Cisco and Imagine present IP transition collaboration at NAB

At NAB Imagine Communications announced collaboration with Cisco to provide best-in-class technologies for helping transition media companies to the next generation of IP playout and hybrid IP facilities. Collaboration between the two companies is broad-reaching across critical aspects of broadcast and media operations.

Imagine Communications’ Zenium workflow manager and VersioCloud platform have been certified to run on Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS). UCS is a next-generation data center platform that unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualisation into a cohesive system designed to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase business agility.

The agreement also provides media companies transitioning from baseband to IP infrastructures with the ability to manage Cisco’s Nexus IP switches with Imagine Communications’ Magellan Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Orchestrator.

“We are excited to be collaborating with Imagine Communications and leading media customers, to seamlessly evolve legacy production infrastructures to next-gen IP and cloud platforms,” said Paul Bosco, vice president, market development, Cisco. “With VersioCloud running on Cisco UCS, we are able to effectively address rapidly growing and evolving media customer requirements with a world-class, highly agile, data center cloud platform.”

VersioCloud is an IP-enabled, playout in the cloud platform and the only integrated playout solution that is 100% software running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT platforms. With VersioCloud, all of the traditional integrated channel playout functions are now cloud-enabled, including automation, branding, graphics, master control, and file server capabilities. The VersioCloud platform is powered by Zenium, an agile software engine for designing, deploying and managing extensible, customisable software-defined workflows. Bringing these advanced software services onto the Cisco UCS next-generation data center platform enables media companies to capitalise on Cisco’s IT market expertise and paves the way for increased innovation and business acceleration.