Executive Interview: 紫溪 CEO Gordon Brooks
我们与紫溪首席执行官戈登·布鲁克斯(Gordon Brooks)聊了聊紫溪的新动向, which manages and transports broadcast-quality, 可伸缩的实时和实时线性, supporting every protocol imaginable. 紫溪 will be presenting a series of 在线研讨会 作为紫溪虚拟展示的一部分，并将在未来两周内加入 流媒体西互联 for a Tech Talk on September 30. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our discussion.
Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen: 感谢您加入我们对戈登·布鲁克斯的高管采访，他是 紫溪. 欢迎戈登. I don't have the Emmy backdrop that you have!
戈登·布鲁克斯: 通常是在办公室, but since we're not in the office, I figured I might as well bring it home.
ESR: So we just want to jump right in and start talking about 紫溪. 给那些可能不知道的人, you've been around for more than a decade, but tell us what 紫溪 does and what it is.
GB: 是的, 我们是一家软件公司，我们有一个软件定义的视频平台，它通常需要一打软件和硬件产品来管理和传输直播和直播的线性广播质量, 点对点, but really anywhere to anywhere and point to multipoint.
我们在这个行业已经有13年了，很多人认为可能早了10年. But we started out with a protocol. So we understand the transport area very, very well. 在过去的三四年里，我们建立了这个平台. So not only do we have the 紫溪 protocol, but we have 16 other protocols—WebRTC, RTP, 主配置文件SRT, ndi——几乎任何东西. We have a video solution stack, 无故障转移，绑定，记录，自动记录这些在所有协议中的作用是什么. 然后我们有 禅师, 这是一个控制平面，真正抽象出管理这些大型IP网络的复杂性. Because you have thousands of streams, it can get pretty complicated.
所以我们把它抽象出来. 所以操作员可以操作它，你可以控制整个环境. 然后我们有这个由子溪支持的网络，包括我们所有的合作伙伴和客户. So we have over 200 integrated partners. Today we're in about a hundred countries, 我们有大约700个客户, 全世界大约有十万个紫溪. 哇.
ESR: You talked about the protocols that 紫溪 supports and there are many, many streaming protocols out there and many, many live streaming platforms out there. 紫溪软件定义视频平台与市场上其他平台的区别是什么?
GB: 我们其实很独特, 因为我们是唯一支持所有主要协议的公司. So we still have the best in the open internet. 95%都是市场，但我们会支持他们，并将继续支持他们. So whatever you're doing with us is future-proof. We're known for being able to operate in the open internet, but we now run on any IP network, 包括细胞, and we're in the middle of some big 5G tests and things like that. 这是控制平面. 所以它是所有那些组件，你有可互操作的网络，所以你可以与任何人在那里操作. You're not restricted by what hardware's out there, 或者在任何IP网络和任何协议上的环境. So it's just a very unique way to do it. 这使得人们很容易扩展到大规模的IP实现. And we're about broadcast quality. If it's so-so, or good enough, that's probably not us. 我们都是高端的.
ESR: 你谈到了利用IP网络，以及广播行业如何越来越多地这样做. Obviously that's in streaming's DNA, 但随着广播行业越来越多地利用不同的IP网络, why is it so necessary to have a software defined, live streaming infrastructure to make things work?
GB: If they need hardware for protocol switching, and you needed this software to do something else, then you're kind of tying yourself to a physical plant, which would COVID and where everybody's going, people are trying to get more away from to be more virtualized. 软件定义的意思是我们的软件中有完整的转码功能, all the telemetry from every edge point. So no matter where you are, where do you want to put it? You want to put it on the edge, you put on the edge. You want to put it in a cloud, you put it in cloud. 你想把它放在数据中心，你想把它挂在相机上，你想做什么都可以, our software can go anywhere and you just download it and go,
ESR: 你之前说过紫溪流既可以点对点，也可以规模化. Streaming 点对点 can be easy, relatively. 一旦你进入大规模的直播领域，事情就会变得非常复杂. 紫溪如何帮助用户大规模管理和维护他们的直播?
GB: 这就是禅师. So it's that democratization of that whole process, 因为你不可能有一大堆视频工程师——我们没有足够的，而且非常昂贵——来运行所有的东西. So how do you get operators to be able to operate that? 所以我们和, 你知道, 全世界的nbc, 世界上的布隆伯格 , 世界上的亚马逊女战士, to help build out our control plane. 所以大多数主要的广播公司都对你如何做到这一点有很大的发言权. And so we were built for scale in these large IP networks, 这可能非常, 如果你必须使用UI单独管理所有边缘设备，并在云中使用不同的UI进行操作，这将非常复杂. And we're all in one control plane, 你可以访问苹果或树莓派的边缘设备来启动谷歌、Azure、微软或AWS中的实例.
ESR: How easy is it for customers to start live streaming using 紫溪, and what do they need to do in order to, 离开地面?
GB: So, 我的意思是, if you want to live stream to somebody who's already as 紫溪 customer, you download a piece of software, 它是免费的, 设置它需要几分钟, 你可以走了. 我们为那些从非洲和土耳其等地引进内容的OTT提供商做了很多. If you want to set up a complex workflow, 然后我们和你一起设计，确保你的架构是正确的，你已经有了故障转移操作. 我们正在大规模地将250个不同频道的内容整合到一个OTT播放器中. 从“我们签合同吧”到“上线”，整个过程大概需要30天.
ESR: That's pretty quick turnaround. 是的. 让我们以未来来结束我们的讨论. Where do you see live streaming is headed right now? And obviously COVID has impacted the trajectory of things. 我猜，紫溪是如何跟上未来的步伐，并使之成为可能的?
GB: The move to virtualized is, as 你知道, orders of magnitude faster. 每个人都有计划，现在是一个数量级的快——远程操作, 远程生产, which are things we enable with our software-defined platform. We're helping people get home and stay home. And I think we did some surveys just a little while ago. 在, 在90%以上, 每个人都认为，他们为远程工作建立的基础设施将永远保持不变, and that it actually works better than people think.
But then you also look at things like 5G. 因此，我认为5G将对工作流程和人们的操作方式产生巨大影响. 对我们来说，5G只是另一个IP网络，但它很复杂，我们现在正深陷其中. 我们将会有一些非常独特的东西，在这个市场上非常早期. 所以我认为5G很重要.
Machine learning [is going to be big as well], 这样你就可以进入像爆炸半径这样的东西，更多的基于ml的警报和预测分析，这样你就可以在问题发生之前预测到问题. And if they do happen, 你知道 what exactly is impacted. There's a lot we're doing there. 我们已经使用ML在没有看到源代码的情况下预测编码器质量. So you'll see more and more of that going on.
ESR: Well, thanks for taking the time today. 这是很好的赶上，如果人们想了解更多，他们显然可以去 紫溪.com,对吧?
GB: 绝对. 我们有很多 在线研讨会 coming up over the next two weeks. 我们有5个. 来加入我们吧.
ESR:很棒的. 我们有 流媒体西互联 10月, and I believe 紫溪 will be joining us for one of those sessions, 太, so people have lots of chances to learn more.
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