Ateme: the story of 25 years of innovation in video coding and compression

The French company has gone from working in the area of ​​design to becoming a world leader in HEVC, H264 coding and MPEG2 video compression solutions for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT.

Dominique Edelin and Michel Artières founded a design company in France in 1991 with a dozen employees who worked on a project basis. Thanks to the capitalization of its know-how in the field of satellite images, Atem grew by entering the segment of signal processing projects that integrated complex algorithms, and developed specific hardware architectures, obtaining industry recognition as a center of advanced competence in the development of video compression algorithms.

En aquel entonces, Ateme proporcionaba librerías de software y diseños embebidos de referencia en tiempo real a empresas como Thomson, Harmonic, Snell & Wilcox, Rapid Digital o Skystream (posteriomente adquirida por Tandberg y Ericsson), que con el tiempo se convirtieron en competidores de Ateme. Ateme se unió entonces a las principales alianzas de proveedores de tecnología de procesadores DSP y FPGA programables de alto rendimiento donde se encontraban empresas tales como Texas Instruments, Altera y Xilinx.

After more than a decade working on the development of video compression algorithms, in the mid-2000s Ateme decided to turn its developments into products, first for the PC market in 2004 and then for the broadcast market in 2005 as an OEM solution. In 2004, together with Neo Digital, it co-developed the popular H.264 MPEG-4 AVC algorithm, initially aimed at the PC market, and later adopted as a coding standard in numerous environments such as broadcast.

Following this cooperation, Ateme changed its white label focus to become a hardware-integrated software solutions provider, positioning itself as a pure “product” company.

In 2007, Ateme introduced its Kyrion family of products, based on FPGA technology for real-time encoding. Its success in the broadcasting market is nothing more than a reflection of its high understanding of customer problems, as well as the commercial aspects of the market. Two years later, in 2009, the company announced the launch of its second generation of products, Titan, a turnkey solution for high-performance, large-scale transcoding and real-time processing. Ateme's Titan family was based on Ateme's own encoders and muxers, which had been developed thanks to the company's deep knowledge of H.264 encoding systems.

Over the next few years, Ateme not only maintained but strengthened its position and actively participated in a series of technological firsts. The company was the first manufacturer to introduce a 10-bit encoding solution, which has proven to not only be successful in the contribution segment, but is also becoming a major requirement across the industry. Ateme was one of the first encoder vendors to begin demonstrating HEVC, and continues to demonstrate new advancements in products that already incorporate HEVC encoding capability.

In 2013, Ateme's Kyrion receivers were used to support the launch of the first experimental Ultra HD television channel through Eutelsat. A year later, Ateme's Titan was selected by South Korean content aggregator Homechoice to encode Ultra High Definition (UHD) content in HEVC for the launch of UMAX, the world's first 4K channel.

The company has also successfully participated in the world's first experience of UHD satellite broadcasting together with France Television and Eutelsat, demonstrating the capacity of its video encoding/transcoding solution at the operator level.

The same year, Ateme began participating in the French Government-sponsored 4EVER R&D project in the areas of encoding and decoding for Ultra High Definition and HEVC. Supported by the EBU, ITU, SMPTE, and DVB, and members including Ateme, Orange, France Télévisions, GlobeCast, TeamCast, Technicolor and Highlands Technologies Solutions, as well as the Télécom ParisTech and INSA-IETR University laboratories. The 4EVER-2 consortium has been awarded this year 2016 for its achievements in improving the quality of video experience with the 2016 NAB Technology Innovation Award at the NAB Show.

Constant evolution

The value of Ateme's product has always been enhanced by the constant updating of its products. Por ejemplo, en IBC 2012, lanzó su, entonces, último codificador de contribución Kyrion CM5000, un codificador modular de hardware con capacidad de actualizaciónes mediante software, basado en en la quinta generación de firmware Ateme que fue desarrollado para abordar la calidad y la latencia, especialmente en aplicaciones sensibles al retardo, tales como entrevistas full dúplex y cobertura de deportes.

One of Ateme's main strengths is its product development capabilities and a strong focus on engineering. The company has about 150 professionals, most of whom are involved in R&D in areas such as multi-format and next-generation HEVC encoding, and video compression algorithms and cloud computing.

Ateme has been and is a leading contributor to codec standardization processes, starting with MPEG2 and AVC-H264, and later HEVC. From incorporating support for multiple formats to the software upgradeability of its products, from integrating the latest HDR technologies to support a wide range of content categories and workflows, Ateme has remained at the forefront of technology development trends.

In 2014, Ateme was launched in Paris, Euronext, obtaining a very positive response from the market with a level of demand that tripled the initial offer. That same year Ateme opened several new offices around the world: Miami, Los Angeles, Dubai, Seoul and Singapore.

