AWS now supports Zen Master, the Zixi live video orchestration solution

AWS Cloud Digital Interface (CDI) and AWS Elemental Link are now operable with Zen Master, the Zixi live video telemetry and orchestration solution.

Zen Master makes it easy to manage inputs and outputs for “hundreds of video streams” live in the Zixi environment. This video management software, which enables automatic configuration functions for network resources and distribution targets, allows its users to create new live channels and launch the necessary streams on the fly. In addition, Zen Master simplifies the management of broadcast streams using the most common industry protocols, whether the signal paths are point-to-point, one-to-many, multi-cloud or content delivery network (CDN). Similarly, the Zixi solution provides graphical alerts, email alerts and centralized remote access to local, remote and cloud-based devices from a single screen.

As Zixi itself details, thanks to the recent agreement with AWS, ZEN Master adds flexibility to AWS workflows, layered stream state visibility, stream analytics through audio-video-network parameters with reporting and automation routines that enhance the “robust stability” of the AWS Elemental MediaConnect service, and AWS infrastructure monitoring using Amazon CloudWatch data.

AWS Elemental Link appliances are available as a source for AWS Elemental MediaLive and ship fully configured for AWS accounts, with ZEN Master configuring MediaLive to send streams to MediaConnect. AWS customers can manage high-quality, uncompressed live video via CDI streams transferred in real-time between software applications running on Amazon Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA) instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Available directly from Zixi, as well as in public and private sales through AWS Marketplace, these incremental Zen Master streams in, out and around new cloud environments foster software and hardware vendor interoperability in your production environment, with high bandwidth and low end-to-end latency.

An enhanced service

Greg Truax, head of live video services at AWS Elemental, welcomes this agreement and considers the alliance between AWS and Zixi a “natural”: “Zen Master reduces the complexity of live-stream workflows with a set of virtual tools for configuring, orchestrating and monitoring delivery of live video at the individual channel and device level, or across an entire video content creation and distribution Enterprise. With the Zen Master SaaS offering running on AWS services, it was natural to extend our collaboration with Zixi for our mutual customers.”

From the other side, John Wastcoat, SVP of alliances and marketing at Zixi, is also pleased with the integration: “Zixi has had a long history with AWS that started with an API integration with AWS Elemental Live many years ago and continued with the work for AWS Elemental MediaConnect. We are excited to offer our customers the capabilities that the API integration of Link and CDI in Zen Master as an even more powerful user experience.”