DataMiner selected by TPC Switzerland AG for all-IP UHD OB truck

April 2018

Skyline Communications, announce that TPC Switzerland AG, Switzerland’s leading broadcast service provider, has selected DataMiner for its new UHD all-IP OB truck for a strategic deployment to monitor the truck’s infrastructure, network and video and audio streams.

The new truck will be the first to support uncompressed UHD signals over IP in conformance with SMPTE ST 2110, the new industry standard for the transmission of video, audio and metadata signals over IP. With this new technology come a lot of challenges compared to traditional SDI infrastructures. Data rates of approximately 12 GB/s for each UHD signal require advanced capacity planning to avoid packet loss in the IP network. Moreover, the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) switches combined with one or more SDN and broadcast controllers for fast media switching makes traditional broadcast and common IT workflows fall apart.

Skyline Communications’ end-to-end DataMiner platform overcomes the challenges that come with the move from SDI to IP. Of course, it all starts with providing full monitoring and control across the entire environment, including the broadcast-IP devices like IP multi-viewers and monitors, UHD and audio processing devices, the IP network infrastructure, storage nodes, etc. DataMiner is unique in the fact that the platform is guaranteed to integrate with any device from any vendor, supporting all possible communications protocols. This capability is fundamental to any broadcast system, which is typically built with equipment and software from many different vendors.

On top of that, DataMiner includes a new, highly scalable flow collection engine to view and analyze the vast amount of SMPTE uncompressed video, audio and metadata flows and all of their IP counters. Rather than just looking at IP addresses, DataMiner extracts label information from the broadcast controller, cross point status info from the SDN orchestrator and flow details from IP edge devices to provide unprecedented visibility on each and every service and its video/audio/data representation. The DataMiner sFlow collectors also extract flow topologies in real time by aggregating data from sources, end points and all-IP switches directly.

“Skyline Communications is very honored to partner with TPC to manage its ambitious and forward-looking new OB van. The need for a multi-vendor end-to-end monitoring solution has never been more important, considering the many challenges that come with Media-over-IP workflows. With a simple click, operators can select a label and instantly view the full topology from source to destination, the flow statistics and counters of all SMPTE 2110 flows,” commented Thomas Gunkel, Broadcast Market Director at Skyline Communications. “In case of an issue with any of those uncompressed streams, built-in automated workflows help to analyze or even record the stream and find the problem’s root cause faster than ever before.”

“The DataMiner platform proactively detects issues and warns the operator in the event of a service degradation or outages. Not only does the system keep an eye on the main feeds, the redundant feeds are also constantly monitored. DataMiner does all that is needed to keep the service on air,” said Ben Vandenberghe, CEO at Skyline Communications. “Today’s broadcast technology is evolving very fast. With DataMiner, our customers can rest assured that their systems can continue to evolve by integrating new devices, new software appliances, new virtualized environments and micro services, and this without losing visibility or control. Skyline Communications is a member of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) and continuously innovates together with its technology partners and end customers.”