In recent months, Ateme has focused in particular on the launch of the next generation of its Titan software. The company has achieved important achievements in the first quarter of 2016, including being selected to feed 4K content for Globo TV's OTT platform, and continues to have the support of its current clients who involve Ateme in their new projects, while at the same time obtaining new client accounts. The latest enriched version of its software offering, Titan 4.0, is currently being tested by three major US carriers, and could go on sale as early as the second half of 2016.

This year is marked, in addition to the increase in sales of its Kyrion range, by its role in the Ultra High Definition broadcast of the Rio Olympic Games, the UEFA Football Championship in France and the presidential elections in the United States.

A success story

1991

• Dominique Edelin and Michel Artières founded the company in France.

2004

• It develops, together with Nero Digital, the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 software encoder for PCs, which, even today, is probably the most widely used.

2005

• Introduces the first MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoder based on FPGA technology to the market.
• Launches its products for broadcast and broadband, as white label manufacturers.

2008

• Japan's NHK selected Ateme for the first 8K signal transmission demonstration.

2009

• Launches the Titan platform for massively parallel transcoding for multi-window applications.
• Features the world's first 10-bit 4:2:2 encoder and decoder for contribution applications.

2010

• MPEG-4 4:2:2 10-bit is confirmed as the standard for satellite contribution for sporting events, being widely used in the FIFA world football championship.
• Undertakes numerous turnkey video headends for the first IPTV projects. Titan has established itself as the reference solution for multi-window applications.

2012

• The EBU selects and approves two suppliers of encoders and two suppliers of decoders. Ateme is selected in both categories.

2013

• The French Tennis Federation is experimentally transmitting the Roland Garros trophy in 4K on Eutelsat using Ateme encoders.
• Together with Orange, it carries out the first sports broadcast, from start to finish, in HEVC.

2013

• SIS live, Europe's largest SNG operator, chooses Ateme to renew its fleet.
• Contributes to the launch of the first European UHDTV channel through Eutelsat.
• It adds H.265/HEVC support, standardized by the ITU, to the Titan family of products.

2014

• Together with Zixi, it presents the technology that allowed the UFC to make broadcast-quality contributions through unmanaged networks, that is, the Internet, managing to significantly reduce operating costs.
• Participate in the UMAX project, the first channel dedicated exclusively to 4K content with its HEVC compression technology.
• Reaches an agreement with DeLuxe Media for VoD content encoding in 4K UHD. The choice was based on the quality of HEVC encoding and the interoperability that has always characterized Ateme products.
• The EBU reaches 700 units of encoders, and the same number of decoders, Kyrion for its contribution network (today it exceeds a thousand units)
• Obtiene el reconocimiento de los prestigiosos premios Frost & Sullivan por sus codificadores para contribución y distribución de video.
• It goes public (Paris, Euronext) with a demand that tripled the supply of shares.
• The Saudi company Selevision selects Ateme for its 200-channel OTT pay television project.

2015

• France Television chooses Ateme for its national contribution network over IP.
• Ateme is selected for primary live 4K HEVC distribution of the Open Tennis Tournament.
• The Southeast Asian Games organization chooses Ateme for the transmission of the 2015 edition, "for its Premium video quality at low bit rates, enabling contribution over IP."
• The first Chinese 4K HEVC cable channel, uses technology from Ateme.
• Kyrion encoders are selected for the signal distribution of the Pan American Games.
• TV Globo selects Ateme's solution for the primary distribution of its signals.
• Includes Kyrion encoders, multiplexing and the AMS control and monitoring system.
• Titan Live is installed in the first 4K UHD IPTV service in France.
• Mediapro trusts Ateme to transport the signal of La Liga matches through its IP network.

2016

• TV Globo's new OTT platform, with 4K content, incorporates Titan Live.
• The new French 4K-UHD channel, MCS, dedicated to sports, integrates technology from Ateme.
• Ateme, Dell and Intel show at MWC the Titan Live solution with Intel's new VCA cards for distribution of up to 200 HD channels in 1 RU.
• Titan File integrates into Aspera's workflow manager, Orchestrator.
• Participate in the first 4K-UHD live streaming experience in France. En paralelo la señal de satélite se transcodificó para alimentar una plataforma UHD DASH OTT que proporcionaba señal al portal HbbTV de Arte.
• It features AVC-I MXF recording capability to work with Adobe Premier Pro, as well as support for the Apple Prores 4444 XQ format.
• At NAB, it debuts the integration of HDR Dolby Vision and with Titan. Likewise, it also features integration with Technicolor's HDR technology.
• The 4EVER-2 consortium, in which Ateme participates, wins the “2016 NAB Technology innovation Award” after the presentation of three aspects of UHD-TV: spatial definition in 4K, HDR and HFR.