Cloud Transcoding Benefits

ContentsWelcome to the Cloud Page 2What are the Financial Benefits Page 2Analyzing the Cost/Benefit Tipping Point Page 3Technical Limitations of Cloud: Moving Content To/From the Cloud Page 4Understanding Cloud Architectures Page 5Maximizing Performance and Throughput Page 6How Safe is the Cloud? Page 7Beyond the Cloud Horizon Page 8About Telestream Page 8

IntroductionPerhaps your media company has a new business opportunity that requires swift transcoding of your vast media archive? Or maybe your department just got a huge transcoding project you didnt expect involving multiscreen, VOD or OTT delivery?

Bursts in demand, new business opportunities, and online delivery are among the driving forces behind the growing trend to migrate video transcoding and storage workflows to the cloud. In many cases, the directive to investigate cloud transcoding is coming from upper-level management where theres a reluctance to spend money to expand the on-premise data center.

If your boss has asked you to migrate your transcoding workflow to the cloud, you undoubtedly have many questions and concerns that need to be resolved right away.

Bursts in demand, new business opportunities, and online delivery

are among the driving forces behind the growing trend to

migrate video transcoding and storage workflows to the cloud.

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Migrating Video Transcoding Workflows to the Cloud

A Guide to

TelestreamWhitepaper

Welcome to the CloudThe first assurance we can give you is that you dont have to replace your existing infrastructure with a cloud-based solution. The cloud is simply a new technology platform that gives your facility the elastic capacity to handle peaks and lulls in production demand without over-provisioning or over-burdening your existing infrastructure.

A well-crafted cloud transcoding and storage strategy affords media pros many creative, operational and financial benefits including:

Performing transcoding tasks on-premise or in the cloud, depending upon which can handle it best.

Ramping up for increased transcoding without negatively impacting your daily operations. The cloud offers near-instant provisioning of transcod-ers and serversscalability sufficient for the needs of the job.

Exploring creative business opportunities to stay competitive. Outsourcing to the cloud decreases start-up capital equipment costs.

Setting up cloud transcoding capacity in minutes, compared to the days or months it would take to build out the data center.

Streamlining distribution to online destinations, such as CDNs, YouTube, OTT services, social media platforms and other Internet-based media and broadcast outlets.

Generating on-the-fly renditionssuch as formats, bit rates, codecs and resolutionsto optimize content for viewing on connected devices like smart phones, iPads, gaming consoles, laptops and other connected, mobile devices.

Facilitating creative collaboration between col-leagues, partners and other parties around the world.

Enabling global access to mission critical media files and computing resources by authorized users anytime or anywhere.

Allowing the upload of media assets, such as news and sports footage captured by citizen journalists and other contributors worldwide. The files can then be processed in the cloud and distributed via the Internet.

Offering disaster recovery of media assets should inclement weather, power outages, floods or other adverse events impact your data center.

Giving developers access to an infrastructure that allows them to test their new ideas and concepts.

The biggest challenge to getting started is to find a cloud service provider that really understands the rigors and demands of the media & entertainment industry.

Ideally, your cloud service provider should offer a user-friendly interface that dovetails your cloud work-flow with your on-premise operation, forming a single, unified ecosystem that can be centrally managed. Your cloud transcoding vendor should also handle all the underlying cloud technology, upgrades and mainte-nance in a timely, transparent way.

And you should be confident your transcoding is being done according to your highest technical and quality standards, in a way that consistently delivers an optimal viewing experience.

What are the Financial Benefits?One of the most compelling reasons to migrate to cloud transcoding, and cloud computing in general, is the cost. Depending upon the unique needs and circum-stances of your media organization, you may find you can save money by utilizing cloud transcoding services.

