From Media Networks to Media Fabrics: Rethinking Real-Time Production Infrastructure

Description

The future of media infrastructure may not be defined by choosing between SDI, IP, hardware, software, on-premises, or cloud. It may be defined by deciding where each function belongs—and how efficiently those resources can work together.

As real-time media workflows evolve, facilities are increasingly balancing established SDI infrastructure with IP networking, distributed architectures, software-defined processing, and data-center technologies. This session will examine the technical and architectural tradeoffs between centralized and distributed media systems, including signal transport, processing location, bandwidth utilization, latency, redundancy, scalability, system complexity, and the economics of infrastructure choices. We’ll explore how abstraction and orchestration can provide a unified control model across heterogeneous media resources while allowing processing and I/O to be located where they are most efficient. The discussion will then extend beyond traditional media transport into data-center architectures, high-performance networking, and emerging approaches for moving high-bandwidth media and data between compute resources, including Dynamic Media Facilities (DMF) and Media Exchange Layer (MXL). Attendees will gain a technical framework for evaluating how real-time media systems can evolve from fixed-function, hardware-centric architectures toward more distributed, software-driven infrastructure while balancing performance, flexibility, scalability, and overall system efficiency.

Attendees will learn:

• The architectural differences and tradeoffs between centralized, distributed, hybrid, and software-defined media systems, including implications for bandwidth, latency, redundancy, processing, and scalability.
• How abstraction, orchestration, and resource virtualization can separate media workflows from the underlying physical infrastructure and simplify control of distributed systems.
• How technologies such as high-performance data-center fabrics, RDMA, DMF, and MXL may enable new approaches to moving media between compute, processing, storage, and network resources.

Speakers

Rick Seegull

SVP of Technology and Business Development , Riedel

Rick Seegull, SVP of Technology and Business Development, at Riedel, leads the company's technology and business strategy regarding video across the Americas. He collaborates closely with customers, channel partners, and Riedel's product management team to stay ahead of tech trends and guide Riedel Communications' future direction. With 25 years of experience, Rick has built startup divisions and managed product chains from concept and design to manufacturing, marketing, and sales. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of New York.

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Drew Martin

Head of Video Product Management , Riedel

Drew Martin, Head of Video Product Management at Riedel, is responsible for leading the current product line and developing next-generation solutions in live video. With 20 years of experience in broadcasting, Drew has revolutionized workflows from analog to cloud-based systems, launched new national television stations, and independently engineered a cutting-edge news station utilizing custom logics and automations. Over the past nine years, Drew has dedicated his efforts to creating products for Grass Valley and Riedel. Products developed under Drew's leadership have garnered awards and transformed the way T1 companies manage video on a global scale, while simultaneously ensuring user satisfaction through intuitive interfaces.

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