IBC 2016: Imagine Communications extends functionality of Selenio One platform to OTT and multiscreen

Imagine Communications introduced a high-density adaptive bitrate (ABR) transcoding product built on Selenio One, the company’s software-defined linear transcoding platform. Selenio One is designed to deliver new levels of performance, flexibility and cost efficiency to broadcasters, network operators and video service providers (VSPs). The latest addition to the Selenio One family, which is previewed at IBC2016, is purpose built to enable media companies to generate new revenue and maximize the efficiency of their networks by expanding the number of high video quality ABR and linear channels they can deliver over existing infrastructures.

Today’s VSPs, including cable operators, telecommunications companies and satellite TV providers, are struggling to cost-effectively keep pace with requirements to deliver high-quality video to an increasing diversity of Internet-connected devices. By leveraging state-of-the-art standard computing resources powered by high-performance transcoding software from Imagine Communications, the newest product in the Selenio One family provides VSPs with the ability to expand the channel-carrying capacity of their video delivery networks on demand while enabling service providers to reduce costs by moving all compression operations to a common, software-based platform.

”The high-density transcoding instantiation of Selenio One was designed to relieve a particularly acute pain point for today’s content distributors, who have been steadily increasing the cost and complexity of their networks to accommodate shifting video consumption patterns,” says Brick Eksten, Chief Product Officer, Imagine Communications. ”Selenio One redefines the operational environment for transcoding, offering cloud-like control of mixed services with the ability to define and redefine those services on the fly.  Combining centralized control with dynamic service provisioning allows the operator to be more fluid in operations while providing the ability to create new services on demand.”

This new addition to the Selenio One platform supports HEVC/H.265 and AVC/H.264 encoding in both ABR and linear transcoding formats at extremely high densities, enabling VSPs and other media companies to realize significant space and power savings. The first release of the product is capable of supporting up to 180 HD ABR or 360 HD linear channels per 4-RU server, establishing new cost-per-channel benchmarks for high quality video transcoding. Source formats supported in the first release are MPEG-2 or H.264 and HEVC/H.265 or H.264 on the output.

Well suited for high-density terrestrial, satellite and primary distribution transcoding with ABR transcoding for over-the-top (OTT) multiscreen applications, the latest product in the Selenio One family provides a single system for any VSP looking to launch more channels, move from MPEG-2 to H.264, add HEVC/H.265, or address a multiservice lineup with linear transcode and OTT/ABR delivery.

Imagine Communications introduced the Selenio One platform earlier this year at the 2016 NAB Show. The initial product release focused on high video quality H.264/MPEG-2 transcoding using PCIe video acceleration with integrated software multiplexing and processing. Selenio One’s software-based architecture enables service providers to customize the functionality of the platform through the selection of video processing engines. This approach ensures consistency across all compression operations through a common architecture and control system.

All products built on the Selenio One are powered by Zenium , a next-generation software framework that also underpins several additional solutions from Imagine Communications. Zenium utilizes a Micro Services approach to implementation and deployment that enables cloud-native component technologies to be easily distributed across multiple platforms.  Zenium-powered platforms, including Selenio One, are designed to seamlessly integrate new technology as it becomes available and adapt to multiple deployment scenarios, from appliance to datacenter to cloud.

The latest Selenio One product provides unprecedented flexibility, allowing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) platforms to be optimized for software-only and GPU-accelerated encoding, as well as enhancing the specialized video processing and acceleration capabilities of modern processors with field-proven intellectual property from Imagine Communications.

The first release of the high-density transcoding Selenio One includes the following features:

-Support for up to 180 HD ABR and 360 HD linear channels per 4.3RU server

-HEVC/H.265 and H.264 support

-GPU-powered transcoding with Imagine’s enhanced video quality

-Selenio One Media Manager system for redundancy and network management

-Linux-based and distributed software architecture

The latest release of the Selenio One platform is also a critical product within Imagine’s CloudXtream multiscreen solutions. The new product is tightly integrated with Telurio Packager to support a broad selection of packaging formats and DRM technologies. It also supports the insertion of ads and alternative content as part of the CloudXtream dynamic ad insertion solution.