11 YOUR TAKE Virtualisation
HANNES STROBEL, VP OF HEADEND AND MONITORING, ROHDE & SCHWARZ What are the benefits of virtualisation?
ohde & Schwarz has built a reputation over 70 years on its ability to build hardware- based technology solutions
SOFTWARE SYSTEMS RUNNING ON BARE- METAL ON-PREMISES INSTALLATIONS HAVE ADVANTAGES IN MOST SCENARIOS for customers worldwide. So, what did it mean when we introduced our first fully virtualised product earlier this year? Did it mean we believe the days of on-premises equipment installations are numbered? Not at all. Rohde & Schwarz continues to invest massively in the development of hardware- based tech solutions. However, we see a need for new virtualised workflow solutions. With our new product for monitoring, we can offer customers a choice of on-premises or virtualised workflows. But which is best? The answer is complex. Before embarking on a voyage towards virtualisation, the user must ask some fundamental questions. First, do they prefer flexibility in their production and distribution workflows? (This is one of the key advantages of a virtualised environment.) Or do they prefer operational efficiency – especially in 24/7 media processing operations? Quite simply, if the workflow is stable and not subject to modification very often, a software-based system solution running on a bare-metal on-premises installation would be preferable. Target setting of this type is a fundamental conversation we have with our customers at the start of any virtualisation project. BROADCAST MEETS IT If broadcasters are migrating from a broadcast-specific standards and interface landscape to a generic IT/IP environment, the migration has to be total to realise the
potential benefits of this new environment. But life is never black and white, and this is why a good relationship between the user and technology partner becomes so important during the transition phase. You can operate ST 2110 within a virtualised environment. The key question is whether this environment would provide the user with latency low enough for a studio production environment. And does it provide the necessary media processing precision you would achieve within a hardware-based installation? To meet this challenge requires the skill sets of two different types of people – hardware engineers and software developers. Rohde & Schwarz has built its reputation over many decades on its hardware engineering capabilities. But the new monitor tool is a software-based product that has been over ten years in development. During this time, we have developed excellent software development skill sets – and these are valuable when addressing the needs of virtualised workflows. With these skill sets, we can advise customers and provide support throughout the signal processing chain, including how the virtualised infrastructure is being set up. We can optimise the data processing workflow in a virtualised framework in order to maximise both latency and data throughput and stability. The question is, how does a broadcaster adapt to an asynchronous IT/IP world while enabling viewers to consume content in ways they are familiar and happy with? The closer you get to the performance a hardware-based system has traditionally provided, the happier the customer is. It requires specialist knowledge and skill sets, but the big challenge now is to customise a virtualised environment to the specific needs of that user. This is where the strength of the
relationship between the customer and the technology partner is so important. WE NEED TO COLLABORATE Virtualised environments will never be limited to just one vendor’s products, but will comprise several products from a range of companies. This requires interactivity and interoperability within a broadcaster’s workflows. In this environment, things will inevitably go wrong occasionally. It is essential the broadcaster has a strategy in place for this, so the impact is minimised. In an ideal world, the user will test any new software’s ability to operate within their virtualised environment, but this is not always possible. In this situation, standards such as SMPTE 2110 are important, since they promote operational stability and interoperability. However, three different vendors can interpret a standard differently and this has the potential to affect the way they operate (or don’t operate) together. A broadcaster needs to build this factor into their virtualisation strategy, and a good technology partner should provide advice. I note the amount of commentary around the cloud, IP and virtualisation. This is one interesting way to proceed in engineering workflows for a broadcaster – but it is not a broadcaster’s cure-all. Software systems running on bare-metal on-premises installations have advantages in most scenarios. It is not an either/or, black/white question, but is instead one of balancing flexibility and versatility against operational precision and efficiency. And it will evolve over the coming years as virtualisation’s enabling technologies evolve. At Rohde & Schwarz, we are investing in virtualised architectures, but this does not signpost the end for a hardware-centric environment. Far from it. It merely offers greater choice to the customer.
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