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Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services A Single, Efficient SDN Processing and Distribution Platform to Drive MSO Service Acceleration
Video Consolidation Platform Technical Whitepaper
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 2
Table of Contents
............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services ............................ 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
The Critical Need for Service & Network Consolidation ........................................................................................... 5
The Future-Proof Video Consolidation Platform (VCP) ............................................................................................ 7
The Consolidated Network Hardware Solution ....................................................................................................... 7
The Software-Defined Capabilities of the VCP ......................................................................................................... 9
VCP Edge – Unified distribution of IP & legacy transmissions ..................................................................... 9
VCP-Core – Overcoming Inefficiencies at the Head-End ...............................................................................11
Video Ecosystem Integration ....................................................................................................................................12
Hierarchical Support for Time-Shift Services ....................................................................................................12
New Efficiencies through Advances in Load Balancing .................................................................................14
Facilitating Quality-Assurance Analytics .............................................................................................................15
A Cost-Saving Business Model ............................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................................16
About Edgeware ...................................................................................................................................................................17
Contact Edgeware ...............................................................................................................................................................17
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 3
Introduction
As pay TV distributors intensify service expansion, the costs of maintaining separate legacy and IP
infrastructures must give way to consolidation of operations onto a unified, software-managed
video processing and distribution platform.
MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors) need to make a solid business case for
satisfying consumer demand for access to pay TV services on IP-connected devices while
continuing to deliver linear and on-demand content to traditional set-tops. This requires cutting the
costs of sustaining the existing network while scaling the IP service to deliver higher volumes of
linear and on-demand content to ever more subscribers on an ever expanding array of devices.
Operators also need to leverage the IP infrastructure to drive new revenue through enhancements
such as network-based catch-up TV and DVR (nDVR) and advanced advertising while laying the
foundation for capping and eventually eliminating the legacy head-end and customer premise
equipment (CPE).
Standards-setting bodies and individual MVPDs have devoted much effort towards an integrated
infrastructure. However, it’s generally perceived that operators would have to live with appliance
sprawl in their central head-ends and edge distribution points for some time to come before they
could move all their processing, storage and transmission requirements onto a hierarchically
integrated infrastructure. Fortunately, this is no longer the case.
Significant strategic initiatives such as consolidation of geographically dispersed networks, VOD
expansion, TV Everywhere (TVE), IP migration and network DVR (nDVR) that have been moving on
diverse technology procurement tracks within most organizations can now be executed at
unprecedented economies of scale on the new network consolidation platform developed by
Edgeware. By leveraging proven technology that has evolved to meet service requirements in
deployments worldwide, Edgeware has addressed operators’ needs for a virtualized network
architecture to achieve the levels of multi-purpose functionality that are essential to driving silos
and costs out of service expansion.
Unification and scaling of the packaging, storage, multi-protocol distribution and other processing
capabilities associated with these goals requires two major elements:
1. Extremely dense, efficient hardware appliances, purpose-built for accelerated recording, caching, and streaming;
2. Use of an SDN (Software Defined Networking) architecture to create an extensible operations platform that combines the management of these appliances with dynamic use of commodity servers for processes with lower performance requirements
These are the core elements that comprise the next-generation Edgeware Video Consolidation
Platform (VCP). Edgeware has greatly expanded the capabilities of its widely deployed and proven
Convoy Management Software to serve as an SDN management platform, performing all the control,
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 4
configuration and monitoring functions for assigning application-specific processes both to
Edgeware’s purpose-built Orbit servers and commodity hardware resources.
The Orbit 3080 is the latest generation appliance which supports wire speed processing at 80
gigabits-per-second and delivers up to 128,000 concurrent streams to any combination of IP and
legacy QAM connected devices from a single Rack Unit (RU). This equates to a ten-fold increase in
throughput per RU compared to the highest performing generic servers.
