France Télévisions Taps Nevion VideoIPath to Manage Nationwide IP Contribution Network

Nevion, a leader in transporting media from the camera to the home, announced that France Télévisions is using its VideoIPath media service and network management system to manage its nationwide IP contribution network. The French public broadcaster has more than 100 sites located around the country, which are all connected with links between 10 Mbits to more than 100 Mbits to enable real-time contribution. Nevion’s French partner, Euplink, handled the sale and installation. The system went live in February 2015.

France Televisions sets up close to 50,000 ad-hoc connections per year between its sites. With VideoIPath, France Télévisions staff can easily manage all of these connections, without the need for expert know-how. Crucially, given that many of the links have limited bandwidth, VideoIPath ensures that connections are never over-provisioned, thereby guaranteeing the quality of service for live contribution. In this deployment, VideoIPath is integrated with MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 media edge-adapters from two separate third-party suppliers, managing not only their provisioning but also reporting their status back to the users in the form of alarms.

“We wanted a proven out-of-the-box product that would simplify the management of our extended network. After extensive evaluation with the support of Euplink, we found that Nevion’s VideoIPath best met our requirements,” said Arnaud Kotlarczik, project director at France Télévisions.

Emmanuel Girouard, project manager at France Télévisions added: “As well as the expected operational benefits, full control of our media transport was immediately at our fingertips, without the need for additional bespoke software development during the implementation process.”

“By using VideoIPath to automate IP’s often complex media transport processes, France Télévisions benefits from faster set-up times, proactive problem identification and resolution, and reduced operating expenses,” said Geir Bryn-Jensen, CEO at Nevion. “It’s gratifying to see another leading broadcaster capitalize on VideoIPath’s many benefits.”

Nevion was recently awarded a Technical and Engineering Emmy award for its role in the standardization and productization of JPEG 2000 (J2K) interoperability.