TAG controls rising server memory prices with a usage optimisation to lower the cost of running its IP monitoring and multiviewer software, preserve quality and reduce cost per channel.
The recent global shortage of server memory, and the associated large rise in its price, has meant that memory now takes up a much higher proportion of server cost for video service providers. At TAG Video Systems also, achieving a low cost per channel has always involved matching mid-range servers with maximum memory – until now.
The new memory economics has called for a change in strategy for TAG. In response, the company has developed a memory usage optimisation that lowers the total cost of ownership of running its software-based IP monitoring and multiviewer solutions, reducing the cost per channel by up to two-thirds for compressed workflows, according to TAG.
TAG's R&D team revisited its optimisation calculations and developed an alternative approach that reduces the amount of memory each server requires while preserving the video quality that its users can achieve. By running a server on as few as four memory modules, rather than a fully populated configuration, TAG delivers comparable monitoring capabilities at a substantially lower cost per channel.
For compressed workflows, TAG has determined that the trade-off is markedly in the customer's favour: cost per channel falls by up to 66 percent, while server capacity drops by only around 20 percent. Their team has now extended the same approach to uncompressed ST 2110 environments, where benchmarking on certified platforms has been completed and shows a memory savings with a larger capacity trade-off of up to around 50 percent in some configurations. This change gives providers a new option to weigh against their specific balance of inputs and outputs.
"Our goal has always been to optimise our clients' investment in hardware, not just to keep pace with it," said Stas Bangiev, VP R&D at TAG Video Systems. "When memory prices rose across the industry, we didn't ask our customers to simply absorb the increase. We engineered a way to deliver the same quality for significantly less outlay."
This memory usage optimisation is available in the most recent release of TAG's MCM software, with further platform work currently underway. TAG innovation is delivered as part of the Zero Friction subscription – users receive this optimisation, and every improvement that follows, as part of their plan at no extra cost.
TAG’s Zero Friction approach makes all features and functions of the TAG real-time media platform available through one license for monitoring, visualisation, recording, processing and analysis across various platforms and formats without the constraints of specific hardware, location or purpose. TAG works directly with each user to confirm the optimal configuration for their environment. tagvs.com