These advances are built on a product foundation that has become a leading resource for service
expansion by major MVPDs world-wide. Over 10 million subscribers are now connected to
Edgeware-supplied networks, including those served by the leading MSOs and Telcos in Europe and
Asia.. These include Belgacom, the dominant Belgian telecommunications provider, Ziggo and KPN,
respectively the leading Dutch cable and telephone companies and ComHem and Telia, repectively
the leading Scandinavian cable and telco.
The Edgeware VCP encompasses a wide range of innovative approaches to network management
that can be implemented gradually in head-ends and edge locations to address MVPD needs in the
most cost effective ways possible. Operators are assured that they are deploying a solution that can
easily be expanded and scaled to support immediate as well as future needs on a pay-as-you-go
basis.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 5
The Critical Need for Service & Network Consolidation
An integrated approach is obviously required for service expansion. MVPDs have consolidated
geographically dispersed networks by eliminating multiple head-ends in favor of centralized
content operations with distributed network sites. IPTV and the need to support multiscreen
devices means the costs of deploying and maintaining separate equipment within these sites in
order to process and distribute content in different formats is becoming untenable.
Consolidation has become especially challenging in distribution hubs, where ongoing service
expansion requires ever increasing, power-hungry servers and the space to accommodate them.
What began as a need for distributed storage and streaming to support high-volume VOD services
has expanded to include caching and streaming support for IP content delivered as part of TV
Everywhere (TVE) services.
In addition, operators are trying to figure out how to support the short-term storage and
distribution requirements of time-shifted start-over and catchup TV services in both legacy and IP
modes. Then there is the added massive and longer-term storage and distribution requirements of
an nDVR service that provides every subscriber network storage comparable to their home-based
DVR.
Finally, the overarching question is “How to accommodate migration to all-IP services with
minimum disruption to existing facilities and architectures?” MVPD service expansion agendas vary
greatly, no more so than in North America. However, containing costs while remaining competitive
in turbulent markets applies equally to smaller regional operators and to national operators
serving millions of customers.
Some operators in smaller markets may still be struggling with building a viable VOD service with
enough HD content to counter the appeal of Direct-Broadcast Satellite (DBS) services. The challenge
is to add or expand VOD services immediately but with with future-proofed network investments to
cost effectively support new services.
Today’s solutions must support efficient distribution of popular titles, combined with long-tail
content, in a hierarchical deployment of core and edge servers. They must also be able to serve
future needs of storage and streaming IP content and TVE services from the same infrastructure.
For operators that are acquiring complete cable operations cross diverse regions, disparate
networks must be consolidated intelligently to centralize and automate operations whilst keeping
future expansion in mind. These MVPDs must consolidate with solutions that minimize the costs of
service expansion and maximize their flexibility to expand their footprints. With the right
architectural choices, operators will be free to acquire systems wherever they see good
opportunities, knowing they can incorporate them into a unified service platform whether or not
they’re contiguous with previously acquired systems.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 6
Tier 1 network consolidation agendas are underway in tandem with aggressive service expansion.
Along with delivering live channels and thousands of VOD options to every type of connected device
in and outside the home, many operators want to incorporate offerings from OTT sources into their
service lineups. These MVPDs are likely contemplating nDVR, start-over and catchup TV services
that can be accessed from IP devices as well as legacy set-tops.
New revenue generation is key and operators in all these categories are looking for ways to add
Revenue Generating Units (RGUs) with their service expansions. Maintaining robust quality of
experience during this expansion is of course, fundamental, even when delivering TVE services to
multiscreen devices. TVE expansion even requires real-time performance metrics to assure rights
holders and advertisers that all contract requirements are being met.
