Using Cloud Playout to Simplify Your Disaster Recovery Plans

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1 Using Cloud Playout to Simplify Your Disaster Recovery Plans How broadcasters and media organizations can use advanced playout innovations to avoid catastrophic loss of income from off-air disasters. Abstract Disasters, whether natural or manmade, pose an increasing threat to business viability for broadcasters and media companies. Even a single hour of off-air time can be costly. On top of financial losses, mostly related to advertising and other unfilled contractual agreements by company mandate or law, broadcasters can suffer damage to their reputation that results in audience declines. Many broadcasters are required to have effective Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs) in place, which typically include the most critical components of their Business Continuity (BC) mandates. The standard approach of maintaining a mirrored playout system at the same location, or a remote location, can be complex and expensive especially given that a single facility may routinely play out many channels simultaneously. Cloud Disaster Recovery (CDR) is an exciting new capability that provides private or public cloud-based disaster recovery for broadcast and video playout operations. Because CDR is cloudbased, it is always available and accessible in addition to being geographically independent from the disaster location. CDR does not require brick and mortar buildings or other infrastructure associated with a secondary back-up site. CDR ensures a virtually seamless, rapid transition from primary playout to a virtualized, remote playout that ensures business operations are not interrupted, and it is the most practical choice for business continuity in the event of disaster. Disasters An Increasing Threat for Broadcasters and Media Companies The number of natural disasters has risen dramatically in the past two decades, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and costing billions of dollars. Disasters come in many forms. In addition to natural disasters which include hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes broadcast facilities can suffer business-crippling outages due to a large variety of manmade disasters, such as site or local power outages, sabotage, bombings, and riots. In addition, increasingly IP-connected broadcast facilities are vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks that can bring down communication and information systems. Natural and manmade disasters often strike with little or no warning, exposing media and broadcast operations to potential disruption at any moment and loss of significant revenue. Hurricane Katrina, 2005

2 Are You Ready for the Big One? In 2012, Hurricane Sandy crippled the East Coast of the United States, causing billions of dollars in damages and leaving millions without power. Residents living in the Northeast had few defenses against a storm of such magnitude. Regional economies were brought to a near-halt, with an estimated $25 billion lost in business productivity as companies across the Northeast were forced to close due to lack of power, among many other things. The FCC stated to several news organizations that over 158 counties across 10 states, from Virginia and Massachusetts, had cable outages that affected many thousands of customers for many days. Large scale weather-related disasters can happen anytime and anywhere from hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and cyclones to heavy rains or blizzards. Power grids across the globe tend to be ill-equipped to keep up with the demands of our fast-paced, digital society even in perfect weather conditions. When a severe storm hits, the power grid is taxed further, and this often results in more frequent and longer power outages. Even minor storms can halt the flow of broadcast content to subscribers and viewers in need, wreaking costly havoc to broadcasters and their customers. Most Disasters are Not Weather-Related When most people think of disasters, they immediately default to natural disasters. However, when it comes to broadcast operations, there are many other circumstances that cause off-air events. Beyond power outages, other disasters can include equipment failure, power outages, communications facilities failures, cybersecurity / terrorism / sabotage, and accidents either on-site or in related facilities that cause outages across the system. In 2011, EMC Corporation published results from the their sponsored European Disaster Recovery Survey they sponsor. The survey found that Disruptions are more likely from an IT problem than a natural disaster, with the three most common causes of downtime being: Hardware failure: 61% Power failure: 42% Data corruption: 35% Employee sabotage: 8% Natural disaster: 7% The survey also found that when an outage incident actually occurred, 44 percent of organizations reviewed and changed their procedures for backup and recovery, and 27 percent of businesses increased their spending on backup and recovery after a disaster. Lightning Strike Knocks TV Station Off-Air Station manager Anthony Maisel of KTEN in Sherman, Texas, was awakened before midnight one March evening in 2013 by a lightning storm that disabled the station s playout functions, according to an account by Andrew Dodson reporting for TVNewsCheck. Panels blew off some of the racks, a majority of the control room equipment was completely fried and the motor from the station s tower camera crashed through the station s roof, the station manager told Dodson. No one was injured, but the station sustained severe damage from a direct strike, knocking KTEN off the air. Though KTEN was able to get some major programming back up, it had to fill its regular newscasts with syndicated programming. Because the strike also affected the station s playback server, it was even difficult to put video on its website. The station said it was unclear how much damage was done to the station, in terms of dollars. It s a lot of money, says Maisel. A lot. Source: TVNewsCheck, May 2013 Disaster Recovery Plans as part of a larger Business Continuity Plan A DRP is generally part of a larger, more extensive strategy known as a Business Continuity Plan. Typically, this is a plan arranged in advance by leadership and key personnel that outlines the steps taken to get an organization back in operation following an unexpected outage or business disruption. A DRP outlines plans to help a business recover and restore critical operations that could be interrupted during or after a disaster of any kind.this type advanced planning can help businesses recover critical functions to minimize the amount of loss and downtime. The plan outlines the processes required to recover access to software, data, and/or hardware that is needed to resume critical business functions.

