Williams Launches Broadcast-Quality IP Video

Williams Communications is expanding its basket of services for broadcasters with new broadcast-quality IP video services, to be announced today at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas.

The new service complements Williams’ existing broadcast video services, offered by the company’s Vyvx unit, which include TDM-based DS3/45mbs and video over ATM offerings, says Curtis Barone, Williams’ enhanced IP services product manager. Vyvx, which Williams acquired many years ago, was a pioneer in offering transport services to the broadcasting community.

Williams’ new video over IP service, which can be used to transmit file-based content and live broadcast-quality (MPEG-2) video, offers reliability similar to ATM, says Barone. The MPLS-based backbone the new service runs over has a fast reroute feature that exceeds SONET standards (it’s 15 milliseconds), he adds. And using IP from a terrestrial network can deliver multicast efficiencies similar to those offers by satellite, Barone says.

But the fact that the new service, because it is IP-based, enables a peer-to-peer content sharing among any studios, remote sites or other programmers or advertisers, is probably one of the key selling points of the service. Another key benefit, adds Barone, is the fact that broadcasters can use the same IP network they use for video for other services like corporate data. “One of the distinctions with this is our classic Vyvx is more a service model – customer using it occasionally,” says Barone. “This is a network model. It takes advantage of the convergence theory.”

Beyond just offering broadcasters bandwidth for video applications, Williams is acting as a managed service provider, notes Barone. In that role, it is delivering customers with the necessary customer premises equipment; Williams declined to name what equipment and from what vendors. Williams will also supply broadcast customers with its web-based Net InView tool to enable them to view information on network latency, packet loss and availability and to give the ability to increase or lower their bandwidth.

Williams expects to make the service generally available in July. Pricing has yet to be finalized.

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