Extends application set of market-leading platform beyond video processing for MSO hospitality and business services market

ATX Networks, a global leader in broadband access and media distribution solutions, will be demonstrating the recently expanded edge computing capabilities of the Visium™ MD, the company’s modular and widely-deployed multimedia and commercial services gateway for PayTV service providers, at next week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia, PA.

Deployed in thousands of hotels and other non-residential venues, including hospitals, sports arenas and enterprises, the Visium MD was recently enhanced to support a variety of applications that require close proximity to intensive and low-latency compute and processing resources, rather than relying on remote datacenters.

“The Visium MD is designed and engineered to be a near-perfect edge computing solution,” said Andrew Isherwood, General Manager and CTO of Media Distribution at ATX. “In addition to already being installed in thousands of enterprise locations, the platform is hardened to work in unsecured environments and can be managed remotely, enabling enterprises to easily spin up new applications as needed.”

The need for edge computing resources has grown significantly in recent years due to the deployment of enterprise applications that leverage artificial intelligence (AI), sensors and other Internet of Things (IoT) mechanisms that demand near-real-time compute performance. By putting processing power close to the data source, such as cameras used for facial recognition or the thousands of sensors installed in smart buildings, enterprises can avoid performance-robbing delays that are typical of roundtrips over the Internet or over another wide area network to a datacenter or centralized computing facility.

Deployed as a bulk video distribution platform at thousands of venues by some of the biggest PayTV providers in the world, the Visium MD acquired the ability to serve as an edge server for third-party applications with last year’s introduction of a generic processing blade that can be containerized and configured to meet specific application requirements. The initial use case of the processing blade is to ingest CDN-sourced video content primarily formatted using Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) or Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) technology, supporting cable operators’ transition to IP-based video delivery.

Several North American MSOs are currently evaluating the Visium MD8, the 8-slot version of the Visium platform, for that purpose.

In addition to its large deployment footprint, the Visium MD is an ideal edge computing platform due to its field-proven security capabilities and its ability to function in an unsecured environment. Visium multimedia gateways, as well as ATX’s Visium SBB Pro:Idiom-compatible security adapter and the recently introduced DVIS™ II local channel insertion solution, support remote monitoring, control and configuration through Visium Manager, an all-purpose element management system that significantly reduces operational overhead.

“ATX has a rich history of helping its customers manage technology transitions, such as the ongoing migration of video content to IP and the evolution of the HFC network,” added Isherwood. “The Visium MD continues that legacy, playing a central role in assisting service providers and their enterprise customers in transitioning from a centralized to a distributed, edge computing-based environment.”

In addition to the Visium MD8 and MD16, ATX will also be demonstrating the capabilities of the Visium SBB and DVIS II in its SCTE Cable-Tec Expo booth (9019).

For more information, please visit www.atx.com.

About ATX Networks

ATX Networks is a global leader in broadband access and media distribution solutions. ATX’s market-leading and award-winning solutions are based on Agile Innovation design principles, enabling communications service providers to futureproof and evolve their networks in lockstep with market demand. ATX partners with the world’s most innovative cable, satellite, fixed telecom, wireless and media broadcast service providers to improve people’s lives by enabling affordable and reliable broadband connectivity and media content for everyone, everywhere. For further information, visit ATX at www.atx.com, and follow us on Twitter @ATXNetworksCorp.

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