3 Quite often, a DRP or larger Business Continuity Plan can be a requirement of insurance providers or even governments and regulators, According to the previously mentioned EMC study, 49 percent of companies across Europe are obligated by insurance policies or regulatory requirements to have a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) in place. In the United States, the FCC has issued the following requirements for disaster recovery processes for local radio and television stations 1. All processes critical to the continuation of essential services should be identified Critical personnel should be identified and receive the plan The plan should be reviewed no less than annually The plan should be tested Emergency information must be made available to the deaf, hard of hearing and to non-english speaking persons Can You Afford Not to Have a Disaster Recovery Plan? While almost every broadcaster and media company has some level of redundancy in their main broadcast systems, there are multiple levels of contingency to consider. Are contingency plans in place for a short outage that might involve minutes or hours? What about an outage that may go on for days due to damage at the main playout or broadcast facility? A manmade or natural disaster can often create a second disaster in the form of substantial loss of business revenue or turnover. If content is not being broadcasted, ads are not being played out, and the revenue from advertising is the lifeblood of many media businesses. The cost of lost advertising revenue can skyrocket quickly, and ads that are not played out due to off-air incidents are not easily recovered. According to Ad Age 2, local television stations in the U.S. typically charge from $200 to $1,500 to run a 30-second spot. But that figure does not account for customized cable ad packages and prices. According to media buyers surveyed by AdAge, 30-second ads in Monday Night Football can cost USD $325,000 to $400,000, while placing an ad during The Walking Dead costs anywhere from $200,000 to more than $325,000 per 30-second spot. The Super Bowl can cost a staggering $4.5 million per 30-second spot. The chart below illustrates how advertising revenue losses can mount during an extended outage. If you assume that an average 30-second ad is priced at $1,000 in a local market, the lost revenue works out to $14,000 per hour (assuming 14 local ads run per hour), and so on. In less than a week of being off-air, revenue losses from advertising alone might easily exceed USD $1 million. Advertising Revenue: Loss Calculator (USD) Commercial minutes per hour 14 Revenue Value of one 30-second ad (USD) $750 Value of total second ads per hour $21,000 Value of ads per day $504,000 Common Approaches to Disaster Recovery Broadcast operators typically adopt one of two main approaches to disaster recovery: 1. Redundant System: This traditional approach of mirroring a playout system at a remote (brick and mortar) location can be expensive. The cost to duplicate the main broadcast or playout facility can run into many hundreds of thousands of dollars and, depending on the size of the operation, most probably in the millions of dollars. A partial list of equipment included in a redundant DRP scenario includes: Transmission and Networking Equipment Decoders/Encoders Master Control Switches Video Editing Software File Servers File Storage MultiViewers Automation Systems 1 Federal Communications Commission; 2 Ad Age, Oct. 20, 2013, TV Ad Prices: Football is Still King

