Anywhere2anyone: The transformative power of IP broadcasting in media and technology

By Joe Tan

The media landscape is in constant flux, driven by technological advancements that reshape how content is created, distributed, and consumed. Among these transformative forces, IP broadcasting stands out as a pivotal shift, impacting the industry on a global scale. This shift away from traditional SDI infrastructure towards IP-based solutions is driving innovation, streamlining international content distribution, and unlocking new opportunities for collaboration and audience engagement. 

For decades, SDI has been the backbone of broadcast infrastructure. However, its limitations in terms of flexibility, scalability, and cost effectiveness are becoming increasingly apparent in today’s dynamic media environment. IP broadcasting now offers a compelling alternative, leveraging the ubiquitous nature of internet protocol to transport media signals with unprecedented agility and efficiency. 

“We are part of a transformative time for traditional live media broadcast, an evolving landscape that puts enormous pressure on our traditional broadcast value chain from content distribution through to consumer distribution,” Jonathan Smith, Solution Area Expert Cloud at Net Insight, told APB+.

“A landscape where more content needs to be produced at the front end to create monetisation and engagement potential, and where a cross product of platforms and demographics need to be fed to realise the market potential — lots in and lots out.” 

One of the most significant advantages of IP broadcasting is its inherent flexibility. Unlike SDI’s rigid matrix structure, IP networks allow for dynamic reconfiguration and routing of signals, enabling broadcasters to quickly adapt to changing production needs. This is particularly beneficial for remote production, where events can be covered from anywhere in the world with minimal on-site infrastructure. 

“IP then becomes the unifying protocol when agility is needed,” explained Smith. “It can work in high-bandwidth, locally produced applications just as well as it can in high-quality centralised and remote production environments, and it can as easily pick up the production or serve as the transport protocol all the way to consumer distribution.

“It becomes a single approach to transport that can be flexible no matter what the workload is being carried, it can be supported on local connectivity or across generic internet segments.

“In this respect, it is the core enabler of an anywhere to anyone approach to broadcast; clearly, that cannot be ignored when looking at monetisation of your content.” 

Net Insight, a provider of IP media transport solutions, has been at the forefront of this transformation. Its Nimbra platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools for managing and transporting media over IP networks, supporting a wide range of formats and protocols, including SMPTE ST 2110, the standard for professional media over managed IP networks. 

The benefits of IP broadcasting are demonstrated in a case study involving Shanghai Media Group (SMG). Facing the challenge of upgrading its media network to support increasing bandwidth demands and future growth, SMG chose Net Insight’s Nimbra solution.

This upgrade, involving a move to 100 GbE, ST 2110, and JPEG-XS, increased the reliability and utilisation of SMG’s fibre resources. 

“SMG selected Net Insight’s solution after careful consideration,” said Rocky Yang, Deputy Director of Engineering at the SMG Technology Centre. “As a professional manufacturer of media transmission equipment, Net Insight has a highly regarded reputation in China, and we hope to expand our cooperation with Net Insight for cloud-based transmission applications.” 

The SMG case highlighted another key advantage of IP broadcasting: its scalability. IP networks can easily accommodate increasing bandwidth demands and new formats like 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) and 8K, ensuring that broadcasters are future-proofed for the next generation of media experiences. 

However, the transition to IP broadcasting is not without its challenges. Network resilience, media awareness, and operational simplicity are crucial considerations.

Smith reiterated, “It is not without challenges, network resilience, media awareness and operational simplicity are not a by-default feature of IP networks. That is where we at Net Insight bring value to our customers, making sure the adoption of IP across our product line is easily operated, resilient and flexible to meet event by event needs.

“This maximises our customers’ margins in the highly pressured and very dynamic broadcast industry of today.” 

Other industry players, like Cisco and Imagine Communications, are also contributing to the IP revolution. Their integrated solutions, combining Cisco’s IP Fabric for Media with Imagine’s Magellan Control System, provide broadcasters with a robust and interoperable platform for managing IP-based workflows. This collaboration ensures integration and efficient bandwidth management, crucial for handling high-bandwidth content. 

The integration between Imagine’s Magellan Control System and Cisco’s Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) further enhances operational efficiency, providing a single point of management for IP Fabric for Media deployments.

This integration streamlines automation, monitoring, and visibility, simplifying the complexities of managing large-scale IP networks. 

The transition to IP broadcasting is more than just a technological upgrade; it represents a fundamental shift in how media is produced and distributed. By embracing IP technology, broadcasters can unlock new levels of flexibility, scalability, and efficiency, enabling them to create more engaging content and reach wider audiences. As the media landscape continues to evolve, IP broadcasting will undoubtedly play a central role in shaping its future.