Decoupling broadcast and AV processing apps from the hardware and having them run on generic COTS servers as containerized microservices has allowed Lawo to focus on the features and flexibility of its HOME Apps, with no time spent on designing hardware whose specifications risk being obsolete by the time the bespoke devices are released.

One noteworthy result of this strategy has been that Lawo today releases updates and upgrades almost on a monthly basis for both the HOME management system and the HOME Apps proper. Additionally, the HOME Apps themselves are bundles of interconnected, modular microservices. Adding a specific feature from another app—delay generation, say—to a video app is not only perfectly possible, but also cost-effective for users. This is often called bolting new functionality onto an existing app. If it makes sense, the same can be done for other apps that would also benefit from this additional service.

Come to think of it, the possibilities are endless.

Of course, achieving the desired outcome was already possible by concatenating several apps, for which users on a Lawo FLEX Subscription budget typically need more credits than for an integrated solution. Using the “principal” processing app—up/down/cross conversion, for instance—with an added delay generation feature requires fewer credits than spinning up two full-time apps.  For operators who work with FLEX Subscriptions, such tweaks and all other additions come free of charge, by the way. Clearly, the decision to stand on the shoulders of the giants that manufacture generic compute is proving a wise strategy that benefits all stakeholders.

Another consideration is that hardware Lawo no longer builds does not need to be curated by its engineering team. And so, the focus shifts from retrofitting highly bespoke devices with new components, which admittedly happened only sporadically, to providing real processing value in the form of new apps and more functionality for the existing ones. Nowadays, Lawo’s R&D team instead monitors and tests server specifications, especially the number of cores its CPU provides, and how many apps or app instances can be run on a single machine. It is perfectly possible, for instance, to host 15 HOME Multiviewer instances on a single server—or indeed a mix of different apps. Since the average server today offers a lot more cores than are required for a single app, a 1U housing may be all you need for your software-based tech stack. Or perhaps two if you also require redundancy. 

You Are My Density

Each new generation of CPU and GPU typically offers an increase in compute of 30~50%, PCI backbone speeds are rising, and there appears to be no end to the bandwidth that new network interface cards cater to. Ultimately, this hardware evolution will allow users to use ever more processing with increasingly less hardware. Simply put, if the compute capability doubles, users should be able to get twice the density of apps running on a single server. In Lawo’s case, the migration from one server to a more powerful one requires no tweaking of the HOME Apps code as such.

There is a highly convenient side to the ongoing acceleration of the processing capability provided by increasingly powerful COTS servers. Standard servers equipped with 256-core CPUs and 2 x 400Gbps network interface cards are already on the horizon and will again provide much more bang for the buck from their slim 1U housing than the current generation. From an R&D perspective, some optimization of the microservices that make up Lawo’s HOME Apps may be required, but most of them are minor and aimed at achieving maximum core efficiency. Such tweaks are free of charge for users on a Lawo FLEX Subscription.

This gain in rack space and weight relative to the number of servers with smaller CPUs should not be underestimated. And here is some more good news: the number of available cores is of no consequence for a HOME App’s feature set. As long as there are enough cores to run an app as intended, all features it provides can be leveraged. The only variable that should dictate one’s choice of server model is the number of app instances that can run on the same machine.

Here is where it gets even more interesting. Server pricing hardly budges from one generation to the next. As a result, customers who purchase a new server today roughly pay the same for a server twice as potent as the one they bought less than two years ago.

Think Compact

As high-end compute increases, the low end is typically also upgraded—from 32 cores to 64, say. For smaller infrastructures, the hardware entry point therefore drops, and Lawo’s technology becomes more accessible to a wider audience. Besides, Lawo constantly validates additional server platforms to provide potential users with even more options to choose from. For audio workflows, for instance, a server costing less than $1500 is perfectly able to handle one or even several instances of the HOME mc² DSP or HOME Power Core app. Depending on what—and how much—processing is required for a given workflow, HOME Apps for video can also be deployed on such cost-effective servers. Such servers would certainly be a good fit for HOME Apps that are less core-hungry.

Moreover, the increase in compute power across the spectrum presents opportunities to revisit the overall software deployment model. While it is considered good practice to separate the control plane from the data plane, and so to use separate servers, in some circumstances it may be more convenient to run both HOME and HOME Apps on the same server. With a container-based solution such as HOME Apps, this is perfectly possible and only requires making the right choices during the deployment process.

In light of all this, it is safe to say that the broadcast and AV industries have been leaping from milestone to milestone over the last few years. It started with the migration from baseband to IP, a process that is ongoing or may still need to be tackled by some broadcasters. Next came the migration of processing from bespoke hardware to generic servers.  It required building highly efficient processing software from the ground up to make them as agile as possible and allow them to leverage the oomph added by a rapid succession of ever higher-density servers. The adoption of HOME Apps has allowed operators to reduce the real estate in their datacenters and, perhaps more importantly, OB trucks.

Mix, Match & Communicate

To some, the most striking result of server-based processing is still the ability to use a mix of audio, video and utility apps on the same server. It definitely makes this new approach much more space- and energy-efficient than even the most sophisticated resource pooling strategy. The Lawo FLEX Subscription model furthermore enables operators to use a fixed number of credits, and hence a predictable budget, for a wide variety of processing capability that may be required at different times of the day for totally different workflows. This agility has been labeled the Dynamic Media Facility by the EBU. Users running out of credits at peak times can purchase more credits for a limited time.

The next step will be to allow apps from various manufacturers to coexist and interact on the same server, so that customers are free to choose the best-of-breed solution for each processing task. While this initiative, driven by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is still a work in progress, the designated taskforce is currently working on one of the most fundamental aspects of this approach: how to avoid latency when apps exchange processed data. The idea is to develop a “shared memory” to which apps offload their output and from which the next app in the processing stack sources its data. Working with a common memory, the reasoning goes, means that no conversions are needed at the inputs or outputs of the provisioned apps, thus speeding up the data transfer process. This promises to become another exciting milestone.

Go All In

Just imagine what will happen once the combination of HOME Apps with a matching server costs the same as, or even less than, the dedicated hardware equivalent. Of course, there will still be bespoke hardware for some time to come, for despite the growing popularity of virtual mixer interfaces, for instance, big audio productions will be run from a console for some time to come. Interestingly, though, IP-native mixing surfaces like Lawo’s mc²-series, crystal and diamond consoles, are highly sophisticated remote controls whose commands are transmitted to a hardware or software processor that takes care of the actual mixing process, i.e. the combination of a large number of signals into a stereo, surround and/or immersive audio mix.

Until further notice, nothing can quite replace the muscle-memory aspect of mixers you don’t even need to look at while grabbing for the right fader or rotary control.

Similarly, I/O stageboxes will probably always be needed to get the required signals into, and out of, the network, your private or a public cloud. Yet, everything to do with processing and stream routing can happen on a generic server, whether on-prem or in a public cloud.

Another important take-away is that HOME Apps support a variety of IP formats: SMPTE ST2110, WebRTC, NDI, SRT and Dante AV. FLEX Subscriptions are a tool of choice to avoid recurrent budget overruns, secure in the knowledge that you can always count on working with the latest and greatest apps. And Lawo Workspace apps allow you to work from your tablet, smartphone, AR headset or laptop. Workflow options galore…