Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) January-February 2017 Volume 34, Issue 1 | Page 26

26 X-PLATFORM
January-February 2017

Understanding the difference between cloud-native and cloud-enabled

by glodina lostanlen
The terms ‘ cloud-native ’ and ‘ cloud-enabled ’ are often used interchangeably to describe an application that is accessible from a virtual setting and is not codependent on a specific type of underlying hardware . However , they are two radically different propositions .
A cloud-enabled application is one that was originally designed to run on purpose-built hardware located in the company ’ s central faci lities but that has been retrofitted to be accessible from a public or private cloud environment . Although cloud-enabled applications are accessible from the cloud , they lack the ability to tap into tradi tional cloud characteristics , such as elastic scaling , geo-dispersion and advanced automation .
A cloud-native application , on the other hand , is developed with the cloud in mind from the start and built to take full advantage of the inherent cloud principles mentioned above . Cloud-native applications are also described as ‘ cloud-centric ’.
This may sound like a semantic detail , but as software-defined networking ( SDN ) and the cloud gather momentum year upon year across the industry , it is important for broadcasters to understand what exactly is on the table .
According to the 2016 Imagine
Communications Focus Forward 2016 Technology Trends report , media companies operating in Africa are among the most aggressive adopters of cloud technologies . Broadcasters in that region estimate they will move more than 50 % of their operations to private or public cloud within the next five years .
According to the same report , media companies doing business in the Middle East and Australasia expect to move about 25 % of their operations into the cloud over the same timeframe .
Overall , 52 % of broadcasters believe that encoding and transcoding will be the first operations from the broadcast workflow to transition towards a cloud environment , followed by advertising , playout , editing and production — with master control and signal routing lagging behind .
These numbers give an idea of how high the stakes are as the industry embraces cloud . Many technology suppliers , however , are still incorrectly promoting the relocation of premises-based applications to virtualised settings as a
‘ cloud-native ’ solution — by simply dressing them up in what amounts to an IP wrapper .
These cloud-enabling efforts play a vital role in the migration of the media production , playout and distribution process towards realising the benefits of IP — a crucial stepping stone in the modernisation of broadcast operations — they fall short of the end-goal .
To exploit the full performance , scale , reliability and efficiency benefits of the cloud , an application must be designed and built from the ground up with a virtualised
environment in mind .
The power and efficiency of the cloud come from specialised and built-in orchestration and automation , which enable cloudnative applications to seamlessly harness the power of a distributed and geo-diverse environment . This allows broadcasters to scale resources up and down as required and delivers reliability , easy set-up and maintenance , as well as opening the door to countless business continuity scenarios .
By contrast , cloud-enabled applications are designed for static environments . Having been merely ‘ enabled ’ for the cloud , they are firmly on the way to delivering the performance-enhancing and costefficient capabilities of the cloud , but in reality , they lack the ability to truly deliver them .
Because technology vendors are conflating the two terms in their eagerness to jump on the cloud bandwagon , media professionals in search of a cloud-native infrastructure are facing a much more difficult task than they might realise .
Glodina Lostanlen is CMO at Imagine Communications . Media professionals , she added , can ask three foolproof questions in a bid to correctly distinguish the ‘ cloud-enabled ’ from the ‘ cloud-native ’ application . To find out what these are , be sure to pick up your copy of the APB March 2017 issue .

Efficiency and speed : Cloud-native solutions are revolutionising OTT video production and delivery

by yaniv ben-soussan
Today , there is growing consumer demand for over-the-top ( OTT ) services . According to Digital TV Research , OTT TV and video revenues for 17 countries in Asia- Pacific will reach US $ 18.396 million in 2021 ; up from $ 707 million in 2010 and $ 5.741 million in 2015 . OTT services represent a great opportunity for pay-TV operators , in terms of broadening their offerings and increasing revenue .
However , there are significant challenges involved with OTT video production and delivery . In particular , infrastructure based on hardware appliances is costly to deploy and maintain , and can be exceedingly complex , making it difficult for operators to launch a service with the speed that is required in the OTT world .
With the recent emergence of cloud-native solutions , operators can resolve this issue . This article will explain the advantages that cloud-native solutions offer over virtualised appliances , enabling operators to launch revenuegenerating , broadcast-quality OTT services quicker than ever .
Benefits of cloud-native over virtualised appliances
Over the past few years , pay-TV operators started transitioning to a software-based infrastructure for video processing of OTT multi-screen services . While the shift began with virtualised appliances , operators have realised that they need a more agile , flexible , scalable and elastic distribution environment .
Many media processors today claim to be cloud-based , but they
are actually repackaged versions of vendors ’ existing software appliances running within a virtualised environment .
A true cloud-based workflow for video production and delivery is needed in order to fully capitalise on the benefits of using off-theshelf hardware in the cloud .
The key benefit of cloud-native solutions compared with virtualised appliances is efficiency and speed . With a cloud-native solution , OTT services can be launched in a matter of minutes , instead of months . Moreover , there is practically no workflow difference between broadcast and OTT .
In essence , cloud-native solutions allow operators to merge their separate broadcast and OTT silos into a holistic workflow , simplifying the video processing and delivery process . Operators can
use a single graphical user interface ( GUI ) throughout the entire content contribution , processing and delivery process , from ingest to playout , graphics , transcoding , encryption and delivery .
Cost is another advantage of cloud-native solutions . Without knowing how quickly or how much they will profit from a new service , operators are looking for video infrastructure solutions with little to no upfront Capex . A cloud-native solution that offers an Opex- , usage-based business model will allow operators to pay for only what they need .
It is important that operators choose a cloud-native solution that offers advanced capabilities such as time-shift TV , video-on-demand ( VoD ) and cloud DVR to generate instant revenue .
Finally , cloud-native solutions
offer infinite scalability compared with virtualised appliances , enabling operators to add and remove cloud services , as needed , and improve the user experience .
Conclusion
In 2017 and beyond , cloud-native solutions will be game-changers for pay-TV operators , helping them deliver live , time-shift and VoD content for broadcast and OTT channels with greater speed , agility and flexibility . By adopting a cloud-native infrastructure , opera tors can bring OTT offerings to market faster and reduce Capex .
The result : more satisfied customers and additional revenue opportunities .
Yaniv Ben-Soussan is Vice-President , Product Management , Cloud and SaaS at Harmonic .