Making the move: Arkona on the shift from traditional hardware setups to software-defined environments
By Erling Hedkvist, sales & business development at Arkona Technologies.
The transformation of the sports broadcasting industry from legacy infrastructures to IP based continued unabated in 2024. At the centre of this transformation lies the industry’s growing reliance on software-defined processing, virtualised environments and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies, signaling a shift from traditional hardware-heavy setups to highly flexible, software-centric systems.
The Paris 2024 Olympics were a notable high point in this shift. Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), in partnership with NEP Group and Intel, deployed a fully virtualised production solution, demonstrating the potential of COTS systems in tier one broadcast. Instead of relying on the traditional lineup of broadcast trucks or flypacks, OBS chose to operate from a cabin full of COTS servers. These servers powered three production galleries at the Champ-de-Mars compound, all while maintaining the quality and precision audiences have come to expect from Olympic coverage.
This move is a significant departure from past broadcast infrastructure, which often involved fleets of specialised trucks configured for specific productions. As explained by OBS CTO Sotiris Salamouris, the Olympics’ scale – with 70 production galleries required – made sourcing enough trucks an impractical option. Instead, the new approach embraced virtualisation, reducing the physical footprint while maintaining, or even improving, flexibility and control. The change illustrates not only the industry’s capacity for innovation but also the drive towards more scalable, efficient, and environmentally sustainable solutions.
Advantages of virtualisation
The use of COTS servers with GPU and FPGA accelerator cards enables traditional production tasks, such as vision mixing, audio processing, and production galleries, to be conducted virtually. This type of deployment has significant advantages for large-scale events, where the density and adaptability of systems are crucial.
A major advantage of virtualisation is the ability to scale efficiently. As Dan Murphy, VP of product management at NEP, highlighted, scalability is a key strength of this new approach. When using traditional hardware setups, the limits are physical: adding more replay channels, camera inputs, or microphones means adding more hardware. In a software-defined environment, however, the boundaries are much more flexible. More production capabilities can be deployed with relative ease, expanding as the event’s needs grow, with plenty of ports available to scale the network further.
Another critical advantage is operational efficiency. Traditional broadcast trucks require considerable time and effort for setup, configuration, and operation, with much of this work needing to be done on-site. By contrast, in a software-defined setting, many of these tasks can be completed remotely, saving valuable time and reducing the logistical burden. Murphy shared an example from Paris, where a technician in Australia could remotely make configuration changes, push updates, and troubleshoot – a capability that would have been impossible with traditional hardware.
These efficiencies don’t just benefit the broadcasters but also contribute to sustainability goals. Less hardware means less energy consumption, less need for cooling, and fewer transport requirements – all crucial aspects when striving for a lower carbon footprint in large-scale event production. Software defined and virtualised hardware also has a smaller on-site footprint, with OBS’s virtual OB van for Paris taking up about 25% of the space a traditional setup would require.
An IP-based future
While virtualisation and software are at the centre of this transformation, the path to a fully IP-based future will still require significant SDI to ST 2110 conversion and processing. Many existing infrastructures still rely heavily on SDI signals, and a complete overhaul to IP is not an overnight change. This is where gateway products come into play, providing the necessary SDI to ST 2110 conversion and processing capabilities. These act as a critical bridge, ensuring that both SDI and IP technologies can coexist seamlessly. This hybrid approach allows broadcasters to continue leveraging their existing investments while steadily migrating to a full IP-based environment, ultimately offering the best of both worlds as the industry transitions.
Standardisation will also have a profound impact on truck and flypack design. NEP envisions a future where broadcast trucks are no longer built for their biggest job but are instead equipped for a more modular and scalable approach. This means trucks designed to handle a base level of production, with orchestration software enabling them to spin up specific capabilities based on the show’s requirements. The result would be a more efficient and adaptable broadcast model, one that better matches resources with production needs.
The changes in 2024 have laid the foundation for a sports broadcasting industry that is smarter, more flexible, and increasingly software defined. As we look towards 2025, it’s clear that the adoption of software-defined hardware, virtualisation, and automation will continue to reshape the landscape. The broadcast industry is entering a new era, one in which adaptability and efficiency are key, where a virtual OB van can match the capabilities of fleets of trucks, and where production setups can be reconfigured remotely and scaled seamlessly to meet the evolving demands of live sports.
This evolution is not just about technology; it’s about redefining what’s possible in sports production – pushing the limits of creativity while making operations leaner, greener, and more adaptable. As we saw in Paris, the future of broadcasting is already here, and the journey from here to 2025 promises to be one of continued transformation and innovation.