To determine how youll fare financially by migrating to cloud transcoding you must conduct an in-depth cost/benefit analysis. Instead of an up-front capital expendi-ture (capex) in new hardware, software or networking equipment, cloud transcoding is an operating expense (opex) with no up-front capital costs.

capex versus opex

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Cloud transcoding is based on pay-as-you-go pricing models such as:

Per transaction Per gigabyte of source video Per hour of usage Per minute of encoded content output Pre-purchased hours of capacity Monthly or annual subscriptionsWith the discretionary provisioning of cloud transcod-ing, you only pay for computing resources as you use them. With this opex approach, users usually save money because they dont have to invest as heavily, or in some cases at all, in the following kinds of capex expenditures and expenses within their data centers:

Computer hardware, networking & storage arrays Systems integration, IT troubleshooting & mainte-

nance Perpetual software licenses & upgrades Equipment leases (annual pricing including

support) Service & support contracts Computer rooms Air conditioning Smoke detectors & sprinkler systems Real estate or space costs Electricity and back-up power generators High-performance broadband services Specially trained IT personnel

Equipment owners often allocate 30% of the initial price of purchased gear annually simply for ongoing technol-ogy-refresh, making it a significant and recurring line item on their budgets. The cost of refreshing technology also makes it harder to achieve a timely return on investment, before the equipment reaches its end of life.

With the reduction or elimination of these capital expenditures, its easy to see how cloud transcoding can be financially enticing for both media organizations and their financial backers.

Financial officers at media organizations often believe that ongoing capital investments in their on-premise data centers will not yield them any appreciable new benefits, except to keep the technology current. Venture capital firms also shy away from funding companies that plan to build out a massive data center. They prefer that these companies use cloud-based services and put their money into processing and people, not computer systems theyll upgrade or discard in two or three years.

In the cloud model, the cost of maintaining the data center and keeping the technology fresh is built into the service. All of those upgradesincluding support for new formatsare taken care of by the cloud provider in a way thats timely and transparent to the user.

Analyzing the Cost/Benefit Tipping PointThe hourly rate for cloud transcoding is generally higher than the calculated hourly rate for purchased hardware, software and support over a specific time period. But with the cloud approach, when you shut down unnec-essary capacity, the expenses also decline, resulting in additional savings.

Conversely, when media companies build-out their on-premise data centers to provision for periods of high demand, and that demand subsides, they find them-selves continuing to pay for costly capital equipment that sits idle, which is very inefficient.

Over-provisioned infrastructure will by definition sit idle for much of the time. However, if you have no available capacity in your local data center, you may have to reprioritize the workload or renegotiate the delivery of certain obligations. When cloud transcoding is an option, surges in production volume can be seamlessly and cost-efficiently absorbed by cloud services. And cloud services can be immediately curtailed when work slows down.

Its important to note that if your facility handles a very high volume of transcoding on an ongoing basis, such as a round-the-clock operation, you may find that based on software licensing and provisioned hardware, its more expensive to do it in the cloud versus with your own equipment.

Is your transcoding worksteady & round-the-clockor in bursts & peaks?

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A break-even analysis that estimates capacity demand, over-provisioning requirements and infrastructure costs can determine where this crossover or tipping point is so your facility can operate at peak efficiency. If you go beyond this tipping pointwhether its a certain number of hours or productivity level, etc.the cloud will cost you more than if you were using your own equipment.

You find the tipping point by comparing what you would spend to transcode a certain peak capacity of video on your premises versus in the cloud. Some factors to consider when comparing on-premise versus cloud price/performance are:

Annual cost you pay for hardware Annual cost of licensed software Annual operating hours Annual server hours Number of transcode servers Number of domain servers Hourly transcode processing rate for the encoders

(real-time, faster, or slower) Hourly cloud software rate or other cloud pricing Estimated workload volume Source format bitrate to transcode Output format (such as adaptive bitrate, number of

layers, resolutions; Cable VOD MP2 essence, MP2 transport stream in SD or HD; IPTV VOD H.264 essence, MP2 transport stream in SD or HD.)

You can validate your assumptions and results by running tests on various cloud services, many of which offer free trials.

Technical Limitations of Cloud: Moving Content To/From the CloudSince uploading video files to the cloud is the single biggest bottleneck to cloud transcoding, it doesnt make operational sense to upload a program youre producing locally, say at a TV network, if the goal is to broadcast it from the video play-out servers in the same building it originated from.

