Broadcast Beat Magazine 2018 NAB Show Edition | Page 87

it’s really hard to persuade the graphics/cre- ative team to start using something different. An alternative solution that is working for us is to bring companies inside our platform, rather than using 2110 to go out on an IP spigot through a box and back in again —which would also drive costs up enormously because of the capacity of the IP infrastructure and switches required. Why not “plug in” your software application of choice into our platform? Let’s share CPU and share memory. After all , how will we ever truly virtual- ize everything if we can’t implement tools in this way? Pebble have partnerships with Pixel Power and Ross to allow their graphics render engines to run directly on our platform. So, our Marina, Dolphin, and Orca products become enablers for 3rd party specialist plugins. We think that’s a good way forward and think that perhaps SMPTE themselves should take a look at standardizing a plug-in architecture rather than promoting a con- nection via wires. In our opinion it makes no sense to think about designing complex playout chains comprised of discrete boxes all connected by 2110 IP connections. We don’t think the industry can afford to do that anymore. After all, the audio world has been doing this for years. Specialty audio plug-ins number in the thousands, and everyone has plug-in versions of what used to be hardware boxes. Summary Most station managers and broadcast facility CTOs I’ve spoken with recently are wondering pri- marily about how they can get from where they are today, with their current infrastructure, to the brave new world of IP, virtualization and possibly cloud, in a managed way. There are plenty of vendors out there offering brand-new platforms, ready to go. But that requires broadcasters to forget everything they have today. I believe the best strategy is to focus on evolution rather than revolution. As you consider IP, virtualization, and the cloud, remember that there’s no need to take a leap of faith and cut over to a brand-new world before you’re ready. There are ways to carefully manage your evolution, with little to zero impact to staff and existing workflows. You can position your organization for all the benefits an IP and virtual- ized future can provide at a pace that works for you. Don’t jump, take the stairs. Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com • 87