Clearly, any video processing and delivery platform that can accommodate all these requirements, whether incrementally or all at once, will also serve as the framework for migration to all-IP services,
Use Case Edgeware VCP Key Features Key Benefits
Legacy VOD expansion Highly distributed caching support Avoid expensive IP core network capacity upgrades
Live TV Everywhere expansion
Caching efficiencies in delivery to any device
Deliver large peaks in live & VOD traffic on broadband network
Multiscreen origin expansion
Superior ingest, recording and distribution performance
Remove load balancers + reduce packagers + use lowest cost storage
Legacy VOD & Multiscreen consolidation
Distribution via a single edge platform
Remove duplicated VOD and CDN caches
Start-Over, Look-back and Cloud DVR
Hierarchical caching and long-term storage
Reduce latency and maximize cache efficiency
Centralization of network operations
Diverse network support with service expansion at all origin / edge locations
Reduce complexity and duplication of operations
SDN Management Orchestration
Virtualized control plane + accelerated data plane
Rapid service agility and expansion
Figure 1: Edgeware VCP Use Cases. By using Edgeware’s technology, products and deployment success
to maximize efficiency in any one application, operators position themselves to achieve the highest level
of efficiency in all the others
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 7
The Future-Proof Video Consolidation Platform (VCP)
Edgeware has developed a flexible, multi-service processing and delivery platform that is suited for
the smallest to the largest operators.
These capabilities are market-driven software enhancements to Edgeware’s widely deployed
Distributed Video Delivery Network (D-VDN), an MVPD-optimized CDN caching and distribution
solution for a wide range of service applications. The D-VDN solution was developed with an
understanding that the variety and scale of storage and processing functions to be supported in
space-constrained facilities requires levels of processing density and power efficiency that are
beyond the capabilities of commodity hardware.
Edgeware has advanced and expanded the flexibility of the D-VDN solution to support increasing
service requirements. To optimize processing and distribution efficiencies end to end, from the core
to the edge, operators need to orchestrate purpose-built and commodity hardware to maximum
advantage in a virtualized software operations environment. The Video Consolidation Platform
(VCP) is Edgeware’s response to these needs.
The Consolidated Network Hardware Solution
Edgeware designed the super-dense, Orbit applianc as a multi-purpose device with both near-term
and long-term needs in mind. As a result, operators can deploy Edgeware Orbit servers at great cost
savings over alternative hardware for incremental service enhancements with the assurance that
they will be able to lower the scaling costs even further as new services are added.
Figure 2: Delivering up to 80Gbps and supporting 128,000 concurrent streams, the Orbit 3080 delivers
ten times the processing capabilities of the most advanced COTS (Commodity Off The Shelf) server
blades.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 8
Edgeware built the Orbit server architecture from the ground up using FPGAs (Field Programmable
Gate Arrays) running purpose built Edgeware embedded code to optimize processing resources
specifically for the video ingest, storage and transmission requirements of a multi-service pay TV
environment. The Orbit appliances provide operators the flexibility to achieve industry-leading
processing densities in very small increments with great savings in power and space consumption.
The widely deployed Orbit 3020 supports up to 24 terabytes of low-power flash storage and
sustains 20 Gbps deterministic, wire speed transmission performance with up to 32,000 concurrent
unicast video streams. Fully configured, the Orbit 3020’s peak power consumption is just 100
watts.
The latest version of the Orbit platform, the 3080 (Figure 2) delivers four times the throughput of
the 3020 at up to 80 Gbps and 128,000 concurrent streams,. It also increases the ultra-low latency
flash storage capacity to 32 terabytes with peak power consumption at just 340 watts.. These
performance parameters make the Orbit 3080 ideal for applications in head-ends and large
distributed POPs.
The highly deterministic throughput of the Orbit appliances is critical to reliable operations.
Sustaining performance in a distributed network that consolidates the video processing and
delivery of legacy and broadband video, whilst providing recording and trick-play support for
millions of customers requires constant load-balancing of critical resources in order to achieve the
quality per stream required for pay TV operations.
Orbit appliances take solid state memory to a new level by avoiding the need for extraneous
components for SSD (Solid-State Disk). Processing-intensive functions such as streaming and
shaping the video streams are implemented directly in hardware while an embedded Linux
platform hosts higher function control-plane tasks such as the RTSP server, firewall, configuration
interfaces and other commonly needed management functions.