Its faster to move enormous, high-bit rate content geared for traditional broadcast from on-premise storage networks than from the cloud to the play-out servers on the same LAN. This is because you pay an upload penalty whenever you upload filesespecially HD, 2K or 4K/UHD resolutionto the cloud. The upload penalty is the amount of time it takes for those files to upload.

Even if you need to deliver that media file to a CDN for online distribution, it still makes more sense to transfer it over the Internet from your data center because theres no penalty when its done that way.

However, incurring the upload penalty makes sense if your media will be:

Stored or archived in cloud-based storage Transferred for cloud-based processing, and then

back to cloud storage Delivered to a cloud-based content delivery

network (CDN) Distributed to online destinationsIts 10 to 15 times faster and easier to move files from cloud storage to other cloud-based processors than it is to upload that source material when its needed.

People whove successfully used cloud computing and storage resources for media applications plan for media migration and transcode times. A common strategy is to build upload time into the production schedule and migrate finished content to cloud storage while also keeping copies on local storage. If a power outage or natural disaster strikes your facility, and youve upload-ed your program content to the cloud ahead of time, you can continue to operate, even using your smart phone to access the cloud service.

So look for the optimal times to upload your media to the cloud. And get in the habit of moving mezzanine masters to the cloud immediately upon completion. Mezzanine masters are the final masters youll cloud-transcode into all the renditions needed for online and OTT service delivery via cloud-based CDNs or origin servers.

And have any programs youve acquiredfrom your content production partners worldwidedelivered to both your local servers and cloud storage locations simultaneously. This will spare you the added step of having to upload it.

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Its an increasingly common model for content owners and distributors who possess content libraries to manage them in inexpensive cloud storage and launch processing resources that are collocated with the content whenever deliveries require new or updated play-out formats. This is extremely compelling for Internet-delivered media, especially OTT services, because its faster and more efficient.

Compared to storage arrays on the premises, cloud storage is relatively inexpensive and scalable up to hundreds of terabytes of capacity, in multiple price/performance tiers. On-premise storage arrays, which can be pricey, are a capex expense combined with operating expenses, such as cooling, power, mainte-nance and space, within your data center. Just shifting your redundant and back-up storage to the inexpen-sive, scalable cloud storage can save you considerable amounts of money over time.

Also, if you deal with HD, 2K, 4K/UHD or other high resolution files, consider using an accelerated upload technology, such as Aspera, to speed up the transfer of large video files from your facility to the cloud. Aspera has demonstrated additional acceleration of 6x (895 MB/sec) in S3 to EC2 transfers. Signiant is another vendor that provides Internet I/O optimization.

Cloud implementations depend upon Internet I/O for media access and migration. Look for applications that have built-in Internet protocols for media migration and system monitoring, such as native S3, http, ftp and sftp. And look for hybrid cloud solutions that will let you capture snapshots of proven on-premise workflows into your cloud environment to make it easier to set-up and launch cloud instances.

Understanding Cloud ArchitecturesTo fully understand the topology and ramifications of the cloud for video, including transcode services, it helps to be familiar with terms like public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud.

When you interface an on-premise system with a cloud system, this is a hybrid configuration. Hybrid clouds let you move and manage large data files between the two environments seamlessly and flexibly, such as demand bursts to be transcoded in the cloud.

Private clouds are a group of proprietary servers, storage and network devices that are bought or leased by the user or application owner. Theyre typically imple-mented on the premises behind the enterprises firewall or in a collocated environment. Private clouds are designed to provide high levels of security to protect valuable assets and intellectual properties. They are accessed and controlled exclusively by the owner, not shared.

Then theres the public cloud, a shared infrastructure that consists of computers, networks, and bandwidth resources run by popular public cloud service providers including Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Unlike private clouds, public cloud platforms are not solely owned or controlled by any single entity.

Public cloud providers have sophisticated geographi-cally dispersed data centers filled with racks of servers and networking gear. They leverage their global computing resources to offer developers the building blocks they need to offer their own branded cloud-based services, such as encoding/transcoding, storage, content delivery and/or other computing services.

These vendors can configure their public cloud-based services as managed private clouds that pass along the scalability, cost savings, rapid deployment and other public cloud benefits to their customers. But managed private cloud services also offer integration and customization.

