and a discussion of on- and off-prem cloud infrastructure.

Article 2 : Virtualization Vs Microservices
How virtualization and microservices differ, and workflows where virtualization and microservices would be used or avoided in terms of reliability, flexibility and security.

Article 3 : Virtualizing Idle Time
Our partner Lawo discuss why “software-defined” as an approach should be considered a prerequisite in any forward-looking, IP-based broadcast environment.

Article 4 : Software Defined Infrastructure Components
How microservices form the basis of Software Defined Infrastructure and why they provide much better solutions for broadcasters, especially when considering scalability, resilience and security.

Part 2. Connecting Services and Media Essence Streaming

COMING SOON

Article 1 : Shifting Data
How the advances in AI Large Language Models are working to the benefit of broadcasters when moving voluminous amounts of video data between micro-services and servers.

Article 2 : Asynchronous vs Synchronous Media Processing
Why microservices and cloud systems process video and audio asynchronously. What this means for traditional broadcast infrastructures and how this relates to the EBU common memory sharing specification.

Article 3 : Ground To Cloud
The challenges of transferring media streams from ground to cloud and why on-prem and off-prem systems are often a better scalable and resilient solution.

Part 3. Monitoring Resource

COMING SOON

Article 1 : Network Monitoring
The parameters and systems that need to be monitored in an IP network and why this is specific to broadcasters.

Article 2 : Microservice Monitoring
What needs to be monitored in microservice infrastructures and how issues such as memory overflows and dropped packets can be detected.

Article 3 : Graphing & Service Reporting
How tools such as Grafana help display system critical events and provide critical system monitoring.

Part 4. Integration

COMING SOON

Article 1 : Systems & Frameworks
The difference between open and closed integration frameworks and their relative merits. The concept of east-west datacenters and the implications for broadcast infrastructures.

Article 2 : Zero Tolerance Security
Why zero tolerance security is paramount for broadcasters and why some security checks cause headaches, such as packet inspection on the NIC.

Article 3 : Effective API’s
How APIs operate and why they solve the problems of having to wait for standards bodies to publish protocols and methodologies, thus greatly speeding up time to market and deployment of new features.