The key to this versatility is a purpose-built file system and network processor which enables
acceleration of a virtually endless array of video applications . For example, the system supports all
the links required for trick-play functions, including pause, rewind and skip, allowing the data to be
read and transmitted by low level hardware with no processor involvement.
Extremely fast channel change is another function built into the system, overcoming a troublesome
gap between IP multicast and traditional TV services. With the built-in capability to record live TV
channels directly into flash memory, the system allows operators to implement a wide range of
time-shifted services including catchup, start-over , trick mode and nDVR with either single or
unique copies.
Edgeware’s file system support for full random access to the blocks in flash memory is crucial to
enabling the introduction of these new services without the need to continuously rewrite files to
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 9
MiddlewareCMSEncoders Origins
Multiscreen
Legacy STB
MultiscreenHead-End
LegacyServers
IP Network
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
TVHead-End
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
OTTHead-End
Broadband Access
Cable / Telco Access
OR
MultiscreenHead-End
CONVOY
OTTHead-End
CONVOY
CDN Control
Config Session Mgmt
Analytics
OR
avoid fragmentation issues. Operators can build and add systems to run simultaneously without
having to go through defragmentation, garbage collection and other steps every time new
functionalions are added.
The Software-Defined Capabilities of the VCP
Edgeware maximizes the flexibility of the hardware platform through Software Defined Networking
(SDN) via the Convoy Management Software. Convoy is able to orchestrate the use of Orbit servers
independently or in conjunction with commodity servers to achieve unprecedented levels of
efficiency in all applications related to pay TV service expansion.
As shown in Figure 3, Convoy abstracts software functionality as an architectural tier that can be
managed independently so that all the control and intelligence runs in fully shared, virtualized
datacenters.
Figure 3: The VCP platform is a vehicle for network and service consolidation end to end with
implementation of the SDN-enabled Convoy Management Software to orchestrate applications across
Edgeware and commodity appliances in all locations.
VCP Edge – Unified distribution of IP & legacy transmissions
Convoy dynamically configures use of the processing power in clusters of Orbit appliances to
support all the caching and streaming requirements of a consolidated edge platform. The VCP Edge
clusters simultaneously cache and stream video in all the major legacy and IP formats, including:
• MPEG-2 TS • MPEG-4 AVC
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 10
• Microsoft Smooth • Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) • Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) • MPEG-DASH • Progressive download
Streams can be delivered in either CBR (constant bitrate) or VBR (variable bitrate) mode at rates
ranging from 96 kilobits per second to 50 megabits per second. The software allows operators to
concurrently cache and deliver content to:
• Legacy STBs (set-top boxes), such as those connected to QAM tuners, • Hybrid QAM / IP STBs • IP STBs • Smart TVs • Smartphones • Tablets • PCs • Games consoles • Other devices connected via the broadband network
As illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, these capabilities afford operators two approaches to
consolidating legacy and IP services for unified delivery; either through use of the Orbit appliances
as caching and distribution servers for already- installed live and VOD servers or as full
replacements.
C
Middleware
Multiscreen
Legacy
MultiscreenHead-End
Multiscreen Cache
VODPump
HFC Network
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
CATVHead-End
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
OTTHead-End
y g
CMSEncoders Origins
CLOUD
QAM
DOCSIS
Unified Caches
Signaling
UDP
HTTP
Figure 4: Placement of Orbit appliances in conjunction with existing live and VOD facilities provides a
means of caching and configuring streams for legacy VOD and IP ABR (adaptive bitrate) distribution on
the same platform.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 11
Middleware
Multiscreen
Legacy
MultiscreenHead-End
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
CATVHead-End
MiddlewareEncoders
OriginsCMS
OTTHead-End
HFC Network
CMSEncoders Origins
CLOUD
DOCSIS
QAM
Unified Caches
Signaling
UDP
HTTP
Figure 5: The immense processing power of the Orbit apliances allows operators to create a unified
delivery platform without requiring other appliances.
