Ericsson has left us waiting in anticipation for some seven months, but this week at NAB it has unveiled the first product based on Envivio technologies called MediaFirst Video Processing, after it acquired the US encoding firm for $125 million back in September 2015.
The MediaFirst Video Processing tech combines the software-based encoding technologies from Envivio with Ericsson’s own compression software, to offer video processing capabilities that tie in with the MediaFirst TV platform – the successor to Mediaroom, one of its biggest TV acquisitions and used by AT&T – creating ‘cloud-centric’ TV experiences.
Ericsson says MediaFirst Video Processing embraces three key fundamentals, the first being software-defined management and workflow for video processing across multiple platforms. Secondly, video coding algorithms and processing functions for head end functions, and lastly, support for any compute environments across private and public clouds, as well as Ericsson’s custom platforms – enabling accelerated processing with its video chip. It cites that the requirement to deliver new services such as UHD content is a driving factor in developing new technologies that enable service agility, cost efficiency, and consumer-centric billing models.
The addition of Envivio to its arsenal has begun a new chapter in the tale of Ericsson’s transitional journey from telco equipment vendor to a real software-based encoding force – which began in 2007 with the acquisition of Tandberg TV for $1.4 billion, which had built up a strong position in pay TV encoding, particularly in IPTV which was beginning to flourish at the time.
Ericsson continued to lead in encoding and IPTV, acquiring Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV middleware business in 2013, although this was at a time when Mediaroom was in a state of neglect. Ericsson gained a considerable customer base through Mediaroom and has invested in resurrecting the platform and diverting its focus towards cloud based IP services with MediaFirst.
This incorporates Ericsson’s more recent developments such as virtualized encoding, introduced in an attempt to provide a single clear cloud-based package for multiscreen delivery, enabling operators to combine hardware and software-based video processing. Ericsson strengthened its position here firstly by integrating Elemental’s software encoding technology into its platform during 2014, prior to the purchase of Envivio. By then it was clear Elemental was slipping into the hands of Amazon Web Services, which took Ericsson towards Envivio as the other leading software encoding specialist.
Ericsson says that MediaFirst has deployments at 60 global service providers, to 15 million subscribers and 32 million devices. At some point within the last two quarters Ericsson has downgraded the MediaFirst numbers, which previously stated 79 commercial deployments in 32 countries, delivering services to over 18 million households and 36 million devices. Ericsson almost certainly inflated these original figures by including companies using its Multiscreen product, developed using technologies acquired from Azuki Systems in 2014, and since that’s now part of MediaFirst, it has included those. It may have also signed deals it cannot talk about, besides the major contracts at AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Bell Canada, Telus, Singtel, and Portugal Telecom.
Also at this week’s NAB show, Ericsson has launched a portfolio of TV and VoD content discovery services which includes metadata, images, real-time triggering, analytics, 360-degree search, and personalization – delivered through its real-time API. This feature will roll out across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
The Swedish firm has had a busy show, adding new partner additions to its Unified Delivery Network (UDN), following its launch at Mobile World Congress in February. New content and service provider member companies include China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, Dolby Laboratories, Far EasTone Telecommunications, Globe Telecom, Mavshack, Paramount Pictures, Singtel, SK Broadband, XL Axiata, Vubiquity, and Twentieth Century Fox.
Ericsson has also launched its Piero Augmented Reality (AR) software system to give broadcasters the ability to enhance live sports events – creating immersive viewing experiences by including features such as overlaying real-time 3D graphics during live studio productions and sports games. The system operator or presenter can produce sports analysis graphics using a tablet to project 3D images onto the studio floor, to avoid having to cut away from the studio environment. Piero AR is currently being tested by the BBC.
As part of Ericsson’s ongoing partnership with Twentieth Century Fox’s research arm, the Fox Innovation Lab, the two revealed at NAB that they are teaming up on a proof of concept project to deliver Fox content in 360-degree video and audio, VR, AR, and 4K UHD with HDR – over any network, platform or device. This will use Ericsson’s newly unveiled Unified Delivery Network (UDN), which brings Ericsson further into service delivery – building on work over the last few years on its Media Delivery Network, which has been developed to integrate multiple CDNs into a single end to end platform.
“The media industry is undergoing its most disruptive period of transformation, and this has triggered huge changes in consumer expectations. By unifying the industry’s two greatest pedigrees in hardware and software-centric video processing, Ericsson MediaFirst Video Processing provides a no-compromise approach, whatever the deployment environment,” said Elisabetta Romano, VP and Head of TV and Media at Ericsson.