Discovery Communications was looking for a new solution for the delivery of services to its business partners. The system was expected to be designed around delivery using terrestrial fibre networks primarily.
Discovery Communications required a simple yet modular system architecture that could be expanded whilst in operation and without being service affecting.
One of the basic requirements for the system consisted in supporting both SD-SDI and HD-SDI encoders. The services were expected to be packaged into different DVB transport streams for hand off to telecoms providers for subsequent transmission. It was important for Discovery Communications that the hand off points could support different standards.
Resilience was also a prime concern for Discovery Communications, therefore 1+1 redundancy was required.
Currently Discovery uses a deployed Dataminer system to monitor different set of hardware. This system needs to be integrated with the new equipment.
The complete solution is based on Harris Broadcast products. The initial system consists of 6 SD-SDI services and 6 HD-SDI services with 1+1 redundancy. There are also 10 MDX2 modules; eight of these modules provide 1+1 redundancy for 4 multiplexes. The two further multiplexing modules support the de-multiplexing and conversion of MPTS to IP.
Magellan NMS will be used for independent management of multiplexing modules. Besides, Magellan NMS will be connected to the existing Dataminer NMS which is already in use at Discovery Communications. This will form a new Dataminer/ Magellan NMS system.
Integrated Dataminer/ Magellan NMS network management system minimizes operational costs and improves the quality of the services. The entire solution will supply Discovery with a configurable, expandable platform that can be adapted to new standards and operational requirements; and interoperate with third-party technology.
