These days, viewers have access to hundreds of channels, and a super abundance of streaming services. With so much choice, competition for eyeballs is greater than ever, and keeping channels on-air, no matter what’s happening behind the scenes, is mission critical. An outage could be the result of anything from equipment or infrastructure failure, to human error, cyber-attack or even natural disaster; and in the event that a channel does go off air, the consequences for the broadcaster are dire. Viewers get frustrated and disappointed, viewership and brand reputation suffer a blow, and ad-revenue is lost.
Broadcasters therefore need a robust disaster recovery system in place to ensure that, no matter what the problem, channels can continue uninterrupted, so that viewership is maintained, and ad-revenue generation continues unabated.
Having a backup playout system in place ready to kick in when needed is standard practice for broadcasters. With traditional broadcast workflows, it’s usual to have a disaster recovery (DR) system operating at a different location to the primary playout systems. That way, an issue affecting the primary system is unlikely to affect the back-up system. However, investing and maintaining a standby hardware-playout system that is always up and running and ready to go is a big expense. This ‘always on’ approach is obviously extremely costly and not particularly cost effective. Additionally, when using an on-prem deployment, broadcasters also incur costs relating to the physical site and associated infrastructure, as well maintenance and upgrade costs.
Playout disaster recovery is considered a necessary component of any broadcast operation because channels simply must stay on air to keep the revenue flowing. However, as highlighted above, traditional disaster recovery requires significant investment, which is why many broadcasters are instead choosing to use cloud playout solutions for disaster recovery.
There are several advantages to using a cloud playout solution over a traditional on-prem system for disaster recovery. Firstly, it’s highly cost effective for several reasons. Using a cloud playout solution eliminates the need for expensive hardware and associated infrastructure, and the on-demand nature of cloud services means that the back-up system is not incurring costs when not in use.
Secondly, cloud solutions, by their very nature, are highly scalable and flexible. This makes it easier for broadcasters to scale playout systems to meet their needs, regardless of the number of channels or complexity of their operation. And unlike hardware-based infrastructure, cloud-based solutions are also quick to set up and deploy.
Thirdly, it offers security and reliability, enabling broadcasters to establish a DR infrastructure in diverse geographic locations, providing an additional layer of security.
Nimbus is the intuitive, all-in-one, cloud-based playout SaaS designed to streamline professional linear channel operations with high levels of operational complexity. The playout solution takes full advantage of the cloud, allowing broadcasters to manage multiple linear channels flexibly, while future-proofing operations.
As a cloud-native solution built on AWS global cloud infrastructure, Nimbus provides high availability and redundancy, which makes it ideal for use both as the primary playout system and as a DR playout system. When using Veset Nimbus for redundancy, broadcasters can quickly switch to backup infrastructure when required, so that content and ads keep flowing, even when the primary systems fail.
Several of our clients have already successfully integrated Nimbus into their disaster recovery strategies and are already realising the benefits. Whether you’re a broadcaster operating multiple channels from hardware infrastructure and looking to replace your DR system with a more cost-effective alternative, or you’re concerned that your playout hardware is outdated and liable to fail but not yet ready to replace it, by leveraging Veset Nimbus for redundancy and disaster recovery, you can rest assured that your channels will stay on air, no matter what.
To find out more about how Veset’s all-in-one cloud playout platform, Nimbus, can help you to cost effectively keep your channels on-air in the face of adversity, get in touch.
