NTT BizLink, Inc. has launched unicast-copy based 4K video delivery solution, which is enabled by the “Flow Copy-Cast (FCC)” system using “Lagopus,” the software defined networking (SDN) software switch/router that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation has developed.
Launched on October 1, the solution provides a low-latency, multi-site content delivery service of 4K live videos and is available for short and long term uses. It will be showcased at the International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition (InterBEE) 2018 exhibition held on November 14 – 16 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba Prefecture.
To expand uses of the SDN technology in network services for enterprises, NTT BizLink and NTT will initiate a joint research experiment aiming at enhancing applicability of SDN and software-based fast packet processing techniques employed in Lagopus and other software packet processing techniques to commercial network services.
As video streaming services are gaining more and more popularity, the demand for distance learning, live streaming of events, and other kinds of video deliveries for enterprise uses is also increasing.
Even high-presence experiences via 4K and other types of high-resolution videos have become familiar as content delivery services accommodated to such videos begin to penetrate into commercial uses. However, it is not always easy to realize a 4K video delivery to multiple sites due to cost and time needed for the provisioning.
NTT BizLink has been providing video delivery solutions to address enterprise customers’ needs at various places and events, such as general meetings of shareholders, company executive’s talks, seminars by manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, and academic conferences of medicine.
To support even wider uses, the company starts to provide a brand-new, “4K Unicast-Copy Video Delivery Solution” service that realizes low-latency, multi-site, live deliveries of 4K video content and is available for short and long term uses.
The 4K Unicast-Copy Video Delivery Solution consists of the “Flow Copy-Cast (FCC)” system running on the SDN software switch/router Lagopus; IP-based closed networks that are safer and more secure than the Internet; and the content delivery cloud system that can support different use cases efficiently.
Lagopus is a high-performance software switch/router equipped with the SDN and additional functionalities that are needed for both data center and wide-area network usages. Since open-sourcing it in July 2014, NTT has done a number of tests for various use cases and contributed the results to the Lagopus open source software (OSS) community while continuing the development to improve its quality.
NTT BizLink continues to enhance video delivery solutions. To address wide variety of customer needs, the company will develop solutions using MPEG-DASH, which enables stable video delivery to different kinds of devices, new error correction techniques, and high-presence virtual reality videos, among others.
NTT continues research and development of SDN technologies while cooperating with the Lagopus OSS community in such a way as contributing the newest expertise obtained from the experiment.
