We implemented a streaming platform for a major telecom company in South America.

Context

We work with a telecommunications company in Latin America that offers mobile and landline phone services, as well as internet services for both residential and corporate clients. It has coverage throughout the entire country.

Since 2010, this company began venturing into providing streaming services (both for live and on-demand content), so it was looking for a platform that would meet its objectives.

The project.

We advise, implement, and provide support for an end-to-end solution that allows users to watch live events and access on-demand audiovisual content.

Although it serves various purposes, we adapted the platform to deliver an excellent sports event streaming experience. Its setup ensures smooth viewing of, for example, a football match, without image stuttering or loss of quality from the original signal.

For this solution, we worked with various partners for the different components of the architecture. For origin, encoding, and transcoding, we used an on-premises solution from the leading vendor in the market. For storage, we used low-latency NAS from a renowned manufacturer, which allows for the management of online content recording.

We provide support at the edge level (CDN) and at the network layer to ensure high availability of the solution. On the other hand, we supply set-top boxes and their management platform, which allows the telecom company to offer a comprehensive solution to its clients.

On our part, we developed and integrated a playout system for viewing a network of cameras distributed at strategic locations across the country. This signal is retransmitted through various channels, and the telecom company's clients use it for informational and recreational purposes.

At the same time, we developed and integrated a streaming system for radio stations. It is a platform that receives radio signals over IP (using Icecast) and generates the content (streaming) that is consumed by the end user or a CDN.

One of the challenges of this project was to develop capabilities to manage the streaming process, from the generation of the content to the moment the end user receives it on their television or phone. To achieve this, we trained our team and brought in new talents to ensure a successful outcome.

How did we add value to the project?

Our work focused on delivering an excellent user experience quality. This involved researching and implementing technological advancements, advising on signal adaptation for different transmission resolutions, and centralizing system management to be proactive in addressing issues.

After several tests, we achieved a latency (delay) of between 10 and 12 seconds (the traditional value is usually 40 seconds). Additionally, we conducted research to find a balance between the platform's demand on a device (e.g., the battery consumption when using the platform on a phone) and the delay. This makes it a competitive streaming platform.

We also added load balancers, the first component through which the user accesses the platform, a crucial element in streaming live events with high traffic concurrency.We installed, configured, and ensured the system's availability, which is now capable of handling traffic spikes without interrupting the service.

A highly challenging aspect was ensuring successful interaction between systems and applications from different vendors.

Lastly, we highlight our ability to solve problems. The comprehensive knowledge of the architecture in all its components, different technologies, and vendors allows us to analyze in depth when performance, availability, and security issues arise.

We have nearly 15 years of experience in streaming solutions that have evolved over time, and we highlight the professionalism with which our team works in the implementation, support, and operation phases.