Telestreams Vantage Cloud service is implemented on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud. When Vantage customers integrate their Vantage enter-prise-class transcoding software with Vantage Cloud, which then becomes a hybrid configuration, they can burst into a cloud environment in just minutes. The Vantage virtual domain mirrors the familiar user-inter-face, workflows and quality outputs customers have come to expect from Vantage Transcode Pro enterprise software.

PUBLIC PRIVATE HYBRID

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When looking for cloud transcoding service providers, its advantageous to collocate the storage on the same public cloud platformor better yet within the same physical public cloud data centerwhere the transcod-ing will be processed. The reason for this is that the data transfers faster over shorter distances. So you wouldnt want to locate your cloud storage archive on one public cloud platform if the transcoding service you want to use is on another.

The AWS public cloud platform implements different services to support transcoding applications, including:

EC2 (Elastic Compute 2,) where the scalable, virtual private servers are located for secure cloud computing of CPU-intensive workloads

S3 (Simple Storage Service), which is for Web service-based object storage

VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), which lets you provi-sion a logically isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network you define. You have complete control over your virtual networking environment, including selection of your own IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.

Amazon Glacier, which is low-cost, long-term storage thats ideal for archiveand more economi-cal than S3 because of slower access times.

Amazon has close to a dozen geographically dispersed data centers in many regions worldwide including: Northern Virginia, Ireland, Singapore and Sydney. A complete list of regions may be found here: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html - ec2_re-gion

On the AWS platform, there is a significant difference between S3 and Amazon Glacier storage. S3 provides object storage, while Amazon Glacier is an extremely low-cost, secure storage service for data archive and online backup. Customers can store large or small amounts of data reliably for as little as $0.01 per gigabyte per month. To keep costs low, Amazon Glacier is optimized for infrequently accessed data where a retrieval time of several hours is acceptable. If you dont mind waiting for your transfers, youll pay less operating out of Glacier storage.

Its also beneficial to choose your Amazon data center based on its proximity to your contents desired destination. For example, if your show is intended for distribution to viewers in the UK, your best bet would be to upload, store and process that data at the closest Amazon data center to the UK, which would be Ireland. Or their Singapore data center if the content is for the Asian market.

Maximizing Performance And Throughput Hybrid cloud configurations are the best way to maximize performance and throughput in a cloud-cen-tric transcoding workflow and ecosystem, where the best infrastructure can be aligned to offer specific solutions. Ideally, you want your on-premise workflow to match the capabilities of your cloud environment.

Your hybrid cloud solution also needs to be very familiar and user-friendly so you can focus on being innovative and creative. Any IT complexity should be transparent to operators.

If your hybrid cloud workflow is unified, your cloud-based deliverables will have all the same attributes and parameters that your on-premise-based output delivers such as:

Pristine image quality Metadata processing Closed captioning Audio mix/tracks Foreign language subtitles House standard formats Audio/video bitrates Specific resolution and frame rates Ad insertionIf any of these technical requirements are missing, you will be forced into the infrastructure that provides the required service, even though it may not be the most efficient choice. Be forewarned that obtaining identical results from different software is not expected. If different software is the basis for your cloud and on-premise solution, you will need to re-test and re-validate your output with your distribution partners.

One such unique demand is our need to distribute content via different distribution platforms to reach viewers watching shows on broadcast, mobile, social media and other screens anytime, anywhere.

Content that is destined for broadcast from a network operations center is best provided from the local on-premise production infrastructure, while content being delivered to Internet, CDN, OTT and other online venues can best be handled in the cloud.

Deploying your existing transcoding applications in the cloud enables your custom applications to communi-cate with on-premise and cloud infrastructures through identical APIs so your existing integrations can be repurposed and extended with the cloud-based components.

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Many successful cloud-transcode implementations rely on arbitrage systems to optimize their workloads by making decisions based on user-defined rules like:

Location of the source material Predicted loading time of the various systems Requested delivery schedules Desired output format Delivery methodsThis custom software automates the decision making process to control the flow of transcode tasks and data between on-premise and cloud services by accessing all the source information and determining the best way to route the jobs. It can also interface withor be contained withinthe centralized media asset manage-ment (MAM) workflow, from a single user interface.

