Consulting for IP Systems

Broadcasters that invite systems integrators to pitch for the modern IP-ready broadcast production environment need to be confident in the tenderer's ability to provide consultancy services, especially relating to both baseband and IP signals for real time content.

Evidence is usually expected of specific experience on systems that manage real-time video, audio and data as baseband signals (e.g. SDI, AES-3) and as IP signals (e.g. SMPTE2022-6 and SMPTE2110).

This is a challenge that dB Broadcast has faced more than once, and their response is clear. dB believes it is uniquely positioned to provide a balanced view on different network architecture approaches, as well as control system solutions. The company started work on the first truly open standards, open architecture IP broadcast facility in the UK in 2015. Since then, they have been at the forefront of the transition to IP, leading industry dialogue and contributing extensively to vendor roadmaps.

Notable IP programmes where dB has been responsible for architecture and delivery include a London news production facility for Bloomberg that went live in 2017. This was the first IP broadcast facility to be delivered. At this time, standards were still changing: ST 2059, ST 2110 and NMOS didn’t exist when work started, and endpoint interoperability and quality was poor.
Extensive trials were run in London, as well as full scale network trials in the USA with equipment vendors. This work exposed issues with both the network manufacturer’s products and the media industry equipment products - everyone involved learned a huge amount. As the system was so new, to avoid risks associated with IP, the architecture retained some nominal parallel SDI infrastructure. The facility went live one week early in November 2017, and the IP core has worked flawlessly since.

Around the time that the Bloomberg project was ending, dB Broadcast started work on a state-of-the-art broadcast centre for BBC Cymru Wales . This build, due to complete in 2019, is based on a Cisco leaf/spine architecture, running GV Convergent as the routing control layer. The facility is based on standards which include: ST 2110, ST 2059, AES67, IS-04, IS-05, Dante and LiveWire+.

Through 2018 and into 2019, dB Broadcast has hosted an extensive integration and test system at their labs in Cambridgeshire. This extremely low level work has revealed various product issues that are being systematically resolved; integration work is ongoing.
Looking forward, dB is planning for media data centres based on 400Gb leaf/spine and generic composable infrastructure.