MLB Network Expands with Miranda Routing Technologies

Miranda Technologies, a Belden Brand, a global provider of integrated solutions for production, playout and delivery systems for television broadcasters and multi-system operators, announces the completion of a major router expansion at MLB Network, Major League Baseball’s 24/7 cable television network, that includes NVISION enterprise class routing with fiber inter-connectivity throughout the production workflow.

Located in Secaucus, N.J., MLB Network’s file-based HD production and distribution facility houses one of the world’s most modern IT-based infrastructures and associated digital file-based workflows. The facility not only serves as the HD production and broadcast center for MLB Network, it provides MLB Productions with the ability to meet immense post production and archival needs.

As part of its requirement to manage a greater amount of content moving forward, and upgrade the facility to 3 Gb/s, MLB Network has added additional NVISION 8500 Series routers, equipped with fiber optic connectivity, to its workflow that was already managed with NVISION routing. The expanded system now includes two NVISION 8576 (576 x 1152) and one NVISION 8280 (288 x 576), with fiber tielines.

“When our all-HD facility first went live in January of 2009, our infrastructure was supported at the core with a MirandaNVISION 8576 router,” says Mark Haden, VP, Engineering and IT at MLB Network. “It served not only as the fulcrum of our production environment, but master control and all broadcast elements.

“At the time we thought we’d never need another router, but rapid expansion meant that we found ourselves needing more sources and destinations than we ever could have imagined.  The most important thing to us is that we didn’t have to decommission the 8576 – we simply added another one.  We’re still using the original router, which is the beauty of the NVISION routers. They grew and scaled, matching our growth.”

The original NVISION 8576 now serves MLB Network’s operations functions while the new NVISION 8576 is dedicated to production. Both are linked via Miranda fiber optic, bidirectional tielines, including a third NVISION 8280 router that now sits at the heart of the network’s distribution function.

The direct lines of fiber connectivity that link MLB Productions and MLB Network via NVISION routers have substantially streamlined the ability to move, manipulate and manage high quality content between the two.

Haden added, “The amount of content and metadata associated with all of the baseball games we ingest, catalog and broadcast is immense, so reliability and expandability are crucial. The NVISION routers deliver system resilience, simplify signal management and provide far lower return losses through high-density connectors, audio concentrators and direct fiber connectivity.”

Marco Lopez, Miranda’s president, said, “As production and content requirements continue to grow, it’s essential that the infrastructure provides a level of capacity that facilitates growth, not cap it. MLB Network is a prime example of how well-planned, well-executed expansion is done, and we’re excited to have helped make it happen.”