VCP-Core – Overcoming Inefficiencies at the Head-End
Capabilities intrinsic to the flexible Orbit architecture can be used to vastly accelerate third-party
origin and application servers used in the packaging, storage, manifest manipulation and streaming
of IP content from the head-end. The cost benefits of commodity infrastructure are exploited while
greatly reducing the number of servers required for any given processing volume. Figures 6 and 7
illustrate the complexity of an IP, multiscreen head-end along with the consolidation available from
the VCP Core.
Figure 6: The complexity of an IP multiscreen head-end
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 12
Figure 7: The Edgeware VCP Origin provides massive consolidation and cost reduction
Video Ecosystem Integration
The multiple software modules available in the Convoy suite come with APIs that allow operators
to integrate the Edgeware platform with third-party content management and business intelligence
systems and to add new account functionalities to those systems as new opportunities emerge. This
commitment to integration and interoperability with leading technology providers extends to many
key components of the ecosystem, including client devices, Web portals and other applications
management systems, ensuring that operators can maintain state-of-the-art performance with
feature-rich functionality.
Anchoring this flexibility is a system of stateless video session managers which take requests from
all video devices and direct them to specific assets within the operator’s ecosystem, whether they
are assets directly controlled by the operator or those of third parties such as the operator’s
wholesale customers. Consequently, the super-dense ingestion, caching and distribution
capabilities of the VCP can be utilized in coordination with commodity servers running third-party
applications to continually maximize efficiencies as new features are introduced.
Hierarchical Support for Time-Shift Services
Demand for time-shifted services puts massive pressure on head-ends, requiring them to record
and store more content in more bitrates and formats than ever before. While origin servers have
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 13
been enhanced to record, store and serve programs in the different formats, these systems still face
major issues with costs and efficiency as the number of channels, recordings and networks served
increase, especially when the predictable performance requirements of a pay TV service come into
play.
As the requirements increase, higher volumes of recording and playout must be assigned additional
processors and storage resources or virtual servers must be over-provisioned in conjunction with
utilization of expensive load balancers to prevent congestion. The use of Orbit servers to overcome
these limitations significantly reduces complexity and performance requirements and therefore
costs of origin servers by accelerating both ingest and playout capacity.
The VCP Origin solution accelerates content ingestion and distribution by offloading and load
balancing all origin ingest and playout functions onto these Orbit servers. A Convoy module
devoted to content and playlist management provides an ingest path and management system for
assets whether they be physical files, live TV streams or virtual assets in playlists. The system
supports compatibility checking, configuration of automatic ingest and management of metadata,
along with proactive warning of any condition that could impact service.
Operators can support a highly integrated, hierarchical approach to offering start-over, catchup and
nDVR services. They can coordinate how the flash memory capacity in edge clusters, including
third-party CDNs as well as their own VCP Edge resources, is used in conjunction with the VCP
Origin’s enhanced ingest and distribution capabilities. Content can be moved seamlessly from
short-term storage for start-over services at the edge to longer term catch-up and nDVR storage at
the core.
This hierarchical, SDN-managed platform allows the operator to automate the transfer of content,
For example, the operator can set a policy that would keep the most popular requests in flash
memory for one week, after which the files would be moved to commodity Network Attached
Storage (NAS). When delivering content in such setups, the Edgeware Orbit appliances act as caches
in front of the disk repository where all assets are retrieved when needed.
Recordings are intelligently written across multiple NAS devices with a replication factor that can
be set to achieve desired performance, storage utilization and redundancy criteria. Instead of
storing each ABR segment in individual files the VCP Origin enables aggregation of all fragments
into a single archive file. It also automatically generates a hierarchical directory structure on the file
system, to limit the number of files per directory. This dramatically increases performance and
simplifies management of large volumes of assets on the commodity NAS devices.
