Audio Media Service Produktionsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG is currently running Ferncast’s aixtream as a system for DMZ-based input of audio files from the internet, which it then stream into its internal network via RTP. According to Ferncast, the German media company is a long-running aixtream customer and has used and tested aixtream software for various applications.
Two aixtream systems — the main system and a backup — are running in ams’ network DMZ on XenServer machines. These systems use internet, cloud and AES67 playout sources and process them into 14 Opus-encoded RTP streams and then transmit those to ams’ internal network for final decoding. This workflow includes a fully redundant setup with both aixtream systems mirroring each other and the backup system delivering a complete set of redundant streams. Virtualized installations on existing XenServers keep the implementation simple, whereas the addition of conventional hardware products would have increased the complexity of the network.
The company says the main reasons for choosing aixtream were:
- The handling of internet audio as input for RTP streams.
- Installing it on the existing XenServer infrastructure in their DMZ required no additional hardware.
- aixtream’s UI is suited perfectly to the setup and monitoring of its particular application.
Since this project, Ferncast add that it has conducted multiple tests of other potential applications for aixtream with ams. These include in SIP communication for reporting. Both companies say they look forward to the results of these tests and many more projects.