My role 

When I joined Net Insight in 1999, after I had been working five years with Ethernet and IP routers at a system integrator, I started as installation and support engineer at Net Insight, our Nimbra products were still very young. Then I got more engaged in field work, product evaluation and customer Proof of Concepts around the world and I was also on-site technician during major live sports events. This resulted in a strong understanding of customer requirements and my knowledge has helped in enhancing our Nimbra products and functions. 

I am currently a sales engineer and network architect at Net Insight. This means that I am part of the sales team and my part is to technically understand what the customer actually is asking for and how they can benefit from using products that we are developing and selling. A typical workday for me means that together with customers architect solutions that are as good as possible, cost effective, scalable and future-proof. Many broadcasters and media companies are moving towards IP video standards that still has to have the flexibility to mix with legacy media interfaces. In parallel I have a similar tech sales role within our new 5G time synchronization solution that distributes IEEE1588 PTP over non FTS WAN. This fits well, and completes our media and sync portfolio, as IP media need sync and uses IEEE1588 PTP also. 

Personally, I strive to find an optimal solution, however in most cases, “good enough” is good enough and it is important to find these tradeoffs and not lock yourself up.  

In my role it is natural to have a close relation with sales, product management and development and to influence stakeholders in those departments.  

And of course, a close relationship with our customers around the globe.  

How is working at Net Insight?  

Working at Net Insight is both fun and personally developing learning from both our customers and Net Insight colleagues. There are always new things to learn being surrounded by very talented people. The Net Insight culture allows for transparency and cross learning.  

The office in Solna, Sweden, is great with its modern design and spacious areas. It is a good place to meet. 

I believe that all of us who work at Net Insight, myself for 20 years+, take great proud in knowing that we develop and sell solutions around the globe, that the broadcast industry, production companies, service providers and all its billions of end customers are reliant on that it just must work, and it does! 

The post Meet Our Talents – Michael, our Sales Engineer and Network Architect appeared first on Net Insight.

(Click here to read the Swedish version)

Welcome to Open Insight, our blog for investors. This is where you can find out more about our offering and market position, our progress, our challenges and our growth. 

Time passes quickly and I have now been with Net Insight for almost two years. This has been an eventful period with many changes and improvements on the agenda. 

We have set a clear growth strategy and focused our core operations with the sale of Sye and ScheduALL, developed our product portfolio to become one of the sector’s broadest, and clarified our financial target to achieve long-term profitable growth. We have won the largest deal in Net Insight’s history – which represents a step forward in our strategy of exploring and expanding into adjacent market segments – and we are now in the process of strengthening our sales organization. 

This has required extraordinary effort, but the rewards greatly outweigh the hard work. We have worked through an entirely unpredictable pandemic that has tested us more than once, but that we have managed successfully.  

As an effect, growth and profitability increased significantly over the last five quarters. The strong close to 2021 was due to increased sales in the media business and the breakthrough order with Türk Telekom.  

For us, it is natural to comply with the current sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Accordingly, we have decided not to deliver to these countries. This includes both indirect and direct sales, deliveries and support to our customers, suppliers and partners in Russia and Belarus. As our exposure to these markets is very limited, this is not expected to have any impact on the company’s operations. 

There is considerable interest in our new product for 5G synchronization, and in this issue of Open Insight I will focus on our current position and the progress of the development work. At the same time, we have also had some exciting developments in the media business. We had a strong presence at the winter games in China where many new products and solutions were used, such as our recently launched JPEG XS function for video compression with ultra low latency. 

Long experience in synchronization

As I have mentioned on several previous occasions, we have a long history of synchronization. This started more than 15 years ago with the development of our GPS-independent time synchronization functionality (Time Transfer) for national digital TV networks. We hold several patents in the area and synch is used in most of our products. Around 20 of our terrestrial TV customers use Net Insight’s synch technology in their operations. It is against this background that we are now taking on this exciting project.

