NPO selects Digital Rapids for sport streaming needs
Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system,has expanded their streaming operations with the purchase of 10 dual-channel Digital Rapids encoding systems. The new encoders complement NPO’s existing deployment of Digital Rapids solutions, and have been added in support of streaming projects including this year’s European football championships, Tour de France cycling and NPO broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting’s (NOS) online and mobile coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The Digital Rapids systems are in constant, full-time operation at NPO, encoding live source video feeds of the three Dutch public broadcasting channels as well as dedicated event and theme channels. The encoders’ flexible format support is a key benefit for NPO as they migrate from traditional streaming protocols to HTTP-based adaptive streaming while bringing their content to devices from desktop computers to tablets and mobile phones.
“The reliability and resilience of Digital Rapids’ encoders allow us to run our operations 24/7 without interruptions, while their quality, deep configurability and format flexibility are also significant advantages,” says Jeroen Mol, Manager at NPO ICT 3, NPO’s internal service provider organization for networking, Internet hosting, application support and streaming services. “Digital Rapids is the only supplier who met our requirements, and their solutions are also very cost-efficient. We have relied on Digital Rapids solutions as our encoding platform for many major, high-profile events, and look forward to continuing to do so in the future.”
“We’re thrilled that NPO is expanding their use of our encoding systems, and that they will again be using them to power NOS’ online coverage of the London Olympic Games and other premium sporting events,” adds Clive Vickery, Managing Director, EMEA and Asia at Digital Rapids. “Our solutions continue to deliver the outstanding quality and reliability that media organizations require to bring superior multi-platform experiences to their audiences, with the flexibility that enables our customers to adapt to the evolving technical and business requirements of the multi-screen media landscape.”
Digital Rapids encoders provide superior quality, outstanding reliability and flexible, multi-screen output format support for audience-expanding live and on-demand viewing experiences. Powering applications from online and mobile video to over-the-top (OTT) services and IPTV, Digital Rapids encoders’ rich output capabilities and adaptive streaming support are ideal for capitalising on today’s lucrative multi-screen content distribution opportunities, allowing content and rights owners to reach viewers on devices from tablets and mobile phones to game consoles, PCs and ‘smart’ TVs.