LightFlow announces Noa, a multi-CDN technology to efficiently offset distribution costs and quality

The new addition to the streaming optimization products includes business rules and decisions based on artificial intelligence to improve deliverability and savings.

LightFlow, a company Epic Labs, has announced in IBC 2019 the launch of the service Network Aware Optimization (NAO) available on the LightFlow platform.

The NAO solution is a multi-CDN intelligent video balancer what automatically distributes streaming payload between different CDN providers according to business rules and real-time performance analysis. Its intuitive user interface allows customers to define business rules and publishing decisions to determine the optimal route for each user.

Additionally, LightFlow NAO connects to customer analytics, unlike more traditional solutions that rely on synthetic probes, and feeds real-time performance data into the AI ​​algorithm to determine the optimal path based on the customer's trade-off between savings and quality of service.

The LightFlow NAO client can automatically assign sessions or video segments to different CDNs addressing publishing business decisions and QoE requirements, whether optimizing costs, improving quality, providing fail-over... The balance criteria are fully configurable and can be customized using parameters that affect a particular region, a type of content, a type of viewer, a domain of origin or a time zone. Additionally, the artificial intelligence engine monitors performance in real time and provides fine tuning for each viewer.

Andres Pedrera, Group CIO Hello!, highlighted that "LightFlow NAO is a unique and exceptional solution. Until now, I had never found the product that could implement the business rules I really needed. LightFlow went further and implemented new rules and features to better meet our needs."

"We are delighted to present a solution that meets the needs of our customers when it comes to making the right decision on how to deliver real-time video. Allowing customers to define a first layer of business rules and allowing a second layer of AI to operate and even improve those rules provides excellent results in the final quality of the service while saving costs," he says. Michael Serrano, CEO de LightFlow.

Smart management

As is the case with all LightFlow products, the NAO solution is designed to be used through APIs, allowing a seamless integration with any workflow existing. LightFlow NAO can also be deployed as an Output Hublet in Haivision SRT Hub, a cloud-based service for routing low-latency, secure and reliable media, built on Microsoft Azure.

Peter Maag, CMO of Haivision, emphasizes that "this second Hublet developed by LightFlow is another milestone in the scope of the SRT Hub. The value of the SRT Hub platform to interconnect devices and systems is reinforced each time a new component is enabled in the ecosystem. This Hublet is key to enabling intelligent management of the CDN, which is a critical piece in the video workflow."

The LightFlow NAO solution is the third cornerstone of the complete video optimization suite. Complete, LightFlow CAO (Content Aware Optimization), an AI-based title encoding engine, and LightFlow DAO (Device Aware Optimization), a solution to select the most suitable delivery format - codec, aspect ratio and ladder - based on the specific conditions of each device.

Alfonso Peletier, CEO of Epic Labs, is proud to "see how LightFlow, its great team and its technology are having an impact on the market. We continue to look for ways to improve quality of life through AI. LightFlow's understanding of CDN performance and management of its complexity is providing a better viewer experience while reducing the cost of operations."

At the IBC 2019 conference in Amsterdam, September 13-18, LightFlow presents the full range of video optimization products in Hall 14, Booth 14.A05 and in the session Live & VOD AI Stream Optimizer at the CE Hub Theater, Hall 14, on September 14 at 10:00.

The SRT Hub is also on display at the Haivision booth (Hall 14 – 14.G27), Microsoft (Hall 1 – 1.C27) and SRT Showcase (September 15 in Hall 14, Hall G104).