DISCOVERY CHANNEL CASE STUDY
Central Telecom has implemented a leading edge converged solution for Discovery Channel, one of the worlds most widely distributed television brands, which broadcasts 400 hours of programmes every day to 1 billion subscribers in 160 countries across the globe. The solution encompasses 7 sites in Paris, Munich, Madrid, Milan, Poland, Stockholm and Copenhagen with their data centre based at their European Headquarters in London.
When Discovery relocated their two London offices to a new 100,000 sq ft headquarters in Chiswick, London, they had to upgrade the existing system to support their new operation and to link seamlessly with their offices in EMEA.
Central implemented an Avaya IP telephony solution, with an Extreme Networks TV/Data Solution, allowing Discovery's 500 employees at their London HQ to operate video to desktop programme monitoring and scheduling for the first time.
The solution has been used as the centre for all European operations with Central extending this in a phased approach to 7 locations and 400 employees across Europe.
BACKGROUND
Quality of Service and resilience are essential to a TV Channel to ensure a continuous 24/7 viewing experience, and to protect its advertising and subscriptions revenues.
Discovery's key requirement was to provide its employees with the ability to continuously view, monitor and schedule programming prior to broadcast, via video to their desktop monitors before being broadcast to subscribers. The converged IP network solution provided by Central enables "junction previewing" for seamless programme linkage, eliminating the possibility of scheduling or advertising errors.
Central's brief was to provide a resilient, reliable and high performance converged solution, that would enhance communications and be capable of carrying extremely complex digital television at Discovery's London Headquarters and then rolled out across EMEA.
To achieve this, Central needed to seamlessly integrate an IP telephony system from Avaya in their London HQ with a high-powered data Network from Extreme. Discovery also wanted to link the core system with sites in Paris, Munich, Madrid, Milan, Poland, Stockholm and Copenhagen in a phased approach running all remote locations from the London office and retaining all the functionality across all sites.
Discovery was also faced with extremely aggressive deadlines, so to achieve its aims, it sought a partner with the same shared values: performance-focused, efficient, effective, and flexible.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Central's proposed an IP Telephony Solution from Avaya that would integrate seamlessly with an Extreme data network. The solution comprises two Avaya S8700 Media Servers with G650 Gateways to support IP Telephony, Unified Messaging and Conference Bridge Services, which allows Discovery to host conferences with its extensive customer base and 26 offices worldwide.
Discovery's European sites all run on G700 Gateways with S8300 LSP's and Extreme X450 and X250 switches. Everything on the network being run from the European HQ in London; including processors, licensing, voice mail which provides one point of administration and a small call centre for IT which supports all sites with their IT issues.
Avaya 4620 IP soft phones with Dual Ethernet 10/100 ports provide network log-in for maximum security and allow users to click to dial out direct from Lotus Notes. Discovery's critical response team were provided with 50 Avaya IP wireless phones which feature full roaming and QOS.
The convergence solution has allowed Discovery to offer its employees flexible working so that home based employees can connect to the company's HQ via ASDL with seamless access to all the voice services via IP softphone.
Central's IP Telephony Solution is integrated with an Extreme Networks TV/video and data solution allowing Discovery's staff to operate video to desktop programme monitoring and scheduling.
The solution is supported by a six year maintenance contract, which will provides an engineer on-site within one hour, 24/7 hour telephone support and software upgrades. Central have installed their in-house alarm monitoring software Contact Central', which has been designed to remotely sense alarm conditions and, based on their urgency, escalate them to a Central Telecom engineer. The system allocates faults, by skill, by email to our Helpdesk engineers, to our duty engineer's pager or mobile telephone by SMS messaging and to our customers to advise them of the fault. This provides field service personnel with alarm information enabling them to remotely acknowledge, clear alarms, or review the site's alarm history.
IMPLEMENTATION
Central Telecom implemented 2 Avaya S8700 Media Servers configured in high reliability to support the IP Telephony, Unified Messaging and conference bridge services with G650 Gateways, where there is no single point of failure in the design. Testing ensured that in the event of a multilink failover, the voice and data integrity remains and services continue to be delivered uninterrupted.
The solution can serve many locations extending Discovery's European headquarters' capabilities throughout the organisation, and providing seamless communications whilst reducing overall management costs.
Applications are centralised, but distributed throughout the organisation over a survivable architecture. This allows employees to access the same set of communication applications and services but simplifies installation at remote sites, provides a unified user experience and reduces management and administration and maintenance costs.
Once the installation in the London office was completed Central rolled out the solution into the European locations. The Avaya G700 Media Gateway with an Avaya S8300 Media Server provided a flexible solution streamlining voice and data operations over one networked infrastructure, offering a survivable, standards-based, IP communications infrastructure without compromising applications, reliability, and multi-service networking.
Throughout the installation, Central undertook extensive testing to ensure that in the event of a multi-link failure, the voice and data integrity would remain and that services would continue to be delivered without interruption.
Central implemented an Extreme solution, comprising two Black Diamond 10808 switches to form the core. Summit 300 switches were located on the edge of the network to provide 10/100 power over Ethernet connections to the desktop and Summit 400 switches were used to provide 10/100/1000 power over Ethernet connections for super users using Apple Mac computers (to link with Ascent - Discovery's media partner). The two Black Diamond 1080 switches provide core resiliency to the network using Virtual Redundant Routing Protocol (VRRP). In the event of the master switch failing VRRP enables the secondary one to instantaneously take over, providing maximum uptime. A number of Extreme Summit 200 switches were used to provide firewall connectivity.
Having moved from a single IP network across multiple floors to a new network supporting multiple VLANs, Discovery's European HQ infrastructure incorporates Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) from Extreme Networks to build resiliency into the network and an IP ring and Power over Ethernet for the wireless and telephone points.
Central also provide a 6 year maintenance contract for the converged network which provides: an engineer on site in one hour; 24 hour a day telephone support; and software upgrades. Central have installed their in-house alarm monitoring software Contact Central', which has been designed to remotely sense alarm conditions and, based on their urgency, escalate them to a Central Telecom engineer by means of email or SMS messaging.
RESULTS
Central has turned Discovery's vision into a reality, thanks to its ability to apply its knowledge and skills in the field of convergence communications technology with the latest tools and techniques from the world's leading manufacturers. Discovery invested in state of the art technology for their European HQ in London which they are now extending, not duplicating, to their various EMEA locations.
Discovery has a robust network, which provides the continuous, uninterrupted live television streams which it needs to run its global business, allowing them to save an estimated £100,000 and an 18 month return on investment.
An excellent business relationship has been developed between Central and Discovery which allowed them to move the various phases of the planned development. The solution is relatively simple and quick to install at the various European locations saving time and costs to the company.
Key Business Benefits
- Improved efficiency through consolidating communication assets and reducing overall system management costs.
- Enhanced mobility for users by providing access to communications applications from any location.
- Resources throughout the enterprise can be leveraged.
- Simplified and enhanced user experience through uniform deployment of enterprise-wide features and dial plans.
