The components provided enable live and time-shifted viewing on set top boxes and OTT, supporting growth plans while optimizing video streaming across all platforms.

During the first part of the project, Cgates deployed Synamedia’s virtualized DCM to support encoding of its 200 cable channels, in HD and 4K, making the choice partly on the basis of the associated VIVID Compression technology, minimizing hardware needed for given video quality. By optimizing bandwidth and latency with content-aware encoding, the virtualized DCM now delivers a superior viewing experience to Cgates’ subscribers, even at peak times, according to the telco.

Complementing the virtualized DCM, Cgates is also deploying Synamedia’s Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) headend, including packaging and storage for VOD and catch-up, as well as Synamedia’s private CDN supporting both HLS and MPEG-DASH. By using Synamedia’s video network technologies across its entire delivery ecosystem, Cgates aims to give subscribers a consistent high quality viewing experience across its TV mobile app and pay TV service, including its new Android set-top boxes.

Another important factor in Cgates’ decision was the cloud-native architecture of both the virtualized DCM and the ABR headend that gives it the flexibility to deploy on-premise and then move to a hybrid or cloud model as required.

The operator is now working with Synamedia on future enhancements, including low latency for live sports streaming, and disaster recovery.

“With bold plans to grow our services, particularly streaming, we needed a technology partner who could share our vision with future-proofed, flexible, scalable solutions,” said Tomas Burovas, CEO of Cgates. “Synamedia stands out from the crowd with its attention to innovation, particularly its latest compression techniques.”

Synamedia worked with its regional partner Scansatec for the Cgates’ deployment. Based in Finland, Scansatec provides pre-sales, integration and support for video deployments across the Baltics and Nordics.