OKAST chose Zixi to run live channel delivery to 80 platforms, expanding it channel count and footprint, and support the ASAP4EU Consortium, and centralise monitoring and orchestration.
M.E.I. Group in France builds the OKAST.TV cloud platform for TV channel, producer, pure web player and others. As a turnkey system, OKAST facilitates the deployment of a streaming and live audio/video platform, a FAST channel, and the monetisation of audio, video and live catalogues, covering all requirements from streaming architecture, platform and design to TV and mobile applications. It also handles payment systems, advertising and management software, including content management and analytics.
Founded in 2013, OKAST now publishes more than 600 OTT platforms and premium FAST channels worldwide through its customers. Within that environment, OKAST operates over 180 Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) and linear channels across Europe, Latin America and other locations. As global demand for premium streaming content continues to grow, OKAST looked for ways to upgrade its delivery infrastructure to support international expansion and enhance the quality of service.
OKAST chose Zixi to run live channel delivery to 80 platforms, integrating Zixi's SDVP and ZEN Master control plane. The overall result so far has been to improve operational reliability and visibility, and lower costs, with greater scalability. "We were reaching the limits of what our previous setup could support," said Cédric Monnier, CEO and Co-founder of OKAST. "Zixi gives us control, visibility and the ability to scale. It's a foundational part of our infrastructure moving forward."
ASAP4EU Consortium
Making this technological change has also supported the development work OKAST is involved in as part of the ASAP4EU consortium, a European Commission–funded initiative that develops and initiates new types of streaming and monetisation workflows. the ASAP4EU consortium was established in collaboration with Broadpeak, Titan OS and Impresa, has to develop interactive advertising solutions for FAST and AVOD services in Europe, applying a strategy specifically tailored to the European market with a potential to scale globally.
The main goal is content monetization that enhances the competitiveness and cultural sovereignty of European entities, and optimizes revenues through AI-driven content discovery, data traceability, personalized channels and interactive advertising.
Expanding Channel Count and Footprint
Before adopting Zixi, OKAST was dealing with latency, blackouts and support overheads, meanwhile expanding its channel count and geographical footprint. Now, the company can deliver live streams at the desired quality to its partners, from legacy broadcasters in Europe to OTT platforms in Latin America, without re-architecting its delivery model.
Zixi’s proprietary Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP) is actually an integration of four components used to provision, deploy, manage and monitor live video workflows through software. The platform’s Video Solutions Stack has tools and media processing functions for broadcast-quality transport that corrects for packet loss and jitter, including hitless failover techniques for reliability between sources and receivers. The Zixi Stack simplifies workflows such as protocol switching, analytics, live 4K transcoding and repackaging and others.
Zixi incorporates analytics, event correlation and AI/ML tools in its platform that continuously aggregate historical and real-time metadata. The results are presented back to the user to help predict downtime, content quality, trends and so on, via alerts, notifications and background monitoring.
A live linear broadcast or event is ingested through Zixi Edge Compute (ZEC), which encapsulates the stream in the Zixi transport protocol and delivers it over standard IP connections. For management, processing and larger scale distribution capabilities, Zixi can support complex live production workflows, including transcoding and recording, in a clustered environment supporting reliability and scalability. The stream is distributed through a CDN, OTT or endpoint device.
Control Payne
OKAST's engineering team has also taken advantage of Zixi's ZEN Master control plane, which centralises real-time monitoring and orchestration across the company's entire channel portfolio. The platform's alerting and diagnostics capabilities have largely replaced manual workarounds and support tickets.
The team can manage and monitor complex deployments at scale, cost-effectively, and configure and orchestrate live broadcast channels across protocols and the Zixi network. ZEN Master allows control of the edge, network and cloud with full telemetry visualization of network streams, plus remote access to the UIs of Zixi-integrated devices and software.
Business Advantages
As well as technical gains, OKAST has seen a measurable return on investment. The previous cloud-based infrastructure quickly became cost-prohibitive at scale, whereas Zixi's system can improve performance with lower operational costs. "Our previous stack worked for a handful of channels, but not for 100-plus," Cedric noted. "Zixi has proven to be more reliable at a lower cost. It enables us to grow sustainably."
Its tools support various live IP video workflows, including content contribution, satellite and fibre replacement and D2C enablement. Zixi's platform includes automation, management and security features such as end-to-end encryption and blackout control.
The partnership comes as Zixi continues to expand its global ecosystem through the Zixi Enabled Network Partner Program. This new initiative gives partners access to enablement resources, joint marketing opportunities and integrated support services. The program aims to foster collaboration and empower partners to build robust video delivery workflows that are ready for the future.
With plans to expand further into APAC and Latin America, OKAST regards its partnership with Zixi as a key strategic enabler."We're no longer limited by infrastructure," Cedric Monnier said. "We can launch new channels faster, serve more geographies, and ensure a higher level of service for our partners. Zixi is the backbone of that growth." zixi.com