Integrated just-in-time packagers from leading suppliers further minimize the volume of stored
files. Each piece of recorded or VOD content can be stored in a single mezzanine format which is
then formatted for the specific devices on-the-fly for each user session. The VCP Origin intelligently
load balances these packaging requests and caches the output ready for delivery to any other user
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 14
requesting the same content on the same device. This provides massive, cost effective acceleration
of the packaging function.
The combination of high recording and storage capacities and cloud-based orchestration creates an
nDVR architecture that’s well suited to the needs of operators in the U.S. Unlike Europe, where a
single, stored file can be accessed by multiple users, U.S. regulations currently require that each
customer be allocated personal storage space for recordings of their own copy in the network.
By employing the virtualized Convoy software for control and management of those individual
recordings with clusters of multiple Orbit servers, the VCP Origin provides a very scalable and
efficient recording and delivery system that meets these challenging requirements. .VCP makes it
possible for operators to support all the caching and streaming requirements for millions of
simultaneous users accessing live as well as on-demand content in IP and legacy modes while, at
the same time, providing support for all the recording and storage required for start-over, catchup
and nDVR services.
New Efficiencies through Advances in Load Balancing
The amount of content being streamed at any moment from any origin server is escalating rapidly
with higher content volumes, longer catchup TV recording windows and greater usage by
subscribers. While CDN edge servers can handle the most popular content, the “cache miss” count,
i.e. the volume of requests for un-cached content going back to the origin servers, is rising rapidly.
The introduction of live channels in multiscreen services greatly expands how much content each
origin server must simultaneously ingest and deliver with very low latency and this often creates
bottlenecks in the delivery of premium multiscreen services.
The Edgeware VCP load balancing mechanism allows operators who deploy VCP Edge
infrastructure to avoid capital-intensive network upgrades as they scale to ever higher content
volumes. Using a combination of site URLs and DNS (Domain Name System) data, the VCP Edge
clusters detect when a given piece of content is available from multiple origins, allowing the edge
servers to pull the content from origins in a balanced fashion to avoid overloading any particular
origin server or backhaul link.
Load balancing among Orbit servers within a VCP Edge is also critical to maximizing network
efficiency. This is achieved through “content aware clustering,” which ensures that a client request
for specific content is directed to a specific server within the cluster. A replication factor can be set
to balance these requests across two or more servers for cache redundancy. With the ability to
intelligently distribute content and client requests over multiple servers, large-memory cluster can
be built enabling the operator to increase the cache hit rate and reduce the use of the backhaul
network for cache misses.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 15
Facilitating Quality-Assurance Analytics
Convoy also provides a highly efficient quality assurance platform for monitoring system usage and
fine tuning clusters for optimal use of network resources.
Until now, one of the key stumbling blocks in MVPDs’ deployment of premium multiscreen services
has been the absence of a comprehensive, cost-effective means of maintaining a quality of user
experience that satisfies content providers’ and advertisers’ requirements for TV-caliber services.
Edgeware has eliminated this barrier with an innovative means of monitoring and analyzing end-
to-end Quality of Experience (QoE) from the performance of origin servers through to how each
stream is delivered from edge caches.
Convoy provides a Web-based user interface that gives status reports and statistics for ongoing
operations and serves as a central portal for accessing the configuration tools of each server.
Operators can access these tools to look at information from individual servers or aggregated data
from a multi-server system encompassing both live status and historical views.
As part of this, Edgeware has developed Active Video Awareness (AVS), a protocol that allows
users’ devices to efficiently generate monitoring information back to the OSS in real-time, for
compilation into useful views of what’s happening across the access end points. With AVS, the
system turns the incessant flow of brief ABR streaming segments into virtual video sessions of
longer duration that can be read and processed holistically and in real-time for service assurance
purposes.
