Andy Warman, senior vice president of product, Imagine Communications, details how leveraging cloud infrastructure can reduce operational costs and help the planet at the same time!
By Contributor
Published: February 29, 2024
Andy Warman, senior vice president of product, Imagine Communications, details how leveraging cloud infrastructure can reduce operational costs and help the planet at the same time!
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
The public cloud offers media companies new business opportunities and a chance to radically rethink some of the foundational choices in television distribution. At the same time, many media organisations - driven by remote workforces and workflow simplifications - are looking to consolidate broadcast centres or transition to smaller facilities, also enabled by systems modernisation. These two forces are conspiring in a way that has the potential to improve broadcasters' bottom line, while also improving the carbon footprint of the television industry.
Reduction in facilities and infrastructure One lasting effect of the global pandemic is the sea change in workplace presence. Television production and operations teams learned to work remotely, in many cases from home, and the productivity was good. Many media enterprises were already in the process of reducing physical real-estate footprints even before the work-from-home trend, but WFH makes the economics even better - reducing the requirements for in-person office space significantly.
A similar transition has been underway in machine room spaces. As Moore's Law scaling has steadily reduced the size and thermal load of computing and networking equipment, the equipment stack (and related power and cooling) required to produce a finished television channel gets smaller each year. These savings are only realised when operators transition to new equipment, which means the steps of reduction are quite large when they happen. This allows companies, as a byproduct of tech stack modernization, to reclaim and repurpose space once consumed by technology infrastructure - or simply take it off-lease entirely.
Peak demand and steady demand Television production and distribution is a combination of peak demand workloads and steady-state workloads. Linear channel playout is historically a 24/7 operation, requiring a seamless, uninterrupted solution. Resource consumption for these types of channels is predictable with little variation over time. But during high-viewership hours, it can be worthwhile to create multiple versions of channels with different advertising delivered to different viewers in regional or demographic splits - ramping up the resource footprint temporarily. Regional sports and news breakouts also drive up the number of concurrent playlists temporarily, as does systemic redundancy.
Traditionally, technical infrastructures have been built to handle the worst-case demand - even though that demand only materialises a few days a year. This seeming inefficiency (or underutilisation) is often cited in making a case for cloud-based operations as a supplement to on-prem. It is easy to see the potential savings in finding the right mix of on-prem and remote/cloud operations if the technology platform allows a flexible mix of the two technologies.
The goal of most operations teams is to optimise the high-revenue channels with complex advertising and last-moment schedule changes - especially where there is an operational workflow component such as studio and live integration - while using heavily automated, exception-driven (and increasingly cloud-hosted) deployment models for FAST and thematic (non-live) channels.
The cloud is a shared resource - of nearly infinite capacity The public cloud is built and maintained to serve the largest cross-section of potential customers from a vast array of industries, which all have different needs and goals. It is built to be shared, securely, including sharing enormous amounts of network bandwidth. The public cloud is also inherently remote from the users, the content, and the distribution point of view.
The public cloud gets its operating efficiency from scale. Users leverage the cloud provider's dedicated teams who deal with maintenance, system refreshes, security and all the other services that would normally require support from local staff. These cloud provider resources are shared by all users of the cloud platform.
Famously, the public cloud is pay-as-you-use; you do not have to engineer for peak usage - indeed, each day can define a new peak. Being able to use the cloud for peak-demand operations and business continuity means your local plant does not need to dedicate space, power, air conditioning or racks of equipment to the peak demand, but only to the steady-state demand. This provides real, measurable savings in capital, power, and of course real estate.
How much can you save? How much you can save and how much you can reduce your environmental impact by using the cloud will depend on the mix of channels you plan to run there and what you will continue to run on-prem. Some systems are best left running on-prem, while others are well-suited to the cloud. A growing number of users place their high-value linear channels and critical redundancy systems on-prem, but use the cloud for DR, FAST channels, occasional use, and special and live events.
