17 April 2023, Oslo, Norway – Appear, the global leader in media processing and delivery technology, and Magine Pro, the platform for B2B managed services for OTT, have been chosen by Sappa to transform its OTT linear distribution media workflow to include fully on-premise transcoding. Sappa has migrated its existing cloud-based workflow to Appear’s NEO20 on-premise live transcoding solution, bringing cost and performance efficiencies. The workflow fully integrates into Magine Pro’s Media Cloud Packaging and end-to-end OTT platform, leveraging the flexibility of resource provisioning and distribution from the cloud.
Sappa is one of Sweden’s largest telecom operators with over 100 channels, providing broadband, telephony, Cable/IPTV and streaming services to over 400,000 customers. It needed technology partners that enabled it to deliver the reliable, high-quality services it’s known for. When Sappa needed on-premise OTT ABR transcoding, it turned to Appear.
“Appear has been our trusted encoding and distribution partner for over a decade, and its NEO20 solution was the perfect choice for us when looking to move our OTT transcoding from the cloud to on-premise. It is both HEVC and UHD enabled, so when we upgrade with UHD channels in the future, it is just a matter of adding hardware accelerated boards without the need for any extra rack space, and with very low power consumption,” said Marcus Sundh, Head of Business Development at Sappa. “Magine Pro has been our close partner since we started our Play and OTT services, and cooperation has made it easier for us to focus on content, marketing and distribution. Appear and Magine Pro are key to the successful evolution of our channel encoding and distribution workflow, and we look forward to presenting the upgraded Sappa service to our subscribers in the coming months.”
Magine Pro has been a long-standing technology partner to Sappa since 2017, having delivered its end-to-end OTT platform as an add-on to its existing IPTV offering. Since the launch, the technical operation has involved distribution and integration with Sappa’s linear media workflows, CRM, DRM and providing Sappa with a full end-to-end OTT solution and applications, which will soon carry 100+ broadcast channels on its OTT service.
This new partnership brings together broadcast-grade media workflow capabilities from Appear’s NEO20, including on-premise ABR transcoding using HLS Push to the AWS Media Package cloud service, while handling SCTE35 signaling (for downstream ad insertion) and subtitle conversion across the transcode process. Magine takes over the media delivery chain with just-in-time packaging with DRM, 7-day catch-up and start over capabilities, SCTE35 server-side ad-insertion and client-side ad-signaling, and full OTT solution delivery.
“The main objective of the Magine Pro OTT platform is to scale our partners’ services into successful growth. The collaboration with Appear achieves this, by providing partners like Sappa the ability to select and integrate into a best-in-class vendor ecosystem, while continuing to leverage the core OTT cloud platform and applications provided by Magine Pro”, said Matthew Wilkinson, CEO at Magine Pro. “Working closely with our partners helps Magine Pro push technology boundaries, resulting in strong and sustainable partnerships.”
“The cloud is a great fit for fast-time-to-market OTT deployments, however for live 24/7/365 processing-hungry applications like ABR transcoding, the cloud is not a cost-effective solution,” said Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO at Appear. “In order to save cost, and to have an easy upgrade path, our NEO20 transcoding servers provide the flexibility and reliability Sappa needs to take live transcoding for OTT back on-premise. We’re pleased to extend our partnership with Magine Pro and Sappa and are committed to being an integral technology partner for many years to come.”
Appear’s NEO20Appear’s NEO20 is a high-capacity, scalable, energy-efficient, server-based compression solution for live distribution that is denser and up to 10 times more energy-efficient than a pure software transcoding solution. The plug-and-play solution offers accelerated HEVC transcoding simultaneously with AVC transcoding, simplifying server deployment and operation, and thereby reducing TCO.
