NAB 2016: Harmonic Takes VOS to the Cloud
Harmonic (SU1210) has launched two new VOS offerings powered by the cloud. An extension of Harmonic’s VOS software-based media processing platform, VOS Cloud is a media processing platform that enables content and service providers to manage the video production and delivery workflow for broadcast and OTT applications via standard IT hardware, over public or private cloud infrastructure.
The second VOS offering, Harmonic’s VOS 360 professional cloud media processing service, provides operators with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that is hosted in the public cloud and maintained and monitored by Harmonic, enabling customers to launch revenue-generating, broadcast-quality OTT services in a matter of minutes instead of months.
“Senior executives at numerous media companies have repeatedly told us they want cloud-native solutions – period,” says Joe Zaller, president and founder of Devoncroft Partners. “For technology companies this means not simply repackaging the software they already have, but re-implementing their technologies into microservices architectures that enable hyper scale and service agility. Beyond technology, a fresh approach to commercial models for licensing, service and support is also required to fully unlock what media companies really mean when they talk about cloud”
The VOS Cloud platform, which is currently in trials in various OpenStack and public cloud environments with leading service providers around the globe, provides operators with ultimate simplicity, efficiency and agility. Configuration, deployment and management is easy through VOS Cloud’s automated video formation technology, which uses standard IT deployment templates to simplify set-up and unlock powerful media processing and delivery workflows. By transforming traditional video preparation and delivery architectures into a hybrid cloud operation, VOS Cloud accelerates time to market for new broadcast and OTT services.
As one of the first professional grade, native cloud-based media processing services in the industry, VOS 360 is maintained and operated by Harmonic 24 hours a day, ensuring superior quality of experience and service availability at all times. Built upon leading public cloud infrastructure platforms, the VOS 360 service makes it easy to prepare and deliver content from anywhere in the world, with total geographic redundancy and operational resiliency.
“With the VOS Cloud media processing platform, operators have the flexibility to deploy on public or private cloud infrastructure. Building on this innovation, VOS 360 is a hosted service that retains the exceptional video quality, reliability and 24/7 support that Harmonic is known for,” said Patrick Harshman, president and CEO of Harmonic. “Staying true to our open architecture solutions strategy, Harmonic allows our ecosystem partners to seamlessly integrate with VOS 360 to deliver a true end-to-end, OTT, SaaS platform in an elastic public cloud environment.”
Through capabilities such as time-shift TV, VOD and cloud DVR, both VOS cloud offerings enable service providers to generate instant revenue, without the traditional CAPEX involved with building, maintaining and operating a new headend or data center. Pay-as-you-go pricing for both offerings allows service providers to realize ROI in the shortest time possible.
Encoding and transcoding functionality on the new VOS cloud offerings is powered by the Harmonic PURE Compression Engine, which provides support for a wide range of formats, codecs and encoding schemes to enable broadcast-quality video at low bitrates. MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC codecs are offered, as are SD, HD and UHD content formats for broadcast, cable, satellite and IPTV delivery — including constant, variable and adaptive bitrate streaming.
Harmonic is offering a free 30-day trial of the VOS 360 service to all customers. For more information on VOS 360 visit www.vos360.tv. At the 2016 NAB Show, Harmonic will provide a live demonstration of VOS Cloud platform and the VOS 360 service in booth SU1210.