Serving as a high-level work order management system, this software is programmed to accelerate the produc-tion cycle from ingest to output by analyzing the situation. Upon analyzing key factorslike how fast can certain source material be uploaded to the cloud, whether it should be handled locally or in the cloud, and whether the local pipeline has the capacity to handle itthe system determines which platform can get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This logic can get very complicated, and its unique to the infrastructure, contracts and SLA terms for the partners. If your facility can develop its own effective arbitrage system, it will keep the workflow humming automatically, which will help you maximize your capital, cloud and media resources.

How Safe Is The Cloud?When it comes to moving valuable high-resolution media assets to a public cloud-based service, media professionals are understandably cautious. They know that if they dont protect their intellectual properties, these valuable media assets could fall into the wrong hands and be pirated or misused at great loss to the content creators.

But there are steps cloud users can take to ensure data security at every level including:

The core public cloud infrastructure Integrated cloud vendor applications On-premise network securityWhile Amazons AWS has adopted enhanced security measures, its important to know if any of the layers of your hybrid cloud may be compromised when integrat-ed into the overall cloud workflow.

When considering a migration path to cloud transcod-ing and storage workflows, be sure to research how each public cloud platform handles the following:

Monitoring suspicious port scanning and intrusion attempts

Fending off a cyber attack Controlling access to physical data centers by

personnel Encrypting data Verifying credentials before allowing log-in (SSL/

TSL) Protecting transmissions (https, ftps, SSL) Preventing unauthorized access to your data Monitoring application, server and network usage Dealing with natural disasters and firesSecurity on your premises is your companys responsi-bility, including controlling access to your files, data and technology. You also need to guard against social hacking. And make sure your operators are properly trained in your security policies, such as never emailing security credentials to unauthorized users.

That leaves the vendor application layer, which bridges your premises with the cloud. Make sure the vendor you choose has implemented secure access policies protecting your cloud environment including:

Monitoring its virtual private network Verifying, encrypting and rotating login credentials Isolating your cloud ecosystem from other tenants

they may have Protecting API access Authenticating users upon every cloud instance Providing secure communications between

on-premise control point and cloud instances

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www.telestream.net | [email protected] | tel +1 530 470 1300

Copyright 2015. Telestream, CaptionMaker, Episode, Flip4Mac, FlipFactory, Flip Player, Lightspeed, ScreenFlow, Switch, Vantage, Wirecast, GraphicsFactory, MetaFlip, and Split-and-Stitch are registered trademarks and Pipeline, MacCaption, and e-Captioning are trademarks of Telestream, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. January 2015

Beyond The Cloud HorizonMigrating to the cloud is more than a trend. Its the future. Benefits like cost-savings, instant provisioning, elastic scalability, space savings, global access and increased productivity are too enticing to ignore.

Migrating your transcoding workflow to the cloud gives you the competitive edge that comes from managing your overhead, resources, workload, and quality output in a competitive media landscape.

When you see the cloud as an expansion of your technology toolkit, rather than an unsettling change, you begin to see new possibilities to grow your business.

With instant provisioning and pay-as-you-go pricing, youll be able to hit the ground running whenever a promising new business opportunity arises. And youll have the freedom and flexibility to take immediate action to bring new entertainment content and services to market faster while your ideas are still fresh.

About TelestreamTelestream provides world-class live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions that allow consumers and businesses to transform video on the desktop and across the enterprise. Many of the worlds most demanding media and entertainment companies as well as a growing number of users in a broad range of business environments, rely on Telestream products to streamline operations, reach broader audiences and generate more revenue from their media.

These companies choose to work with Telestream as they know they will get a trusted and highly skilled technical partner. Telestream prides itself on taking a true consultancy approach to customer relationships and is known for providing unparalleled customer service and support.

Telestream products span the entire digital media lifecycle, including video capture and ingest; live and on-demand encoding and transcoding; captioning; playback and inspection, delivery, and live streaming; as well as automation and orchestration of the entire workflow.

To Learn MoreVisit us at: www.telestream.net, or call us at: 1.530.470.1300.

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Cloud Transcoding Benefits