Start-up phase 

We reached the first milestone in the project when we delivered the first part of the initial order for Nimbra Time Node products to Türk Telekom at the end of 2021. The initial delivery is based on the existing Nimbra platform and includes the first release of our new technology for 5G Precision TimeNet, which is a development of our existing GPS-independent Time Transfer solution. This solution is also undergoing proof-of-concept testing with five other customers.  

Read more about Precision TimeNet here 

Extended collaboration with Meinberg 

We have extended our collaboration with Meinberg, a leading operator in time synchronization, to improve our solution Precision TimeNet. We will also use Meinberg’s established sales channels to reach new markets with the synch solution.  

Read more in the press release here. 

“Net Insight’s Precision TimeNet offers a unique solution on the market that we see a strong and growing need for, across multiple industries. We’re excited to be working with Net Insight, a leader in mission-critical IP transport, to drive innovation and enable our customers to benefit from GNSS-independent time synchronization.”

Heiko Gerstung, CEO of Meinberg

On schedule

Development of the new synch product for 5G is underway. This volume product is a cost–optimized development of the current solution adapted to be positioned out in the 5G networks near base stations. The focus is currently on defining the software architecture and completing the initial hardware design, as well as working on purchasing and technology procurement. These activities have started and are proceeding according to plan. 

Recruitment underway  

We are in the process of building the team, which is now almost fully staffed. We have successfully recruited a total of 24 people who are already fully committed to the development project. We have also just recruited a new product manager with extensive experience of synchronization, telecom and 5G networks, a very valuable addition to the project.  

Our 5G synch solution confers clear advantages

Initially, we see 5G as the main target market for the synch solution, where mobile operators are our customers. In contrast with 3G/4G, 5G requires precise time synch because of the transition from frequency to time multiplex (TDD), which increases the requirement for precision by more than 60 times. Because our solution is open and enables distribution of precise time synchronization over existing networks, this reduces costs in connection with the roll out of 5G. It is also GPS/GNSS-independent and thus more secure. We see considerable potential for our solution in the long term, including in other critical network applications. 

We have started to build up a dedicated sales organization that focuses exclusively on the synch offering and have recruited resources in sales, tech sales and business development with extensive experience of mobile networks and telecom. Sales will initially be direct, but will also take place through selected local and global partners. 

We will obviously exploit Net Insight’s global presence. We have 25 years’ experience of global distribution and will expand and adapt our distribution channels.  

Presenting our synch solution at Mobile World Congress 

We had a very positive response when we presented our synch solution in Barcelona at the end of the month. The potential to avoid upgrading entire networks and thereby significantly reducing costs in connection with the 5G roll out represents a major advantage for many operators. The uncertain geopolitical situation has also created a strong awareness of the need for critical networks such as 5G to be GNSS/GPS-independent. 

Our open solution – where synch is separated from the transport solution and is thereby independent of the underlying network – is a close fit with the new open reference models for 5G. Operators who have only built smaller networks or carried out tests over dedicated 5G networks have often not yet experienced the problems and challenges associated with time synchronization in major networks. It was clear that most operators have now started to realize the complexity associated with the cost efficient extension and management of time synchronization when extending regional and nationwide networks. Here, our solution is a very close fit as we enable simpler and more cost-optimized large scale roll out. We feel that our solution is very timely. 

New functionality

In 2021, we launched several important new functions in our media product portfolio, and are increasing investments further in 2022. As previously communicated, we have introduced JPEG XS functionality in all our products. JPEG XS delivers video compression with ultralow latency and high production quality, which is very important for the new distributed production flows. To help our customers connect IP–based studios or production centers, we are continuing to develop ST 2110 functionality. We made the first customer delivery of 2110 solutions a year ago. More functionality will be delivered in 2022 and major releases are scheduled for this summer. 

Strong position in cloudbased services 

With Nimbra Edge, we have achieved a strong position in the rapidly expanding area of cloudbased media solutions. At present, we are focusing on our customer-driven roadmap where we receive very positive feedback on our new functionality and where there is considerable market interest. 

