Magellan™ SDN Orchestrator

As media companies embrace the technology evolution that will lead to the transformation of their facilities from baseband to IP, they face investment, operational and workflow challenges. Enabling a smooth transition to an IP-based future is the Imagine Communications’ Magellan™ SDN Orchestrator – an overarching software control system for managing hybrid baseband and IP networks.

Even as the transition path is being defined, media companies have one basic requirement for both IP and SDI — ensure and maintain the integrity of all content being created, processed and distributed. Incorporating the Magellan SDN Orchestrator control layer into any hybrid network allows the entire bit flow to be software-defined, significantly improving the way valuable, high-quality video is managed throughout the broadcast facility. This delivers complete visibility of the entire network, offering a management view for optimal operational monitoring.

By facilitating the seamless integration of IP technology with legacy systems, the Magellan SDN Orchestrator protects your existing infrastructure investments, allowing you to maintain operational and workflow integrity in a hybrid environment, while on the path to an all-IP network.

Developing and introducing this innovative solution is yet another way Imagine Communications is leading the industry in providing a bridge to next-generation infrastructures. From the earliest demonstrations of IP transport of television signals to the development of the latest SMPTE standards, Imagine Communications is involved in every step of the media industry’s migration to IP.

Detail

COTS IP Switches
Key to the cost-effective and easy adoption of Magellan SDN Orchestrator into any network is that it instantiates predefined workflows through commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IP switches, providing professional broadcast performance for all connections. And by leveraging the ever-evolving, data center-grade COTS switching technology, the Magellan SDN Orchestrator enables media companies to ride the improving cost/performance curve of the IT industry, while facilitating seamless on-ramps and off-ramps between legacy and IP networks.

Software-Defined Workflows
Operators now have the opportunity to design and develop a software-defined model best suited for their network, and via the Magellan SDN Orchestrator, establish a customized network configuration that enables them to map both the hardware elements and software services into an SDN framework. Additionally, operators can set up specific routes through the network to define how the bits will flow – based on ‘virtual tie-lines’ – effectively mapping the current operating model of a broadcast center into the next generation of all-IP and hybrid-IP networks.

Integration and Migration
The Magellan SDN Orchestrator enables the integration of physical operator control panels and traditional routing control devices, including automation systems, multiviewers, master control panels and other devices in the facility.

More than 100 third-party systems have integrated with industry-recognized Imagine Communications control protocols, easing the way for any facility to begin a phased addition of IP technology into its workflow with the Magellan SDN Orchestrator. Utilizing dynamic signal-flow connections, and managing signal mappings, addressing and translations between legacy protocols and IP, the Magellan SDN Orchestrator ensures the dual-environment workflow is never disrupted during migration.

Now, media companies have the assurance they demand, and are able to focus on creating, managing and delivering content more easily and economically than ever before.