Advantech’s High Performance UHD/4K HEVC/AVC Encoder Cards Now Work with Wowza Streaming Engine

Wowza Adds Support for Socionext MB86M30 Based VEGA-331x Series Boards to Upcoming Software Release

Huntington Beach, Streaming Media West, November 13, 2018 – Advantech (TWSE: 2395.TW) today announced that Wowza Streaming Engine™ users will soon be able to use the high performance VEGA-331x range of HEVC and AVC UHD/4K video encoding boards to accelerate their Over the Top (OTT) workflows.

Wowza Streaming Engine is the leading software platform for end-to-end live video ingest, transcoding and streaming for multiple channels. Using standard IT-based architectures to deploy media services in this way offers excellent speed of provisioning, and potential to scale. A major challenge is that software-based transcoding experiences CPU limitations when working with multiple sources of UHD 4K and 8K resolutions. By utilizing hardware accelerators and software for the latest video encoding techniques, like HEVC, broadcasters are able to offload much of the compute load and enable faster, more optimized performance of their transcoding, packaging and streaming software.

Advantech helps to meet these challenges with its VEGA-331x video accelerator cards by providing the hardware acceleration required to scale video processing very efficiently across a wide range of live UHD video applications. Each accelerator card is able to perform professional-grade real-time encoding of UHD resolution video streams in an ultra-low-power and easy-to-integrate PCI Express format. Combined with the Wowza Streaming Engine software, the VEGA-331x provides a readily deployable accelerated OTT solution for AVC and HEVC channels.

The VEGA-331x product family comprises a range of capabilities and configurations to suit individual project needs, from a single channel UHD/4K live AVC/HEVC encoder on the VEGA-3311 up to the high density VEGA-3318 that can support 8 channels of 4K encoding in a single card while consuming as little as 65W. The range is based on the Socionext MB86M30 SoCs which supports many UHD, HD and SD video formats and can compress video using HEVC or AVC codecs in real time including 10-bit HDR-ready profiles and contribution grade 4:2:2 chroma subsampling.

Over the Top – OTT – is on the Rise

With OTT service penetration increasing rapidly, and with many content owners looking to monetize their content direct to viewers, some analysts believe that OTT viewing will outpace standard broadcast viewing by 2020. Coupled with the expectation for 4K and 8K content to be delivered, the pressure is on to find a cost-effective and power-efficient solution that can support all these extra demands. The increase in demand for speedy deployment leads many to consider off-the-shelf components, both hardware and software, to reduce risk and time-to-market.

“We are excited to offer support for this acceleration technology in Wowza Streaming Engine,” said Chris Cross, General Manager of Core Products at Wowza. “It’s clear to us that as densities and resolutions increase, hardware acceleration is becoming more of an issue to our users, so adding support for the Advantech VEGA family provides our customers more potential solutions.”

“Our VEGA family is ideal to meet the twin challenges of resolution and density for OTT channel provision,” said Brian Carr, Product Strategist and Marketing Director at Advantech. “Unlike software only implementations, using our hardware acceleration options for Wowza Streaming Engine unlocks new levels of performance.”

“This represents a logical next step in the Socionext “Media Cloud” initiative,” said Tom Miyake, Corporate EVP of Socionext Inc. “High density and low power consumption of our codec SoC, the MB86M30, supports the expansion of OTT services worldwide. The combination of all three companies has brought the advantages of this class of professional performance to the sort of wider audience that will make 4K and 8K streaming a reality.”

Wowza Streaming Engine release 4.7.7 supporting the VEGA-331x cards will be available very soon. Advantech also offer custom development support services including algorithm integration and hardware customization.

For more information, please contact video.solutions@advantech.com or visit Wowza Media Systems at Streaming Media West 13-14 November.

About Advantech Video Solutions

Founded in 1983, Advantech is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services, and solutions. Advantech VEGA Video Platforms and PCIe Adapters are designed to boost video infrastructure performance from acquisition to distribution at the lowest power budget while fully complying with the media industry needs. By providing access to the latest 4K/8K UHD video processing and IP media technologies on commercial-off-the-shelf IT platforms we accelerate the deployment of next-generation, open and more efficient video solutions across a wide range of applications from broadcast encoding and high-density OTT transcoding to cloud, mobile and 360° video. Advantech’s standard portfolio can be tailored to meet a range of system requirements, significantly reducing time-to-market effort for our customers. Contact video.solutions@advantech.com or visit www.video-acceleration.com.

About Wowza Media Systems

Wowza Media Systems™ is the recognized gold standard of streaming, with more than 22,000 customers in 170+ countries. By reducing the complexities of video and audio delivery to any device, Wowza™ enables organizations to expand their reach and more deeply engage their audiences, in industries ranging from education to broadcasting. Service providers, direct customers and partners worldwide trust Wowza products to provide robust, customizable and scalable streaming solutions—with powerful APIs and SDKs to meet organizations’ evolving streaming needs. Wowza was founded in 2005, is privately held, and is headquartered in Colorado. For more information, please visit www.wowza.com.

About Socionext Inc.

Socionext is a global, innovative enterprise that designs, develops and delivers System-on-Chip solutions to customers worldwide. The company is focused on imaging, networking, computing and other dynamic technologies that drive today’s leading-edge applications. Socionext combines world-class expertise, experience, and an extensive IP portfolio to provide exceptional solutions and ensure a better quality of experience for customers. Founded in 2015, Socionext Inc. is headquartered in Yokohama, and has offices in Japan, Asia, United States and Europe to lead its product development and sales activities. For more information, visit www.socionext.com.