csiblog | April 17, 2007
Video processing vendor RGB Networks is looking to penetrate the European market as service providers move towards on-demand services and personalisation. RGB is hoping to take advantage of this shift by establishing sales and support operations throughout Europe, having gained traction in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. RGB shipped its first product in 2005 and has since shipped over 1,200 units worldwide. The company has opened one such office in the UK and is in the process of earmarking partners across the region.
As service providers test new business models, one of the primary drivers behind these moves is the threat of falling advertising revenues, and operators are realising they need to migrate to a VOD model and deliver targeted video and ad insertion in order to maintain advertising revenues.
Cable companies are currently segmenting the network in terms of zones, usually based on postal codes, where adverts are sold particular to a particular area. In the US, 85% of ads are placed by broadcasters who then leave a 15% gap for cable companies to insert local adverts. They are making those zones continually smaller, eventually aiming to move down all the way to individual homes in an effort to make adverts highly relevant. Comcast, which is currently trialling geographic advertising in some US markets, believes it can double revenues from $1.5bn to $3bn through targeted advertising because localising the content will enable it to deal with a greater number of smaller advertisers.
This is where RGB's value proposition comes in - offering disruptive technology that can facilitate the transition to all-digital, including lowering the cost of ad insertion. RGB showed its Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) product at the Cable Congress, designed to enable cable operators to deliver targeted and personalised video services. The BNP, due for launch in Europe in Q1, is able to process as many as 500+ video streams in a single rack unit, providing for applications such as switched digital video, targeted ad insertion and digital simulcast. it can statistically multiplex 512SD progreammes or 128HD streams while performing concurrent grooming and digital ad insertion.
The BNP is one of four products, which also include the Simulcast Edge Processor (SEP), Modular Media Converter (MMC) and Universal Scalable Modular (USM). All are based on the company's proprietary Video Intelligence Architecture (VIA) platform, which is behind all RGB's applications and products. Scalability and flexibility are touted as the two key benefits of VIA. �You need to handle much higher densities of video streams if you're going after personalisation and targeted advertisement, and applying these to things such as on-demand environments,� said Ramin Farassat, VP of product marketing at RGB. VIA can address 30 times higher density than competitors by using FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), which are more processing capable compared to DSPs, according to Farassat.
What differentiates VIA from other video processing technologies is that a single processor is not dedicated to various streams, such as format conversion, bit rate shaping, digital programme insertion and so on. With those approaches, a specific processor or specific portion of the processor is dedicated to a stream because it's a low-risk design. The drawback to this architecture is there is always idle time. RGB has built its architecture so that it can process multiple streams simultaneously through the same processor. The result is that the processor is almost never idle. �No other device can handle the number of streams that operators will be dealing with in their migration to on-demand architecture,� said Farassat, who added that these advantages translate into lower service implementation costs.
The core hardware platform comes with Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and 10GigE if necessary. The core software functionality comes with built-in redundancy, graphical user interfaces (GUI) and native support for video over IP. Operators can add capacity on a per port basis for a chassis by securing additional licences from RGB.
One of the key applications that RGB is pushing is Switched Digital Video, whereby instead of broadcasting all streams to the home cable companies only send requested streams. The benefit here is that SDV enables operators to personalise services and profile end-users. It allows them to sell multiple tiers of programming, while consumers only pay for only the packages they are interested in. The other advantage of this approach is that it helps operators save valuable bandwidth.
VOD is always delivered in constant bit-rate format because operators want to be able to manage how many streams are being allocated to each QAM. RGB can take the video streams, apply video processing and convert them into variable bit rate, statistically multiplexing them, thereby saving upwards of 40% in bandwidth per QAM in the VOD environment, according to Farassat. RGB suggests operators can use these bandwidth savings to offer services such as HD on-demand.
As service providers test new business models, one of the primary drivers behind these moves is the threat of falling advertising revenues, and operators are realising they need to migrate to a VOD model and deliver targeted video and ad insertion in order to maintain advertising revenues.
Cable companies are currently segmenting the network in terms of zones, usually based on postal codes, where adverts are sold particular to a particular area. In the US, 85% of ads are placed by broadcasters who then leave a 15% gap for cable companies to insert local adverts. They are making those zones continually smaller, eventually aiming to move down all the way to individual homes in an effort to make adverts highly relevant. Comcast, which is currently trialling geographic advertising in some US markets, believes it can double revenues from $1.5bn to $3bn through targeted advertising because localising the content will enable it to deal with a greater number of smaller advertisers.
This is where RGB's value proposition comes in - offering disruptive technology that can facilitate the transition to all-digital, including lowering the cost of ad insertion. RGB showed its Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) product at the Cable Congress, designed to enable cable operators to deliver targeted and personalised video services. The BNP, due for launch in Europe in Q1, is able to process as many as 500+ video streams in a single rack unit, providing for applications such as switched digital video, targeted ad insertion and digital simulcast. it can statistically multiplex 512SD progreammes or 128HD streams while performing concurrent grooming and digital ad insertion.
The BNP is one of four products, which also include the Simulcast Edge Processor (SEP), Modular Media Converter (MMC) and Universal Scalable Modular (USM). All are based on the company's proprietary Video Intelligence Architecture (VIA) platform, which is behind all RGB's applications and products. Scalability and flexibility are touted as the two key benefits of VIA. �You need to handle much higher densities of video streams if you're going after personalisation and targeted advertisement, and applying these to things such as on-demand environments,� said Ramin Farassat, VP of product marketing at RGB. VIA can address 30 times higher density than competitors by using FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), which are more processing capable compared to DSPs, according to Farassat.
What differentiates VIA from other video processing technologies is that a single processor is not dedicated to various streams, such as format conversion, bit rate shaping, digital programme insertion and so on. With those approaches, a specific processor or specific portion of the processor is dedicated to a stream because it's a low-risk design. The drawback to this architecture is there is always idle time. RGB has built its architecture so that it can process multiple streams simultaneously through the same processor. The result is that the processor is almost never idle. �No other device can handle the number of streams that operators will be dealing with in their migration to on-demand architecture,� said Farassat, who added that these advantages translate into lower service implementation costs.
The core hardware platform comes with Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and 10GigE if necessary. The core software functionality comes with built-in redundancy, graphical user interfaces (GUI) and native support for video over IP. Operators can add capacity on a per port basis for a chassis by securing additional licences from RGB.
One of the key applications that RGB is pushing is Switched Digital Video, whereby instead of broadcasting all streams to the home cable companies only send requested streams. The benefit here is that SDV enables operators to personalise services and profile end-users. It allows them to sell multiple tiers of programming, while consumers only pay for only the packages they are interested in. The other advantage of this approach is that it helps operators save valuable bandwidth.
VOD is always delivered in constant bit-rate format because operators want to be able to manage how many streams are being allocated to each QAM. RGB can take the video streams, apply video processing and convert them into variable bit rate, statistically multiplexing them, thereby saving upwards of 40% in bandwidth per QAM in the VOD environment, according to Farassat. RGB suggests operators can use these bandwidth savings to offer services such as HD on-demand.