36 TECHFEED Cloud Editing
edia logistics processes that were once done by purpose- built physical hardware in television production facilities can now be carried out by software – and often software operating in the cloud. This is a consequence of the ]evolution of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware replacing bespoke hardware for broadcast applications. As soon as the industry embraces the use of COTS hardware, it becomes possible to use an IT toolset that enables automation, replication and, ultimately, everything ‘as a code’. Virtualised systems existing as software in data centres means all the processes a broadcaster needs can now operate in a realm of pure code. “Microservices enable broadcasters to find new ways to adopt, engineer, operate and maintain the value of their solutions,” says Arnaud Caron, director of portfolio transformation for broadcast at MediaKind. “They can enhance media processing functions such as encoding, packaging, pre-processing and transcoding. This allows new levels of scale and resiliency while enabling new business models to be realised. The obvious benefits for broadcasters are reduced costs of delivery and decreased time to market.” Put another way, microservices are basically the back end of all cloud services, which a few years ago only Amazon and Google could really benefit from. By using microservices to create modularity in application development, something that wasn’t available under the monolithic
THE MAIN QUESTION FACING BROADCASTERS THENWILL NOT BE WHETHER CLOUD IS A GOOD SOLUTION, BUT WHICH CLOUD SOLUTION IS THE BEST
approach of the past, broadcasters can work with the software development community to push forward a more collaborative and flexible environment. “Broadcasters can now get to innovation software speeds that were previously defined by delays in hardware deployments,” asserts Joop Janssen, the CEO of Aperi. “Microservices are the next logical step for broadcasters.” Five years ago, the vast majority of media processing workflows (such as production, playout and encoding) deployed by broadcasters relied on hardware appliances. Each was a siloed workflow with its own management, control and operations team.
“Today, most of those workflows are software based, with a similar and sometimes even better performance,” says Eric Gallier, vice-president of video customer solutions at Harmonic . “They can share a common orchestration system for resources and workflows, making deployment and operations simpler. We see broadcasters adopting more and more cloud-native, microservice-based software to deploy in the public cloud or private data centres for workflows such as pop- up channels, live sport events, channel origination and disaster recovery.” ORCHESTRATION REQUIRED Microservices are actually one of the three components, including containers and orchestration, that make up cloud- native technology. Gallier explains: “With microservices, the media processing workflow is broken down into relevant features - for example, baseband over SMPTE 2110 I/O support, channel encoding, channel playout and channel branding. They are all independent, using their own resources, like CPU and memory, but are communicating together efficiently. Orchestrating optimised media processing workflows becomes easier
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