We currently have around 10 active Nimbra Edge customers in all regions, including service provider Tata Communication, video production for LinkedIn and Swiss TV broadcaster SRF’s productions such as the Alpine Skiing World Cup.   

As I described in Open Insight #9, last fall The Switch launched its cloudbased service MIMiC Transmission, which is entirely based on our product Nimbra Edge. Watch the video where Robert Szabo-Rowe, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Product Management at The Switch, talks about MIMiC here.  

New case study with Arena Sport

In 2021, Arena Sport started using remote production for the Serbian Super League, and the Serbian Soccer Association (FSS) has now activated its new centralized VAR system, all based on Net Insight’s solutions. 

Read our new case study here.  

New partnerships  

We have entered several new partnerships, including with Red5 Pro where we have combined Nimbra Edge with their XDN (Experience Delivery Network) to offer a solution in media contribution and distribution, as well as a collaboration with intoPIX to develop the next generation JPEG XS-compatible solutions. 

Read more about Red5 Pro 

Read more about intoPIX

Exciting phase

Thank you for your time. I am pleased that so many pieces of the puzzle are already falling into place in the synch project. This is where the advantage of being a small, agile and responsive company on a global market really comes to the fore. We already have the innovation power, alongside the ability to turn our leading edge competencies into commercial products. Now our growth journey continues. 

 

Crister Fritzson, CEO, Net Insight 

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Major events are often live-streamed over congested networks that cause quality issues, especially when a media company doesn’t have dedicated links. This is why many media operators deploy equipment in IP environments that secure and separate channels to avoid a customer or service interfering with another customer service.

Ways to improve the quality of a media broadcast during major events

So, how does a media company handle the challenges of broadcasting media during large events with thousands of watchers?

The 1+1 protection

One way to address the problem in IP environments (both managed and unmanaged), is by setting up 1+1 protection with two separate paths preferably from two different providers to ensure redundancy. This means that if a link faces issues and packets are dropped, the same packets can be sent through the other link and maintain high quality. By using hitless 1+1 protection, such as the SMPTE 2022-7 standard, at the receiving side, seamless protection and enhanced quality are achieved. While this approach solves the problem, setting up dual links can add to the cost significantly.

ARQ – Automatic Repeat Request

Another way to tackle quality issues is through ARQ, i.e. fast packet retransmission techniques for UDP media streams. The two most common protocols used are SRT and the RIST standard. They are developed for improving quality over the public internet, but can also be used to handle packet loss over congested managed networks. Productions can suffer 10-20% or sometimes even higher packet loss and still get high-quality streams.

What are UDP streams?

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol widely used for streaming audio and video, VoIP (Voice over IP), and video conferencing. UDP is a so-called unreliable protocol ─ a protocol that does not check for errors during the transmission ─ as such, some jokingly refer to UDP as the “Unreliable Datagram Protocol”. But the lack of error checking functionality is not necessarily a demerit. UDP is suitable for purposes where error-checking and correction are either not necessary or are performed in the application itself. Due to its statelessness, it’s ideal for transmitting data to large numbers of viewers.

So what are UDP streams, and why should you care? Well, due to its lack of retransmission delays, it’s perfect for time-sensitive applications where dropped packets are preferred over waiting for delayed packets to retransmission, which may not always be an option in a real-time stream.

Time synchronization

A final point that media companies need to consider is time synchronization. Media traffic is sensitive to both jitter and phase alignment, which makes pacing and frame alignment often necessary. However, this means the source and destination nodes should use the same clock, and in IP environments, transferring time can be challenging. Therefore, it is important to ensure clocks are configured correctly on both sides to avoid frame misalignment and overall poor quality.

The post How to adapt a media workflow to provide better quality during large events appeared first on Net Insight.

Swedish technology makes 5G networks keep time

Synchronization of 5G base stations needs to be kept below one microsecond or the network will stop working. Swedish company Net Insight has a robust and affordable solution for clock distribution over existing infrastructure in nationwide mobile networks. Türk Telekom is the first customer.

