Socionext Announces "Media Cloud" Initiative, Integrating a "Sea of Transcoders" for Data Center Server Acceleration

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Socionext Inc., a leader in advanced SoC technology for video and imaging systems, today announced its new "Media Cloud" program, designed to provide more than a tenfold improvement in server performance for video processing in the data center. Under this program, Socionext will collaborate with partner companies to deliver data center servers and related services. Evaluation of the prototype is currently underway, and the company expects the products to be in operation by 2018.

The program addresses the ever-increasing and compute-intensive mass consumption of high-quality video, specifically the need for efficient and dense live transcoding for today's standards and tomorrow's 4K AVC/HEVC requirements.

Socionext engineers have integrated a "sea of transcoders" into standard 1RU servers, with server class CPUs supporting established software components like FFmpeg and GStreamer. The number of channels per 1RU, power consumption per channel and cost are an order of magnitude better than comparable solutions with standard servers. The solution, based on the company's multi-format codec SoC MB86M30, is capable of real-time transcoding up to 256 Bundles of AVC/ HEVC Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) streams (for 1080p60 input). The MB86M30 handles all video-processing functions within a single chip, drastically reducing power consumption to as low as 1/10th of conventional systems built with standard servers, directly cutting operating expenses (OPEX). It supports encoding, decoding and transcoding of video and audio in MPEG2, AVC/ H.264 and HEVC/ H.265 with equal facility.

Click for an image of MB86M30 based Server with "Sea of Transcoders".

"Social Media is allowing every person to tell their story. New ways of reaching out, of sharing, have led to a proliferation in services, with video traffic taking the lion's share of content," said Tom Miyake, Corporate Executive VP of Socionext. "By leveraging our deep experience in TV broadcast equipment, and a portfolio of complex video processing SoC devices, Socionext teams are developing accelerators beneath the surface of standard servers. Our target is to democratize video processing, and help operators deliver quality services at a fraction of current costs."

It is estimated that 20 percent of worldwide server usage is applied to video encoding and transcoding. The growing adoption of the new HEVC standard, which requires lower transmission rates to provide equivalent video quality at the cost of compute-intensive encoding, increases the complexity of processing video content.

Yasuhiro Wakimoto, VP of the Enterprise Solution Business Unit, said, "Our hardware works under the hood, like the electric engine in a hybrid car. Data Center Management sees a familiar server – with significant savings in CAPEX and OPEX from as many as 32 dedicated transcoding units. With equal support for MPEG2, AVC and HEVC, we have a future-proof offering that enables widespread support for live content, edge optimization, conferencing, user-generated content and OTT Broadcast."

Socionext is working with server partner companies to launch MB86M30 based accelerated servers in the fall of 2017. The company will showcase this robust, low-cost, and easily deployable solution at the company's private suite from Sep. 14 –19 at the annual IBC event at RAI, Amsterdam, and at Streaming Media West, on Nov. 2-3, held at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, Calif., at booth 207.

Click here for more information on the Socionext Media Cloud.

About Socionext Inc.
Socionext is a new, innovative enterprise that designs, develops and delivers System-on-Chip products to customers worldwide. The company is focused on imaging, networking, computing and other dynamic technologies that drive today's leading-edge applications. Socionext combines world-class expertise, experience, and an extensive IP portfolio to provide exceptional solutions and ensure a better quality of experience for customers. Founded in 2015, Socionext Inc. is headquartered in Yokohama, and has offices in Japan, Asia, United States and Europe to lead its product development and sales activities.

For more information, visit the company's website at http://socionextus.com, e-mail datacenter@us.socionext.com or call 1-844-680-3453. For company news and updates, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Company and product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and subject to change without advance notice.

SOURCE Socionext Inc.

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http://www.socionextus.com