Harmonic boosts live streaming offering

Harmonic has added live video streaming as a managed service to its VOS cloud-native offerings.

The company says the new capability has been deployed by a mobile network operator to deliver live sports content utilizing a multi-CDN approach with Harmonic’s CDN partners.

Operated as a fully managed service, the live video delivery functionality utilizes a single control platform and a multi-tiered, multi-CDN approach leveraging partnerships with third-party CDNs and video delivery nodes deployed by Harmonic, according to the company.

Harmonic claims that the offering enables operators to achieve scale, decrease costs, and improve quality-of-experience for live video streaming and on-demand content without upfront costs.

“The biggest challenge with live video streaming is being able to handle the unexpected peaks in viewership, especially during premium events,” said Shahar Bar, senior vice president, Video Business, at Harmonic.

“This new access network capability for our VOS offerings provides operators with the ultimate trifecta for live premium-quality video streaming: immediate scalability, critical reliability and smart, flexible pricing models. It’s essentially an insurance policy for live video delivery and an exclusive capability not achievable with other business-as-usual solutions.”

Harmonic has also teamed up with Google and 3SS to create an integrated OTT and broadcast live sports workflow on Android TV, delivering features such as picture-in-picture, multi-view and personalized mosaic. At IBC the companies will demonstrate how payT V operators can deliver personalized, low-latency live sports experiences on OTT and hybrid set-top boxes using Harmonic’s VOS  live video platform, a UHD set-top and the 3READY custom launcher application from 3SS.

The demo incorporates Harmonic’s containerized VOS software platform, spanning content preparation through origin server, hosted on Google Cloud Platform.

“Personalized experiences are common in OTT sports environments, and it’s time to bridge the gap between the OTT and broadcast worlds. This tailored live sports OTT and linear experience on Android TV is a breakthrough in our industry, made possible thanks to a unique cloud-native live video platform provided by Harmonic, a powerful UHD STB powered by Android TV and an intuitive user experience enabled by 3SS,” said Bar.

“The customer need for live sports is super simple. It has to be live and in best quality. The reality is that OTT live streams typically have a latency between 30-90 seconds and are often far from ultra-high quality.” said Pierre Donath, chief product officer at 3SS. “Together with Harmonic, we challenged what’s possible and created the next level of OTT live sports and personalized linear experience by combining our industry-leading technologies powered by Android TV.”

Separately Harmonic has teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to optimize deployments of its VOS platform through HPE GreenLake, a suite of curated solutions that delivers IT outcomes with hardware, software and expertise on-premises.

Harmonic has also partnered with Aveco to give operators a single interface to control hybrid on-premises and cloud playout workflows for more efficient delivery of broadcast and OTT channels, including live streaming, according to the company

Harmonic is exhibiting at IBC on Stand 1.B20.