Just before Christmas a large delegation from the Turkish operator—including the CEO and CTO—visited Stockholm to sign an agreement with Net Insight, making the company a partner and supplier of time synchronization for Türk Telekom’s mobile network in Turkey.

“We built a VAR system [decision review for soccer referees] for Türk Telekom which they tested as early as 2017, and which was implemented in 2018. They had heard about our solution for time synchronization and contacted us to ask if we could help them with the 5G roll out,” Per Lindgren, CTO and co-founder of Net Insight explains.

The agreement is worth SEK 220 million and runs until 2026. SEK 55 million will be used on product development.

“There is already a product and we are now working to improve accuracy, redundancy and manageability.”

The demands on synchronization are far higher across all parts of a 5G network compared to LTE, by a factor of 20 to 50. The reason is that large volumes of 5G traffic is time division duplexed (TDD) and needs to work for real time services such as remote control vehicles or factories. Latency in radio traffic cannot be more than a microsecond.

In practice, this means that accuracy in mobile network nodes must keep time within a couple of nanoseconds. This also needs to be done using an external reference so that overlapping mobile networks from different operators do not disrupt each other.

“We developed the solution as early as 2006 for the digital TV network and built the first large network for Norkring in Norway.”

Demands on the Norwegian TV network included that it needed to be GPS-independent, following a number of incidents when it was disrupted during NATO exercises.

Using the clocks in satellite positioning systems such as GPS or Galileo as a time reference is inexpensive and provides accuracy of a few tenths of a nanosecond. However, the signals are weak and easy to disrupt.

“The first tests were carried out in Turkey in 2019 during the Syrian war. For most of the time there was no GPS signal in Ankara, which highlighted the need very clearly,” Per Lindgren explains.

GPS is also subject to problems with spoofing, which involves false GPS signals that are stronger than the real signal and provide recipients with the wrong position and time. In Galileo this has been fixed using encryption.

“This means that many countries require 5G networks to be satellite independent to be awarded a license, and PTS in Sweden requires all mobile networks to be independent of foreign systems, including satellites by 2025.”

Protocol IEEE1588, also known as PTP, constitutes a standard protocol for clock distribution with sufficient accuracy for use in mobile networks. However, this requires hardware support in every node.

“This works well if you are constructing an entirely new network, and in urban areas. But it gets expensive when you want to upgrade and replace an entire national network. The main difference is that we can use existing IP networks – we build an overlay network and have managed over 24 router hops where 1,200 km was the longest,” Per Lindgren continues.

Net Insight’s solution resembles IEEE1588 but can compensate for the asymmetries and congestion that always exist in IP networks.

Tests show that synchronization accuracy is a couple of hundred nanoseconds, and the solution works regardless of whether Huawei, Cisco, Ericsson or someone else has delivered the underlying infrastructure.

“It is also fully interoperable with PTP, so if you have PTP in one part you can use that, and use our solution to reach the areas that don’t.”

Like NTP (Network Time Protocol), PTP (Precision Time Protocol) is a protocol for clock distribution in networks.

“Fundamentally we use the same technology as for time stamps. We send and receive time-stamped messages.

The message is then sent back using the same procedure, and latency can be calculated when it returns to the starting point.”

“There are two problems, achieving exact time stamps if there is a lot of jitter (latency variation), but the main problem relates to asymmetries, i.e. different latencies in the uplink and downlink.”

To just divide the time it takes for the signal to get there and back by two generates a phase error.

“Here, we have unique capability in handling this by using profiles,” Per Lindgren explains.

The company’s solution capitalizes on the fact that the signal can take several alternative routes to reach the recipient, which is used to create a profile.

“This means that we can discover asymmetries and compensate for them. Our algorithms generate tenfold higher accuracy than PTP.”

The potential for redundancy is another advantage. If a node malfunctions, the signal can take a different route to reach its intended destination.

“This solution exists in PTP but the process is relatively manual. Our thinking is network before synchronization, so we always find the best route and can also use several different routes. These are not present in PTP.”

