News & Updates

BitFire announces a major release of the BitFire Media Platform, its groundbreaking production technology solution for hybrid broadcast workflows that combine the best of traditional broadcast technologies with innovative, software-defined tools that unlock the power of the cloud.

The BitFire Media Platform offers a revolutionary convergence of physical and cloud-based tools that empower you to create entire production workflows at any scale. Powered by our ultra-low-latency global IP transmission network, The BitFire Media Platform is the most comprehensive and robust IP-based solution on the market today for seamless hybrid-cloud transmission, production, and distribution.

The BitFire Transport Network boasts a globally distributed architecture, with strategically positioned ingest locations near your ground-based sources and destinations. The network seamlessly leverages multi-hop recovery strategies and real-time routing decisions to ensure ultra-low latencies, with the utmost resiliency. BitFire Engines automatically connect to the BitFire Transport Network with a security first mindset. Network administrators need only provide outbound internet access, as BitFire does not require publicly available static IP addresses or any inbound firewall rules.

Updates to Inferno:

BitFire is proud to announce a major update to Inferno, the web-based management platform to manage your BitFire Resources. This update showcases a refreshed UI, where you can build, monitor, and modify your BitFire bookings. Inferno simplifies the complicated nuances of IP transmission, and displays real-time information about each feed, including Video Format, Bitrate, Latency, Underlying Loss, and Efficacy.

Introducing the BitFire Cloud Switcher:

BitFire announces the initial release of the BitFire Cloud Switcher. It supports up to 8 inputs, 8 keyers, and has native integration for HTML5-based graphics. The text-based API allows fast and easy integration into control surfaces or automation systems. Use Inferno, BitFire’s web-based portal, and book sources from BitFire Engines such as SDI, AES67, and more. Additionally, BitFire Media Platform outputs, such as other switchers and multiviewers, and ingest SRT feeds from multiple regions.

While early cloud- and software-based switchers and production solutions have required rethinking your entire workflow, the BitFire Cloud Switcher is based on a traditional M/E and keyers methodology and seamlessly integrates with the BitFire Transport Network.

The BitFire Switcher joins a suite of previously released Cloud Production Tools: FireBridge Control Room, FireBridge Monitor, FireBridge LiveShot, BitFire Cloud Comms, BitFire Cloud Multiviewer, and BitFire Cloud Recorder.

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BitFire was the title sponsor of the SVG TranSPORT event in NYC. Our CTO, Jim Akimchuk, joined the panel, Plotting Your Transport Roadmap for the Future, to lead the discussion about emerging transmission standards, and how IP- and cloud-based workflows can deliver reliable, low-latency transmission of live sports content.

Watch the video of the entire session:

BitFire is dedicated to creating tools and opportunities to leverage cutting edge technology to grow and meet the new demands of broadcasting and studio production, and is proud to announce that the BitFire Media Platform has selected Phenix as its real-time video streaming partner for video delivery in less than ½ second to anywhere around the globe. The combined offering empowers customers who leverage BitFire’s ultra-low latency IP transport network to seamlessly contribute their streams directly into Phenix’s advanced, scalable, global real-time video delivery platform, resulting in sub-second end-to-end latency and complete synchronization across the entire viewing audience during live events.

Together, BitFire and Phenix deliver a full suite of real-time video cloud-based tools for production, transport, and distribution including:

• Live event production and cloud switching
• Globally distributed architecture for ingest and video transport
• Multi-hop recovery strategies
• Real-time routing
• Web-based platform to manage resources
• Cloud recording
• Cloud transcoding for real-time adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming
• Flash crowd scalability to instantly handle large crowds joining popular streams
• Less than ½ second of video latency
• Synchronized video playback on any device

Within Inferno, BitFire’s revolutionary browser-based management system, customers can effortlessly set up a stream handoff to Phenix’s real-time software encoders, seamlessly contributing to Phenix’s industry-leading video delivery platform.

Jim Akimchuk, Chief Technology Officer of BitFire explained,

“This streamlined integration enables customers to quickly and easily stream high quality video content at latencies not seen before in the market. We are excited to partner with Phenix, the leading real-time streaming platform, to build the next generation of content delivery for live sports, news, and events.”

Bill Wishon, Chief Product Officer of Phenix shared,

“BitFire is the ideal partner for Phenix to extend its real-time streaming capabilities to include modern hybrid production workflows. We’re highly impressed with BitFire’s first-in-class global IP transmission network and deep video transport expertise.”

So how does it work?

There are a number of options for customers to contribute streams into BitFire including the rack-mountable T4 Engine, smaller form-factor NUC Engine or, from third party encoders with SRT. Once in the BitFire Transport Network, clients can utilize BitFire's diverse ecosystem of production, processing, and management tools, including Inferno for centralized cloud control and Cloud Switcher for up to eight inputs with HTML5-based graphics.

MPEG Transport Streams (MPEG-TS) are fed into Phenix software encoders running within the BitFire network for real-time contribution to the Phenix platform. The Phenix encoder is pre-tuned for the highest quality and lowest latency with a full multi-bitrate ladder for ABR streaming.

The streams are automatically sent to the nearest Phenix Point of Presence (PoP). Phenix hosts 34 global PoPs, each of which is connected with private fiber and is capable of ingesting and delivering video. Content is delivered in real-time to any WebRTC-compatible device including web, iOS, Android, and connected TV platforms. HLS and MPEG-Dash outputs can also be generated when desired for VOD recording and replay.

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