AWS supports multi-partner interoperability workshop as part of the Live Cloud Production Initiative

In April 2022, AWS introduced the Live Cloud Production Initiative (formerly known as the Virtual Live Remote Production Initiative) to bridge technology gaps and expand our broadcast solution portfolio in collaboration with AWS partners. The aim is to deliver outcomes that benefit our current and future partners, customers, and the M&E community.

Because of the intricacies of broadcast workflows—from diverse industry standards and protocols to use case-based architecture designs—a primary aspect of this initiative is to foster collaboration among multiple AWS partners through regular interoperability workshops, tackling real-world technical scenarios, increasing readiness, and identifying working areas and future development opportunities. Additional desired outcomes of such workshops include:

• Successful testing and validation of workflows based on customer input
• Establishing repeatable design blueprints and workshops
• Accelerating partner and customer engagement
• Developing technical content

We held our first multi-partner workshop of 2023 from June 19th–21st in partnership with the Prime Video Sports team in the state-of-the-art Production Control Room (PCR). We held it at the Los Angeles Amazon Studios facilities because it provided an ideal collaboration environment in a real-life production setting. The event featured nine AWS Partners, including Chyron, Matrox, Telos Alliance, TAG Video Systems, Vizrt, Ross Video, Riedel Communications, AP News, and Diversified. Participants collaborated in person and could interoperate in the cloud, with various deployments, features, and workflows tested for the first time.

The primary theme of this workshop was the Network Device Interface (NDI) protocol (1080p 59.94fps signals), because of its wide adoption. While not a standard, the NDI SDK offerings enable distinct features that provide opportunities for testing interoperability. Participants engaged in testing signal send and receive between one another and also simulated a live broadcast workflow of camera transmission to the cloud using both NDI and Secure Reliable Transport (SRT). We tested workflow processes, including cloud gateways for signal reception and routing (leveraging partner solutions, as well as AWS Elemental MediaConnect), vision and audio mixing, replay, graphics, news automation, monitoring, signal conversion (SRT and NDI), and news room control system. The teams used a variety of test cases to evaluate technical successes and identify areas for improvement, acting as an ongoing exercise and a launch pad for future events.

The workshop incorporated aspects such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using AWS CloudFormation to speed up infrastructure deployment, and infrastructure observability by creating infrastructure usage dashboards using Amazon CloudWatch and Amazon Managed Grafana. Besides the hands-on collaboration sessions, the event featured focus discussions of technical and business topics such as the different licensing and support for on premises in contrast to cloud, industry protocols, and more. Participants used the in-person focus sessions to engage in open discussions about top-of-mind topics related to cloud to host and deliver live remote production.

Key lessons from the event include:

• Regular, in-person interoperability workshops that foster a safe environment for collaboration and experimentation are key for solution acceleration
• Workshop themes should consistently work backwards from customers and market trends to align with their requirements, insights, challenges, and visions
• Different technical themes enable broad and deep dives into industry requirements, identifying efficiencies, challenges, and opportunities
• Technical test cases should be user-driven as user stories, and cater for different personas (such as operations and engineering) to enable accurate representation of real-world scenarios
• Technical and business focus sessions help address market needs with a 360 degrees view

The following leaders provided positive feedback following the event:

“This first AWS LCP Interop event marks a very important point for our industry on how vendors and integrators can and will work together now and into the future. To be able to ideate in real time with our partners, test solutions, develop new workflows, and most important develop relationships with each other is a game changer. The LCP creates an environment for open dialog and discourse so we can define how we as an industry can work together to develop products our customers and clients want and need. Diversified is honored to be a part of this ongoing initiative.” – Tom Carlisle, Media Cloud Solutions Leader, Emerging Technology & Solutions, Diversified

“We’re thrilled to have joined the AWS Live Cloud Production (LCP) initiative. We believe that with its advanced graphics and live production capabilities, the Chyron PRIME and LIVE platforms will be adding a lot of value to the LCP workflow. This encapsulates the most advanced platforms from the leading vendors in their respective fields—all running on AWS—so that content creators around the world can form best-of-breed production environments, on demand, to address today and tomorrow’s most demanding live production needs. Amazon’s LCP initiative has been incredibly enriching in every way. The discussion sessions on the requirements and challenges of Broadcast Production in the Cloud, confirms that the future is the Cloud, and it is coming fast!” – Sebastian Berdichevsky, Presales Director, Chyron

“It was great to see the gathering of vendors in one spot all working together in a collaborative fashion to expand capabilities within the AWS. The sharing of experience as well as current customer requests for feature sets helped shape the overall experience. The old guard, including me, continue to have their eyes opened on a daily basis to the possibilities of cloud production. We continue to make great strides and I am sure this will only grow in importance to the growth of infrastructure that supports how content gets created and distributed.” – John Ward, Sr. Manager, Tech Ops, Prime Video Live Sports, AWS

As we listen to the voice of our customers and work backwards from their requirements, future workshops will expand the technical themes to wider broadcast needs and support AWS Partners in their journey through continuous learning and collaboration.

Sincere appreciation goes to the participants Chyron, Matrox, Telos Alliance, TAG VS, Vizrt, Ross Video, Riedel Communications, AP News, and Diversified for making this event a success.

For more information about the Live Cloud Production Initiative, please see our blog post.