Depending on the construction of mobile networks, new hardware may be required in the nodes even if the algorithm itself does not need more computational power than needed to operate using existing network hardware.

If the operator uses a modern radio network (RAN) that is fully PTP-compatible, it is enough to just add the software.

“It then works as standard PTP, the system does not pick up whether it is us or another boundary clock.”

However, many operators lease transport capacity in fiber networks. To manage this, extra hardware is needed.

“In Turkey, we will construct the network using hardware in the base stations. They want to be entirely independent,” Per Lindgren explains.

With regard to the reference clock, operators usually decide where it should be sourced. In Sweden everyone uses Netnod, but it is possible to use several different reference clocks which further increases reliability.

Regardless of which clock you use it should be synchronized with UTC, Coordinated Universal Time, which is the global time standard. This ensures that all networks use the same time reference and can coexist.

Normally, Net Insight receives time in the form of a PTP signal and transmits it in the same way to the nodes. This takes place a few thousand times per second so the clocks in the individual nodes do not need to be particularly accurate.

“Because we offer improved accuracy closer to the network edge than for traditional solutions, we offer a better timing budget as there is more margin in the final hops.”

The largest network in operation today is the Norwegian digital TV network with approximately 800 nodes. A mobile network can have over 10,000 nodes, which places much higher demands on easy management, upgrading and error trapping in the nodes.

But the hardware also needs to be developed. A great deal has happened since the first version was launched, and it can now be built much more inexpensively.

“The market is exciting and there is a window of opportunity right now. The solution can also be used in other time-critical networks such as power grids and emergency services.”

This article was first published in Swedish in Elektroniktidningen (cover and pages 14-15).

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RPC, the Brazilian tv network, is one of the largest TV Globo affiliates. When it was time to replace their existing live contribution and distribution system RPC turned to Net Insight.

RPC wanted to reduce operational costs by using a lower QoS type of network and they selected Net Insight’s video over internet solution, the Nimbra 400 platform, to exchange RPC live content to their own affiliates 24/7.

“A number of benefits made us convinced that Net Insight was the right choice, such as the solution reliability, the user-friendly network monitoring and redundancy tools offering us the flexibility to use other operators as redundancy,” says Laercio Jose Kazmierczak, Project coordinator at RPC. “Most importantly, the solution enables us to use a lower-cost type of network connectivity, which saves us costs.”

The Nimbra 400 family is the very definition of versatility, engineered for the harsh realities of the internet and supports a wide range of video and transport technologies. The combination of native support for both AVC and HEVC video encoding and decoding, compressed video over IP and ASI and an open and flexible approach to IP networking enables Nimbra to guarantee lossless media transport over unmanaged internet links.

Read more about RPC

Read more about Nimbra 400

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How did you learn of Net Insight and take an interest in your position?  

I was looking for smaller company with interesting products and technology and an agile organization. Then I came across an ad that caught my interest and found out that it really was a great match both for culture and technology.   

What is your role at Net Insight?   

I am the manager for several development teams that handle different parts of our products, such as Streaming, Edge, Ethernet/IP Video and Platform.   

What do you do during a typical workday?  

That varies a lot, in general what is needed to create the foundation so the teams can work efficiently to deliver our products. It can be to remove impediments or improve processes, help with communication or work with recruitment.    

How is working at Net Insight?  

I enjoy working with really skilled and nice co-workers. There are a lot of opportunities to learn new things here since we work with such a broad range of technologies and a lot of talented people. The development teams really have broad responsibilities. 

What challenges are you looking forward to solving in the future?  

To push further on our development environment, CI/CD and continuous improvement culture. 

The post Meet Our Talents – Eva, our Manager for Nimbra Applications appeared first on Net Insight.

Rise is an advocacy membership group which supports women from all backgrounds working in the broadcast media technology sector. The goal is to ensure that there is a diverse and gender balanced workforce across the specific areas of: engineering, technical operations, sales, marketing, and business. Today the Rise network involves more than 2500 members around the globe.