Analytics can be applied to these virtual video sessions to aggregate and measure them many ways,
depending on what operators and their wholesale customers want to keep track of. For example,
parameters include average bitrate per session, degree of user engagement or instances where sub-
par bitrates persist beyond an acceptable timeframe. Actual delivered quality per session can be
compiled into real-time reports with grouping by for example device type, content name and
network segment.
AVS short-circuits what would otherwise be time-consuming crunching of raw data from millions of
devices in order to derive an accurate view of service quality. In essence, it makes it possible for
operators to deliver TV services to all devices with the same level of insight as they are accustomed
to in the legacy, pay TV environment, assuring an optimum user experience for all services and
applications, across all platforms.
Consolidating VOD and IP Multiscreen Delivery in Next Generation Pay-TV Services / Whitepaper / © Edgeware 2014 / V 1.1-Sept 2014 Page 16
A Cost-Saving Business Model
To ensure the most cost-effective approach to exploiting the processing power of the consolidation
platform for MVPDs of all sizes, Edgeware has established a pay-as-you-grow licensing system. Each
VCP system is licensed according to the peak, aggregate bandwidth it can deliver. This system can
comprise of multiple VCP Origin and Edge clusters which dynamically share this licensed capacity.
This means that an edge cluster in a specific region is able to burst up to the limits of the Orbit
servers installed in order to handle un-expected requests. The system-wide license can be
successively and instantly upgraded via simple software keys. Orbit appliances can be added to the
system and grouped into new or existing VCP Origin or Edge clusters without system down-time.
The local, flash memory on each Orbit appliance can be upgraded from 1 Terabyte to up to 32
Terabytes as recording windows and content libraries grow. By adding VCP Edge clusters at
capacity levels suited to immediate needs, operators can continuously scale their networks to
support ever greater volumes of traffic without upgrading expensive core and distribution network
connections.
Conclusion
MVPDs have an opportunity to pursue aggressive service expansion on a platform that will serve as
the foundation to a highly automated, consolidated operations environment through all phases of
service evolution. Under the control of the Convoy Management Software, the Edgeware VCP is a
virtualized Video Consolidation Platform that employs highly accelerated Orbit appliances working
in tandem with commodity hardware to consolidate the MVPD pay TV infrastructure into a single,
unified delivery and recording network.
As the cornerstone for multi-service expansion, the sophisticated asset caching and propagation
system configures and coordinates Orbit appliances into VCP Edge clusters to continually maximize
efficient use of network transport and server resources while ensuring the most popular assets are
distributed to servers with the closest proximity to subscribers. VCP Core clusters, combining
commodity processing and storage hardware with Orbit appliances are coordinated with these
VCP-Edge clusters as well as third-party CDN infrastructure to maximizes efficiency across multiple
applications, including all time-shift applications related to trick play, start-over, catchup and nDVR
services.
As a fundamental requirement to network consolidation, Edgeware has developed a foundation for
analysis of network performance and quality assurance that allows operators to organize raw data
into usable components for real-time analysis by third-party or in-house systems.
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No matter what path MVPDs take to service evolution and network consolidation, they will be able
to ensure that the cost savings they achieve on the Edgeware platform will never come at the
expense of performance.
About Edgeware
Edgeware is the leader in video delivery networks, designed to allow operators to
monetize video services such as video on demand (VOD), time shift TV and Cloud DVR as
well as offering wholesale Content Delivery Networking (CDN) management services.
Edgeware provides the video delivery systems needed to offer video services across
managed and unmanaged networks, with the ability to reach any screen, at any time, with
any content.
Edgeware is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in the United States and
Hong Kong.
Contact Edgeware
Headquarters
Edgeware AB Mäster Samuelsgatan 56, 4th Floor SE-111 21 STOCKHOLM Sweden Phone: +46 73 612 6840 [email protected]
www.edgeware.tv
US Sales Offices
Edgeware, Inc. 200 E. 5th Ave., Ste. 125 Naperville, IL 60563 USA Phone: +1 888 324-1970 (Toll Free) [email protected]
www.edgeware.tv
Hong Kong Offices
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