Transitioning to IP is the biggest challenge facing broadcasters today. The good news is, this is a change for the better
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ncredible benefits for workflow, user experience and cost – that is why On-Hertz builds natively virtualised solutions for broadcasters.
Take a production studio: clearly all of its integrated functions should work in perfect unison – mixing, processing, contribution, playout, monitoring. But running each function as separate instances in the cloud would be a nightmare to set up. Feeds require exchanging between instances, complicating the synchronisation of time clocks and costing a fortune. Reproducing production hardware as virtualised infrastructure is expensive and slow; any workflow problems will only magnify in the cloud. Lazy vendors, or those lacking sufficient knowledge, often sell you down this route – let’s not replicate outmoded methods, but optimise for the benefits. There’s a smarter way to get there. Tools developed with Docker Engines, apps, APIs and containers are a better fit for virtualised operations, whether running in cloud or on-premises. These
What used to require dedicated hardware, it does in software. Virtualisation is a paradigm shift in broadcast production, and when architected properly, it makes your life easier – while maintaining the high level of quality the broadcast industry stands for. So, how does On-Hertz approach this evolution?
native virtualised tools are much easier to deploy and operate continuously. CLOUD IS ONLY ONE OPTION It can help to think of cloud as one possible option for virtualisation – it’s not the solution to every problem. For example, if all your feeds originate from the same location, sending them to the cloud and bringing them back at your production facility adds latency to cost. If your sources come from different places, the cloud may be a sensible solution for processing, sending only selected buses back down to the main master control room. Likewise, if a broadcaster is contributing feeds from many locations, running a hardware-based facility at each one might be expensive and cumbersome. Instead, virtual instances could be used for connecting remote places, letting you scale to any number of locations at the touch of a button. In modern workflows, the ideal architecture is a combination of on-
SMART VIRTUALISATION There’s still a widespread
misconception that virtualisation equals cloud. Reproducing in the cloud what exists on-premises is to miss the whole point of virtualised systems – and miss out on its many benefits.
VIRTUALISATION IS A GAME CHANGER FOR INTEGRATEDWORKFLOWS AND ERGONOMICS
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