We are thrilled to announce that we are sponsoring Rise – a group for Women in Broadcast in 2022/23.

The #media #technology sector is still predominantly employing white males. This needs to change and Rise is playing it’s part by championing a gender balanced workforce and giving practical support to women getting into and on in the industry. We are proud to be supporting Rise’s work, including its #RiseUp Academy education outreach programme, its annual Awards, networking events, & training sessions.

“We are truly enthusiastic to be working with Rise who are offering guidance, encouragement and support to talented women within broadcast media tech, which will increase attraction as well as strengthening and building our industry even stronger.” – Crister Fritzson, CEO of Net Insight.

Additionally, its #RiseMentoring programme opens today, for applications from across the UK, USA, Canada, APAC region and, new for 2022, Central Europe and Northern Europe. This incredible free, six month programme supports women who are working in, or aspiring to work in the industry.

Read more about the RiseMentoring programme here

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An ambitious IBC Accelerator project to explore 5G innovation across four major areas of live production was the subject of a recent webinar chaired by IBC’s Innovation Lead, Mark Smith. 

Following the success of the 5G Remote Production Accelerator in 2020, the 5G & Innovation in Live Workflows project draws on the expertise of 24 organizations. While the broadcaster champions include BT Sport, RTE and Fox Sports, the participants feature Net Insight – which is providing its Nimbra Edge platform to show the potential of 5G-supported encoding, transcoding and decoding – alongside the likes of Microsoft, Huawei and Grass Valley. Collectively, they focused in the first year of the project on four areas of potential for live production, namely: multi-access edge computing, multi-cloud deployments, 5G private networks, and low-earth orbit satellites. 

Introducing the webinar, Smith highlighted the “astonishing array of industry players” to be lending their skills and knowledge to this Accelerator. After initial conversations, noted Project Lead and BBC R&D Senior Technology Transfer Manager Ian Wagdin, it became clear that the greatest momentum around 5G innovation existed in two main areas – “one being connectivity and the other around cloud-based services”. 

But as much as the Accelerator was intended to define the potential of 5G in specific areas, it was also “about building an understanding and a common language across us as end-users, and also the vendors,” said Wagdin. “So one of the real benefits was that as soon we joined together we started to have really interesting conversations” – examples being discussions about network connectivity as well as network optimization to improve workflows. 

Matt Stagg, BT Sport’s Director of Mobile Strategy, reminded viewers of the service aspects that could not always be achieved with 4G, including “guaranteed latency and guaranteed bandwidth”. With the arrival of 5G there was a realization that “rather than always being at the behest of other’s people visions”, there could be scope to establish a standalone mobile 5G network for specific events, such as major sports tournaments: “The idea being that you go to the regulator and say we have this location, and you would be given a bit of spectrum” in which to operate. 

Ultimately, added Stagg, there is potential for a highly transportable “5G in a box”-style solution. Indeed, the Accelerator has already resulted in a trial at a sports event in which project participant the University of Strathclyde played a crucial role. “There you see the real value of an Accelerator in that you get to demo this kind of solution,” remarked Stagg. 

Purminder Gandhu, Technology Transfer and Partnerships Manager at BBC, updated the webinar audience on the “really low latency and high-bandwidth” potential of 5G integration with low earth orbit satellites. It’s an application that could have huge money-saving possibilities for the BBC, indicated Gandhu, who said that the chance to “be among the first to show the potential of this technology is really exciting”. 

There was also an update on another key aspect of the project – which continues through 2022 – regarding multi-edge and cloud deployments. Mario Reis, Director of Telecommunications at OBS, noted that the project had already “fostered a lot of discussion between broadcasters and vendors”, and that continued dialogue will be vital if the potential is to be realized of “this very new idea whereby content might be moved between clouds”. Broadcasters will need to “ensure they have a certain level of understanding and know-how in order to drive the cloud adoption, but I think we will see a lot of education around the various use cases.” 

To view the webinar in full, please visit this link.

Want to learn more? Talk to our expert Kristian Mets.

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