The Welsh Government needed to replace their legacy IPTV and digital signage system. Their main criteria were finding an easily updatable, remotely manageable solution to their requirement for streaming national TV news services alongside their signage application but with minimal on-premises hardware.
The project was being led by a consulting firm which was advising the Welsh Government and acting as the primary System Integrator. They approached Amino based on recommendations and knowledge that Amino have both suitable devices for this use case but also a huge depth of knowledge of video and IPTV.
Project
The H200 media-player was able to deliver both the signage requirements and IPTV decoding on the same platform and so was an obvious choice as a client device. However following discussions with the consulting firm, Amino suggested that the on-premises components could be reduced to simply use the H200 media-player with all other components being hosted in cloud. The suggested approach was to source content from the cloud and stream unicast services over the IP network.
For content acquisition the solution would remove the need for satellite dishes or antennae to be installed and it eliminated the need for specialist broadcast receivers, both reducing the capital expenditure and the maintenance costs of the solution. It also meant that the Welsh government IT department would not require any specialist knowledge of broadcast equipment.
Management of the media players across the premises would also be moved to the cloud, using the Amino Orchestrate platform. This allowed remote management of all aspects of software deployment and configuration of the media devices as well as remote diagnostics and the ability to view what is on the screen of each media player.
These were significant benefits but required a partner who could deliver the channels required by the Welsh Government over IP and in the correct formats: we introduced Stream Republic, a leading supplier of managed media services, to partner in this solution.
Stream Republic had an existing downlink and transcoding platform allowing the services to be downlinked centrally from satellite and transcoded for unicast IP delivery using HLS and DASH. This provided a pre-built and cost-effective alternative to the traditional method of using receivers at each site to access linear TV services.
After evaluating benefits of this approach, the Welsh Government selected the solution with Amino's H200 devices running the Orchestrate management platform, Stream Republic providing content.
The deployment involved:
- Amino H200 devices for IPTV and digital signage
- Orchestrate remote management platform
- Stream Republic Content acquisition and delivery CDN
- Integration with Now Signage digital signage CMS
The Outcome
The key benefits achieved by the Welsh Government included:
- Significant capex savings compared to previous system
- Significant opex savings with simplified on-premises equipment
- Higher quality video experience through OTT delivery
- Cloud-based management of all devices and content
- Future-proof, scalable, and flexible solution
The deployment was unique for swapping out an incumbent vendor: Amino met government security requirements and combined IPTV with cloud digital signage on one platform.
Conclusion
The Welsh Government has boldly embraced the future by modernizing its video services through Amino's cutting-edge, converged hardware and software platform. This trailblazing deployment has consolidated digital signage and OTT IPTV delivery into one single, seamless solution. Harnessing the power of remote cloud management, the Welsh Government now wields complete control over their content and infrastructure from anywhere. With zero-touch simplicity, they can effortlessly update, manage and troubleshoot their entire system at the push of a button.
The Stream Republic downlink and video delivery platform was an important enabler and facilitated the removal of broadcast receivers from the local deployment. This pioneering implementation obliterates legacy complexities, paving the way for unrivalled scalability, flexibility and cost efficiency.
Amino's unique Orchestrate platform proved the decisive factor, outshining rival solutions with its unparalleled integration, cloud-based agility and game-changing consolidation of services. The Welsh Government's bold leap into the future provides an exciting blueprint for modernization that should inspire other similar organizations to follow suit.
Customer Quote:
"Using Amino has provided a clear and simple solution to replace our legacy system. Orchestrate enabled a remarkably simple, zero-touch deployment and an easy way to manage, update and resolve issues moving forward. The combination of cloud-based signage and OTT IPTV is the future - it provides a scalable, flexible structure that is easy to manage."
Amino Quote:
"We're proud to help the Welsh Government modernize their video services through our converged hardware and software platform. This deployment highlights the flexibility and remote management capabilities that allow customers to consolidate services while futureproofing their investment."
