Cinegy as a Service – FAQ
What is “Cinegy as a Service”?
“Cinegy as a Service” is a hardware-free way of enabling users to deploy software-defined television on cloud-based virtual machines.
All of Cinegy’s software technology, starting with Cinegy’s real-time playout server and broadcast automation software, Cinegy Air, will steadily become available through cloud-based services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure enabling prospective users to spin up, test drive, and, if they choose, deploy Cinegy technology in an HD or 4K cloud.
What are Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a collection of remote computing services (also called web services) that together make up a cloud platform which offers a variety of services.
Microsoft Azure is a growing collection of integrated cloud services that developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy, and manage applications through our global network of datacenters.
What benefits does Cinegy customer have using AWS or Microsoft Azure?
The benefits of Cinegy’s approach of having the software hosted on GPU-friendly Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure are multiple. Users only pay for what they need, when they need it. There’s no upfront investment. Requirements for increases in system capacity, such as election or special event coverage, can also be far more accurately planned and costed. Additionally, because the cloud vendor provides hardware resiliency and data protection, it eliminates the need for those resources in-house.
What Cinegy products are being deployed on AWS or Microsoft Azure?
It is currently possible to purchase from the Amazon Web Services marketplace a pre-built machine image which contains version 10 or version 11 of Cinegy’s Air PRO bundle or a Cinegy Air PRO and Cinegy Multiviewer bundle. From Microsoft Azure it is possible to purchase a Cinegy Air PRO and Cinegy Multiviewer bundle.
Cinegy Air PRO is a real-time playout server and broadcast automation software for SD and HD playout, it delivers AC3 audio encoding, EAS, Nielsen watermarking and Cinegy Type channel branding as one integrated software solution. You can mix different codecs, resolutions and aspect ratios in one playlist.
Any of Cinegy’s products can be licensed to run in AWS allowing experimentation and testing of new workflows for customers.
Cinegy Multiviewer enables broadcasters and production houses to monitor streams from sources locally and remotely. Featuring a robust analysis and alert system, detecting signal problems as they occur, Cinegy Multiviewer receives RTP/UDP streams via Ethernet. It supports SD, HD or UHD/4K sources, handles multiple MPEG-TS IP streams, as well as alarms via e-mail, SMS or HTTP. Its screen layout can be streamed to MPEG-TS.
Explain to me the different Cinegy cloud offerings
Our Cinegy Air PRO bundle is currently available through the AWS and Azure Marketplaces for deployment on GPU based instances. The current cost of the bundle is $3.00 per hour for the standard recommended instance size in addition to any cloud infrastructure fees which increases to $6.00 and then $12.00 per hour for the larger instance sizes to reflect their increase capabilities.
For this price the virtual machine image includes our standard Cinegy AIR Pro bundle, Cinegy Multiviewer and Cinegy Player PRO software and comes with email support for the Cinegy software on a next working day basis. We also support the Bring Your Own License (BYOL) model for new and existing customers who wish to transition any of their current capacity to the cloud. Please contact sales if you would like more information.
What do I need to launch Cinegy on the cloud?
The first step is having an account with the appropriate platform which will allow you to make a purchase from the marketplace.
Once you have an account, you can buy the Cinegy Air Cloud Pack from either of the following links:
Can I store my media (database) in the cloud?
Yes, you can store your media (database) in either AWS or Azure. You can use the platforms compute service to create a Windows based instance which includes Microsoft SQL and deploy Cinegy Archive onto this instance in the standard way. Storage can be added to this deployed instance for your essence, or can deploy a second instance which would act as the file server. The licenses required for the connections/software to run on the cloud would need to be obtained from Cinegy. Please contact your sales person for more information.
How secure are AWS and Microsoft Azure?
The cloud infrastructure has been designed and managed in alignment with regulations, standards, and best-practices including: HIPAA, SOC 1/SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 (formerly SAS70), SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, FedRAMP(SM), DIACAP and FISMA, ITAR, FIPS 140-2, CSA, MPAA.
What if I need help?
The Cinegy AIR AMI on AWS and Azure comes with support for the Cinegy software which can be accessed through the normal support channels. This is via the email address support@cinegy.com.
Any questions regarding running Cinegy software on AWS need to be directed towards your sales contact.