NAB 2011: Level 3 Expands Service Offerings

At the NAB Show next month, Level 3 Communications will highlight three new services: Internet Broadcast Elements, VenueNet Lite, and expanded codec support and signal-conversion services.

Internet Broadcast Elements is Level 3’s suite of services that provide solutions to converge broadcast video and online video. According to Level 3, no other company natively provides a more comprehensive suite of services to deliver content online and manage it from contribution to consumption. Internet Broadcast Elements is a highly scalable, redundant, and cost-effective ecosystem developed specifically to enable a series of end-to-end solutions for content acquisition to distribution over the Internet.

The individual workflow components of Internet Broadcast Elements can be combined to accomplish complex tasks from broadcast acquisition to online and mobile delivery. The functions leverage Level 3’s experience and success on the following platforms: Vyvx Broadcast Services, Origin Storage Platform, Broadcast Encoding Center, Teleport, and CDN services.

Internet Broadcast Elements enables multiple delivery options for content. Among them are live distribution, including occasional use (live events); dedicated (24/7) live streaming; on-demand content distribution, including streaming; and progressive download and local playback.

The Level Vyvx VenueNet Lite is designed for a university or convention-center venue and incorporates a comprehensive suite of broadcast-transmission tools to create a complete and integrated solution. It provides all the functionality, reliability, and monitoring capabilities that broadcasters expect, with a smaller footprint. VenueNet Lite was designed with flexibility in mind with many access options, including OC12, 1.5 or 270 loops, dark fiber, and Ethernet access. Supported services include uncompressed HD-SDI or SD-SDI encoding and ASI handoffs, as well as video-backhaul transport connectivity in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and the rest of the world.

Level 3 is also introducing expanded codec support and signal-conversion services, which will enable a complete and fully supported set of standard services. MVNS codec, low-cost, entry-level MVNS codec, network JPEG services, signal-conversion enhancements, and full transcode capabilities are among the enhancements that Level 3 will focus on this year.