4 2. Recorded Programming: An alternative to a fully redundant facility is a method of playing out previously recorded content, where feasible. Playing out this content from past programming might maintain a revenue stream for the short-term, but is not the best option for a long outage. Customers will soon lose interest and switch channels. The brand and reputation of the station can be ruined in a matter of hours. 3. Cloud Disaster Recovery (CDR) Cloud Disaster Recovery The advent of cloud-based technologies for integrated channel playout heralds a new and much more flexible era for broadcasters and media companies. Cloud playout provides many of the advantages of a premises-based DR system, with few of the disadvantages: Separate DR facilities and equipment are not required, substantially reducing CapEx and OpEx Software-based solution that is easily commissioned and maintained Video and Advertising content can be made available on-air within moments of a main playout system disruption Unlike premises-based backup facilities where costs are incurred daily, cloud-based playout can utilize the as a Service model pricing to focus costs on operations only if or when the DR service is actually required due to a disaster Eliminate localized disaster risks associated with premises-based backup systems CDR facilities can be used anywhere, which is particularly advantageous for entities that are in need of DR for a number of facilities and want to centralize the DR function Channel capacity is virtually limitless; this allows media companies and broadcasters with diverse channel operations to provide DR for a large number of channels Cloud vs. Other Methods of Disaster Recovery Cloud Disaster Recovery is a low cost, easily integrated and high performance disaster recovery solution when compared to the more expensive redundant/mirrored system at a the same or separate physical broadcast facility, or using limited content from recorded programming. Versio : a Cost-Effective and Reliable Disaster Recovery Solution In the past few years, cloud disaster recovery solutions have become viable alternatives to traditional DR approaches. CDR potential to exceed both redundant systems and recorded programming methods in cost effectiveness, scalability, and reliability. and is a very practical choice for ensuring business continuity in the event of disaster. Versio is the powerful new force in integrated playout from Imagine Communications. Going beyond the basic server, graphics, branding and automated playout solutions common to the channel- or station-in-a-box segment, Versio brings startling graphics, Digital Video Effects, and mix effects, and combines them with the industry s leading Imagine Communications automation and server technology. Versio is the industry s only integrated playout solution that is 100% software running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT platforms. Versio for Disaster Recovery is available in three options: Versio as a premises-based solution VersioCloud as a private cloud solution VersioCloud as a public cloud solution Cloud Disaster Recovery Redundant System Recorded Programming Cost Low High Low Complexity and Integration Low High Low Performance High High High Reliability High High Moderate Content Quality High High Low

5 The cloud-based solution is VersioCloud, an advanced, fully IP-enabled, integrated Playout in the Cloud platform. VersioCloud enables all of the traditional integrated channel playout functions, including automation, branding, graphics, and file server capabilities. It meets all of the critical performance criteria desired in a disaster recovery solution, including: premium built-in branding and graphics cost-effective off-site disaster recovery infrastructure, fully compatible and synchronized with the main playout site a low-maintenance, single-platform design, as well as space and energy efficiency that lowers operational costs seamless integration with the Imagine Communications station automation system, eliminating the need for a spare process to bridge operations between the main site and backup The core of the VersioCloud system is based on existing automation, graphics, branding, server technology, video and graphics. As a result, image quality can be fully maintained in the DR site. Also, since the exceptional stability and reliability of Imagine Communications automation and asset management systems are part of the solution, there are no compromises to the performance levels that operators have become accustomed to in their existing infrastructure. Customers also have access to the much larger scope of playout and media workflow, thanks to the extensive integration support for Imagine s market-leading automation capabilities, covering all areas related to the business of play-to-air. VersioCloud: Superior Flexibility for a Variety of Requirements VersioCloud is highly reliable, and the flexible architecture s rapid switching and instant availability provides near-seamless transition to backup when required as a result of a disaster. Broadcast playback facilities can customize the VersioCloud setup to meet specific disaster recovery needs. For basic, low-cost disaster recovery protection, VersioCloud can play out previously ingested evergreen material with quality branding and graphics to keep a channel on-air until the main system returns to operation For a more complex solution, workflow tools can feed the VersioCloud content that is ingested at the main site, thus mirroring main site content. Additional processes, such as transcode and automatic quality control, can be built in at the disaster recovery / cloud sites if the operator is looking to reduce storage costs or ensure quality at its remote location. This configuration ensures content required to back up the main channel playout is always available. At the highest level of recovery, the VersioCloud solution can connect the automation elements to the main site. With this infrastructure, comprehensive schedule syncing and programming updates are automatically fed to the VersioCloud system. Playlists are preserved, and advertising is played out in synch with the main system without additional operational overhead and minimizing the effects of the main system downtime. If operators make playlist changes, those changes are automatically relayed to the backup VersioCloud system. Whatever happens on the master playlist is reflected immediately in the backup system in the event of main system disruption, the switch is seamless and up to date. Conclusion Disasters, whether natural or manmade, always seem to strike when least expected. Every broadcast and media operation is exposed to risk and potential disruption at any moment. A cost-effective, off-site disaster recovery infrastructure, fully compatible and synchronized with the main playout site, is required for business continuity. However, building a redundant system replicating the current infrastructure is expensive. VersioCloud eliminates the need to invest in a backup system by embracing cloud and IP-based technology. It is a cost-effective, highly reliable, and software-based solution that is easily installed and maintained. It integrates all of the critical playout functions desired in a disaster recovery situation, including server, automation, branding, graphics and playout capabilities and it provides a new layer of cloud-based protection that was not previously available from premises-based, brick and mortar facilities Imagine 2015 Imagine Communications Proprietary and Confidential WP_DISASTER_RECOV_0215