VITEC Digital Video Innovations -Vancouver International Airport

As Canada's second busiest airport and the major West Coast airport closest to Asia, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) serves 17.5 million passengers annually. To inform and entertain passengers, the facility has installed plasma screens in terminals and walkways. Connected by an IP network, the video displays are used to stream both TV channels and airport announcements throughout the facility.

The selection of the VITEC MGW 1100 Streaming Platform gave Vancouver International Airport a scalable solution that provided carrier-grade levels of architectural redundancy and hot-swap capabilities for assured uptime with minimal administrative resource requirements. The MGW 1100 provides high density encoding modules with a small footprint, and combined with its built-in redundancy and automatic fail-over capabilities, offers a complete one-box solution for encoding and streaming MPEG-4 H.264 content from DVB/ASI, SDI and analog feeds. Utilizing the high-quality picture at low bit-rates, service providers can reach various destinations by streaming over their Local Area Network.

• Fast deployment - Pre-integrated system enables effective deployment with any network size
• Reliability - Carrier class systems provide comprehensive redundancy, guaranteeing no single point of failure
• High picture quality at low bit rates - High quality H.264 video compression for broadcast quality without compromising bit rates
• Centralized management - IT administrators can easily manage remote access, content, and player distribution
• Unified user management - HTTP management application integrates with existing Microsoft Active Directory business rules to manage secure user access
• Browser-based architecture - Provides immediate access to all content, via a web browser, from every desktop throughout the system
• Powerful player - The EZ TV PC player offers advanced capabilities, such as VOD support and multiple window mosaic views in HD/SD MPEG-1/2/4, H.264 and other video formats
• Dynamic channel guide - Users view up-to-date channel listings, with channels grouped for ease of use. Built-in tools simplify administrative tasks and automate content listing updates

The airport's requirements were clear: The facility sought a dependable, scalable, and easily managed technology solution to broadcast high-quality video to its monitors, using the facility's existing IP infrastructure, with manageable bandwidth requirements and minimal administrative and maintenance overhead.

Of particular concern to YVR management was the need for a highly robust solution. Given the disruptive effects of even a brief system outage in a highly trafficked, high-security public facility, identifying a technology with superior uptime availability was a prime concern.  YVR selected the VITEC MGW Carrier-Grade Platform as the ideal solution for streaming of IPTV programming at the airport facility.

The interoperability of the VITEC platform also enabled the VITEC and YVR IT implementation teams to integrate YVR's PC-based video suite with the MGW streams to enable on-screen digital signage, superimposed over the TV channel feeds streamed to airport monitors. This capability gave the airport an enhanced and easily managed communications channel for keeping airport patrons informed in real-time.

The VITEC 1100 also provides future-proof technology, allowing customers to easily transition from SD to HD encoding as requirements dictate, along with the ability to add mobile streaming capabilities. With experience in video delivery systems, VITEC is positioned to provide state-of-the-art IPTV solutions that are specifically designed to meet current and future needs of enterprise level clients.