Appear introduces Neo Series with Neo 10 for live distribution applications
Appear has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of the Neo Series, a line of server-based products that combine Appear’s hardware pedigree with the utility of software-based technology. The series is said to deliver all the advantages of server-based compression solutions with cost-effective software transcoding, free of the hassle of software deployment and operation.
The Neo 10, the first available solution in the Neo Series, is designed to meet the needs of the live distribution market, where software-based compression is growing in popularity thanks to its low cost and flexibility. Spurred by the performance of modern CPUs becoming both cheaper and more powerful, software-based transcoding has expanded beyond predominantly OTT applications to facilitate more live content applications. Yet despite these gains in CPU technology, integrating, deploying and operating software on general hardware is a complicated and time-consuming process for most operators, especially if clusters of individual servers supporting different functions are required.
Neo 10 is designed to solve this headache by combining the efficiencies and flexibility of software encoding installed on dedicated high-performance hardware from Appear. It is said to simplify typical operational models that combine clusters of servers with different roles, into a stand-alone product with all prior management, transcoding and streaming functions fully integrated. Customers deploying Neo 10 do not require specialist knowledge of installing and operating general-purpose server-based software compression solutions, and the solution is ready to go out of the box; no further software deployment, installation or integration is needed.
Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO of Appear, said: “In an increasingly hybrid world, the Neo Series combines our extensive experience in designing hardware solutions with the best that the world of software transcoding has to offer. As software-based compression grows in popularity, this expansion of our product portfolio helps address specific customer needs. The Neo Series ensures customers can benefit from the flexibility and low cost of software compression with the simplicity and performance of our dedicated hardware.”
The Neo software upgrade system ensures that all Neo products are futureproof, taking advantage of the fully integrated nature of the series to upgrade the server without the worry of software dependencies such as operating system, drivers, supporting applications, etc. Extensive monitoring of the Neo 10 is also just a few button presses away with information on not only the transcoding process but also the health of the server (fans, internal voltages, temperatures, power consumption and disk health) readily available from the UI.
Neo 10 will later be joined by the higher capacity Neo 20. Both products are targeted at live distribution environments where OTT and/or IPTV AVC transcoding is desired and both support IP UDP/RTP, SRT input and IP UDP/RTP, HTTP packaged output.