By Simen K. Frostad
Every year, the broadcast industry descends en masse on the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam. Once again, IBC provided invaluable insight into what's going on - and where we're going.
One of the great things about the timing of IBC - in September - is the opportunity it provides to get a snapshot of the state of the industry towards the end of any given year -as well as a look forward to what we might see in the coming year and beyond.
IBC this year was particularly interesting, not least because several discussions with the foremost satellite companies revealed an interesting shift in how they see themselves. That shift was very much reflective - inevitably so - of the wider shift in the broadcast industry.
There was much discussion of the customer journey - the different points on the path towards wholly embracing IP that each organization is on, and the need for vendors to acknowledge that and provide situationally-appropriate solutions. Some organizations, for example, are still wedded to the on-premise paradigm while others have wholly embraced the cloud.
Wherever those organizations are, however, it was certainly clear that the age of monolithic data centers is long gone. IBC saw much talk, and not for the first time, of distributed intelligence and edge computing. That's inevitable: media distribution has become all but mission critical and, as such, potential points of failure.
Hybrid
If customer journey was something you heard repeatedly in Amsterdam, another frequently used word was hybrid . Everyone, it seemed, was talking about hybrid solutions. And: that was certainly true of those satellite companies.
According to a senior manager at one of these firms, his company is building an ecosystem exactly in line with the challenges he sees his customers experiencing. They were, he said, looking for a converged approach to the problem of using the appropriate connectivity technology for many disparate requirements: no single connectivity technology could be the best for every environment.
As such, his company - in common, it must be said, with others - was in the process of reinventing itself: satellite would still be at its heart, but that would be only one of the connectivity solutions it would be able to offer. As with so many other exhibitors, satellite operators are looking to become full service providers, providing complete end-to-end solutions.
______________________________________
In theory, 5G also represents a
challenge to satellite companies,
although the consensus at IBC 2019
was that such was not the case.
It would have been easy, based on these conversations, to conclude that satellite, as a way of getting content from point A to point B, was diminishing in importance.
Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth: in many environments and for many applications, satellite remains the only show in town. Increasingly, however, it has become part of a communications ecosystem and satellite companies are seeing how they can be uniquely placed to play successfully in that world.
While IP is inexorably changing the broadcast world - for the better - satellite companies continue to face their own unique challenges. At IBC, we saw significant interest in our VB273 Intelligent Redundancy Switch.
Originally developed in response to a major operator's request for a redundancy switching solution, it provides full dual path redundancy for satellite signals with autonomous operation and deep signal analysis on both signal paths for the ultimate in switching decision making. The solution is ideal for providing fast and robust redundancy switching for permanently installed satellite up-links or in outside broadcast systems.
Intelligence at the Edge
One of the characteristics of the VB273 for satellite companies is how - in line with what's happening throughout the industry - it moves intelligence to the network edge, distributing decision-making way beyond the confines of the data center.
In automatic mode, the VB273 system is fully independent and makes its own switching decisions based on the pre-set switching rules. In manual mode, the unit can be controlled from any overlying NMS system via the extensive XML-based Eii (External Integration Interface) or via SNMP triggers.
Previously, it was the case that simple, relatively crude ETR alarm analyzers and black box switching solutions were deployed, but these were a much less than perfect response to broadcasters' requirements: they were inflexible, and could even themselves cause problems and increase costs by generating false positives' or missing complex error conditions.
The Bridge VB273 system's analysis capabilities and decision engine make it more comprehensive and accurate, giving greater security as well as delivering the cost reductions that can be achieved through running a more intelligent solution that can be trusted to operate with a greater degree of autonomy.
By incorporating a full implementation of Bridge Technologies' advanced ETR290 analysis engine, the VB273 can use a greater range of criteria, and base decisions on a more nuanced and realistic assessment of the data. Error conditions are evaluated against a set of user-defined rules to determine the appropriate automated action in any operational scenario.
The ETR290 engine is an ETSI TR 101 290 alarm monitor and advanced analysis functionality feature for the series of devices. A device can be configured with up to eight individual ETR290 engines running in parallel on the Ethernet interface providing highly scalable monitoring and analysis.
Even More Sophisticated
Bridge Technologies has also developed Gold TS to provide capabilities that are even more sophisticated than those featured in the ETR290 engine.
Conditions such as failures of the conditional access sy
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
25/07/2026
New app turns vocal percussion into polished loops
Vochlea, the company behind the voice-to-MIDI instrument Dubler 2, have just announced the launch of a ne...
24/07/2026
First string library captured at Studio Richter Mahr
The latest sample library to be created at Max Richter's Studio Richter Mahr facility captures the ...
24/07/2026
Official emulation of Blackbird Studios reverb chamber
In their latest collaboration with Blackbird Studios, KIT Plugins have captured the sound of the Stud...
24/07/2026
Angela Gomez brings over 14 years of experience in broadcast communications and audio engineering, specialising in live outside broadcasts, live sports and larg...
24/07/2026
Article courtesy of postPerspective
Read the article
While Toy Story 5 maintai...
24/07/2026
Kerry and Mayo fans Up For The Match as excitement builds in Croke Park on the e...
23/07/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 23rd, JULY, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), stitched 11.57 billion one-to-one addressable advertisem...
23/07/2026
Quickly creates reverse reverb effects
Low End Candy have recently released a new plug-in that offers a quick and simple way to create reverse reverb effect...
23/07/2026
New engines, resonators, effects & more
Expressive E's versatile soft synth has just been treated to an update that greatly expands its sonic range. Noi...
23/07/2026
SGL Carbon has further expanded its photovoltaic capacity at its Ort im Innkreis site in Austria. With the commissioning of new PV carports, the sites solar sys...
23/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents new software for three-phase power analysis on MXO seri...
23/07/2026
In our latest blog, Laura Rognoni explores how the launch of Play Snooker reflects a wider shift in sports economics - from monetising peak broadcast audiences ...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Partner to Advance Digi...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
New Samsung Galaxy Foldable range available now to pre-order on Sky Mobile
Sky Mobile, the award-winning network voted this year by Expe...
23/07/2026
Thursday 23 July 2026
Jason Statham leads Sky Original action thriller MUTINY in explosive new trailerTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy optio...
23/07/2026
Wuppertal July 23, 2026
Riedel Implements RefCam and Easy5G for the First Time...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
High-end analogue channel strip boasts plug-in recall
Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a b...
21/07/2026
Relies on same DSP as plug-in range
Musik Hack's line-up has been influenced heavily by founder Stan Greene's work as a mixing engineer, and their M...
21/07/2026
Official collaboration with boutique builder Dirty Boy Pedals
Warm Audio have just announced the launch of a new guitar pedal range created in collaboration...
21/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases broad range of EMC test solutions at EMC SIPI 2026 in ...
21/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and NIFT Partner to Build Color Management Skills for India's...
21/07/2026
Harmonics cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform and Pearl Remote OLTs Enable Flexible PON Migration, While SeaStar Optical Node Powers Cost-Effective Multi-Gigabit...
21/07/2026
160 hours of Irish storytelling for 2026
KIN and The Walsh Sisters return
RT has today unveiled its most ambitious drama slate ever, with a record-breakin...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
19/07/2026
Channel strip plug-in gets upgraded
Acustica Audio's vintage-inspired channel strip plug-in has just been treated to an update that expands its tonal ra...
18/07/2026
Captures nine sought-after Fender amps
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX expansion captures a selection of nine rare Brown Panel' Fender amps that were ...
18/07/2026
Latest batch ships alongside firmware update
Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools' debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, a...
By Simen K. Frostad
