Virtualization: Changing the Face and the Pace of Master Control Projects

While the cloud and virtualization are no secrets to IT professionals, broadcasters and content creators are actively discussing the ways in which moving more processes to the cloud makes sense. Large data centers are a perfect fit for storage and distribution of file-based media, but what about live broadcast playout of fully-featured channels? There is a growing desire to quickly and efficiently deploy or contract IP-based channels in an instant without the burden of racks of complicated hardware, and weeks or months of setup and provisioning. However, broadcasters are a risk-averse group by nature. Have virtual machines running in secure data centers matured to the level required for 24/7 reliable broadcast applications? This paper will explore how virtualization, software-defined video pipelines and intelligent orchestration are changing the face, and the pace, of playout and master control projects.

Published

2016-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

Master control, virtualization, virtualized playout, cloud, IP video, orchestration, popup channel, fast deployment, video pipeline, data center

DOI

10.5594/M001732

ISBN

978-1-61482-957-7