IP production is streamlining our broadcast processes – that can only be a boost for sustainability
he engineers who approved SMPTE ST 2110 – the industry standard describing how video
SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD BE A TOPIC THAT’S PART OF THE INITIAL PLANNING OF ANY VENTURE for 32x32 live HD signals over just two single-mode duplex fibres. Using SDI technology, those same fibres had been limited to only 1x1 HD. “I wasn’t looking at sustainability at that point,” says Phillips. “But I realised that replacing a big SDI router with a 1RU COTS IP switch drastically increased efficiency. When you do the math, we need only a couple of Watts-per-hour for an HD signal that used to require ten Watts-per-hour.” In addition to a smaller material footprint, a single unit like the SNP also means fewer can be moved over IP – knew they would be revolutionising media workflows. But embedded in the protocol was a means to tackle the environmental crisis. “Everything about this technology is an improvement on how the older equipment ran,” says Cassidy Phillips, VP of networking solutions architecture at Imagine Communications. Phillips had a light-bulb moment about ST 2110 as a tool for boosting efficiency, when he saw the opportunities it afforded to college campuses with media networks over fibre. Using ST 2110 and Imagine’s Selenio Network Processor (SNP) over a 10-kilometre 100G IP connection allowed
Phillips. “We get to sustainability by making adjustments; not just using clean energy to power data centres, but actually changing the processes around how content and data are delivered. Software engineers are going to have jobs for life in media.” When ST 2110 was rolled out, media companies emulated in IP what they‘d been doing with SDI. But as teams realised they could do more with less, workflows naturally streamlined. Additions like the ST 2110-40 essence will allow for greater automation and better ways of carrying data. Lange admits that, while the long- term necessities of zeroing out carbon emissions are non-negotiable, businesses shouldn’t think of sustainability as giving up something. Efficiency means more resources to deploy. With environmental responsibility on everyone’s mind, it’s good to lead the way. “If one company has a sustainability message – a real one – and another doesn’t, that’s a major selling point.” For more information please head to myimagine.tech/FutureProof
UP TO STANDARD A Selenio Network Processor from Imagine (above)
components that need to be cooled, less equipment to be maintained and many tasks contained in one device. All of this equals greater sustainability over the life of the system. “Sustainability should be a topic that’s part of the initial planning of any venture,” explains Barbara Lange, SMPTE executive director for 12 years. She now runs industry consultancy Kibo121, and is helping media companies take practical steps to meeting sustainability requirements. “A key aspect is gaining efficiencies in processes and technologies,” says Lange. “When you are building a new facility and looking to achieve certain ROI objectives, you should also have an ROSI – return on sustainability investment – at the front end.” At the same time that media companies are challenged to achieve year-on-year improvements in their carbon footprints, the opportunities for content production and appetite of audiences to consume more content are ballooning. Businesses are in a bind of having to generate more with less. “Efficiencies beget sustainability,” says
@feedzinesocial
Powered by FlippingBook