Cisco at NAB 2024: Cloud-Native Media Production

Several years back, I had an insightful conversation with Josh Stinehour, Principal Analyst at Devoncroft Partners, about the state of innovation within the media sector. We discussed the notion that the era of traditional virtualization might be nearing its end, and that the industry stood on the cusp of a transformative leap forward.

It was during this conversation that I introduced the concept of “containerization” as this forthcoming innovation, specifically tailored for real-time media applications. While the principles of containers and microservices have been established for some time, the unique challenges and requirements of media protocols meant that they had yet to fully harness these technologies. This was primarily due to existing technological limitations.

Well, I am pleased to say, in a groundbreaking joint demonstration, Cisco, Intel, and Ross Video are coming together to showcase the future of media production: a cloud-native, virtualized environment running micro-services in containers. This innovative collaboration promises to revolutionize the way media content is created, managed, and delivered, leveraging cutting-edge technology and industry expertise.

Cloud-Native Virtualized Media Production

At the heart of this demonstration is the adoption of cloud-native principles, which enable greater flexibility, scalability, and efficiency in media production workflows. By virtualizing key components of the production environment and leveraging micro-services and containers, content creators can seamlessly scale resources up or down based on demand, while ensuring optimal performance and reliability. Cisco has been at the forefront of defining the architecture for real time applications in containers with Media Streaming Mesh.

Powered by Cisco UCS Hardware and Intel Technology

The infrastructure powering this demonstration is built on Cisco UCS hardware, a robust and reliable platform known for its performance and scalability. Leveraging the power of I Intel® Xeon Scalable processors, Intel® Datacenter Flex GPUs, and networking solutions, this hardware ecosystem provides the foundation for high-performance media processing, encoding, and streaming tasks. The Intel Flex GPU is a data center accelerator that is tailored for media streaming density and quality, providing scale and reliability to any broadcast workflows.

Intel Media Transport Library and Media Communications Mesh

Integral to this demonstration is the utilization of Intel’s cutting-edge media technologies, including the Intel® Media Transport Library (MTL) and Media Communications Mesh (MCM). These powerful libraries and frameworks enable efficient and seamless transmission of media content across distributed environments, ensuring low latency, high quality, and secure delivery. This solution is highly optimized for Intel Xeon processors and Flex GPU taking advantage of the improved performance, reduced latency as well as built-in hardware acceleration of streaming media.

Orchestration with Ross Video Catena

Driving the orchestration and management of the cloud-native media production environment is Ross Video’s Catena platform. Catena provides comprehensive orchestration capabilities, allowing content creators to automate workflows, manage resources, and monitor performance in real-time. With Catena at the helm, media production teams can streamline operations and maximize productivity.

Unlocking the Potential of Cloud-Native Media Production

Through this joint demonstration, Cisco, Intel, and Ross Video are showcasing the transformative potential of cloud-native, virtualized media production. By embracing cloud-native principles, leveraging cutting-edge technology from Intel, and harnessing the orchestration capabilities of Ross Video’s Catena platform, content creators can unlock new levels of agility, scalability, and efficiency in media production workflows. As the industry continues to evolve, this collaborative effort represents a bold step forward in shaping the future of media content creation and delivery.

If you find this information useful, and will be at NAB Show in Las Vegas April 14-17, then I’d love to invite you to see these technologies on display in person at the Cisco Booth in the West Hall, #W2743. Come say, “Hi!”

To learn more, check out the session “Intel AI Platforms and Processors Revolutionize Sports Broadcasting at the Olympic Games and Beyond” at the NAB Show Mainstage on Tuesday, April 16, at 1:00 p.m. at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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