2018 FIFA World Cup: Synterra Media Selects Nevion for 4K UHD Video Distribution

Nevion has announced that Synterra Media, the Russian provider of telecom services for TV production, broadcasting, and entertainment media businesses, has selected a Nevion solution as part of its live broadcast and contribution set-up for the FIFA World Cup tournament.

Grigory Uryev, Deputy General Director, Synterra Media,

Nevion’s equipment and software is being used to deliver all broadcast signals from the 2018 World Cup International Broadcast Center (IBC) to the Russian rights holders, as well as a number of media and broadcast organizations from other countries.

Specifically, Synterra has deployed Nevion’s Virtuoso Software-Defined Media Node platform and TGV450 JPEG 2000 Gateway for its HD JPEG2000 (J2K) contribution. Virtuoso is also being used for its 4K Ultra HD J2K contribution. The transport protection for all signals is ensured through the ST 2022-7 based Seamless IP Protection Switching (SIPS) which allows dual path transport.

The signals are transported over optical networks, with Nevion’s Flashlink providing the CWDM filters and 10G Ethernet repeaters. IP is used to transport the signals over that optical network, with Nevion’s 10G eMerge switches running the OpenFlow protocol being deployed to route signals.

The whole system is managed using Nevion’s VideoIPath orchestration and SDN control software platform. VideoIPath provides not only SDN (software-defined networking) orchestration for the network and the video services running on the Nevion equipment, but also handles external streams coming from Synterra’s customers. In addition, VideoIPath is used to handle the data services for the customer’s non-media traffic, on the same network, without disrupting the crucial live contribution feeds.

The solution was installed with the help of Nevion professional services, who are also providing the support.

Hans Hasselbach, Chief Commercial Officer, Nevion, says: “We’re excited to be playing such an important role in broadcasting the biggest global sporting event of the year. With billions of people set to tune in over the course of the tournament, it’s great to see that Synterra has chosen a range of our products to help beam each game into Russian viewers’ living rooms.”

Grigory Uryev, Deputy General Director, Synterra Media, says: “As the main contractor for delivering all the signals from the IBC in Moscow to the relevant Russian rights holders and other foreign broadcasters, we needed to work with a provider that could deliver reliability and resilience through its products, and Nevion has done exactly that. With the set-up in place, we’re looking forward to what is sure to be an extremely successful FIFA World Cup.”