In practice, you should plan for hybrid environments that let you mix on-prem systems and the cloud in a way that works best for your business.
For many users, the greatest benefit of the public cloud is the ability to turn resources on and off as needed. Couple this with the fact that you are effectively outsourcing compute, storage and networking to the provider, and the benefits multiply: the ability to quickly take channels on and off line; a reduct
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...
21/08/2026
Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments
Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...
21/08/2026
Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026
Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...
21/08/2026
Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...
21/08/2026
The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...
21/08/2026
The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...
21/08/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
21/08/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, M...
21/08/2026
Tell us a little bit about your job I'm a Marketing Manager and work across a mix of clients and projects. No two days are ever quite the same, which defini...
21/08/2026
Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal
24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player
Beat The Lotto is the story o...
21/08/2026
The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun!
Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...
21/08/2026
Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
Thursday 20 August 2026
Nina Sosanya, Rizzle Kicks, Roman Kemp and Paul Whiteho...
20/08/2026
Wuppertal August 20, 2026
Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...
20/08/2026
The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...
20/08/2026
Arvato Systems Brings Together Digital Transformation Leaders in the Manufacturi...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
Company launch with stereo-imaging tool
Panoramic is the debut release from Panorama Labs, a new company formed by mastering engineer Nicholas Di Lorenzo. C...
18/08/2026
Control software now available for older interfaces
Focusrite have just announced the launch of an update that extends Control 2 software support for their ...
18/08/2026
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious announce new partnership
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious have announced a new long-term...
18/08/2026
Wuppertal August 18, 2026
Riedel Brings Professional Live Production Into the Classrooms of ECURiedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan Universi...
18/08/2026
Apple today announced changes to its business terms for apps in the European Uni...
18/08/2026
THE HEALY RAES: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS AIRS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 ON RT ONE AT 9:35PM
A new documentary The Healy-Raes: Blood, Sweat & Tears airs on RT One and ...
18/08/2026
Stunning Irish performances at European Athletics and Swimming Championships rea...
18/08/2026
The two-part series begins Sunday 23 August at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player
...
17/08/2026
New MIDI processor & macro controller revealed
SHIK have announced that they have opened pre-orders for the S32, a standalone MIDI processor and macro contr...
17/08/2026
Cover extended on innovative motorised pot system
Melbourne Instruments have just revealed that the innovative motorised pot system used in their synths and...
17/08/2026
Latest firmware version now available
1010music have just released a free firmware update that brings some nice new features to their renowned Bluebox digit...
17/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases integrated defense and test solutions at DALO Industry...
17/08/2026
Calrec's ImPulseV Virtualised Audio Mixing Engine joins NEP Platform, the industry's largest ecosystem of trusted production software, bringing scalable...
17/08/2026
Visitors to IBC 2026 will see how FilmLight is reshaping the modern post pipelin...
17/08/2026
Visitors to Stand 1.C41 can explore innovations in areas such as addressable advertising, hybrid distribution, managed services and operational simplification.
...
16/08/2026
Virtual drummer joins line-up
The latest release from Gospel Musicians adds a virtual drummer to the company's line-up, combining a pair of meticulously...
15/08/2026
In-ear monitoring line-up gains new universal models
In-ear monitoring experts JH Audio have just announced a significant expansion of their Universal-Fit r...
14/08/2026
Latest instalment delivers disco-inspired grooves
The latest addition to UJAM's virtual drum line-up has been designed with contemporary pop, disco, dan...
14/08/2026
Elite range gains giant 24-inch powered sub
The latest expansion of Yorkville's Elite range introduces what the company say is the world's first act...
14/08/2026
Friday 14 August 2026
Breaking news! Sky releases trailer for The Paper, return...
14/08/2026
It's been one year since our client, Cotswolds Designer Outlet, opened its doors and we've loved seeing the scheme come to life. Together, we've hel...
Andy Warman, senior vice president of product, Imagine Communications, details how leveraging cloud infrastructure can reduce operational costs and help the planet at the same time!
