Viz Now reduces deployment time for cloud-based live productions

Vizrt removes the complexity and lengthy set up usually associated with cloud-based deployments of broadcast solutions with today’s early access launch of Viz Now, a tool for automating deployments of live production tools in the cloud.

With Viz Now, non-technical production staff can create end-to-end, fully pre-configured live productions in the cloud at the click of a button, including 4K switching, broadcast quality graphics, studio automation, replay/slow-motion, dedicated audio mixing, sports analysis, and intercom.

“The significant IT time, effort, and expertise required to deploy tools correctly and securely in the cloud mean many content creators fall at the first hurdle. Viz Now breaks down barriers to cloud, making it easy for anyone to deploy, access, and manage templated and pre-configured cloud live production environments in minutes,” says Ulrich Voigt, VP Product Management, Vizrt.
Deploy and access from anywhere, in minutes

Offering an intuitive user interface, Viz Now makes it easy to select Vizrt and third-party broadcast software solutions needed for production, then automatically deploy them into the customer’s own Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud account in under 15 minutes.

Once deployed, Viz Now includes an intuitive portal for creative operators to access the deployed applications securely and easily from anywhere. Automating the deployment process saves significant IT engineering time, ensures security best practices, and means new production capacity can be created – and deleted – as and when needed significantly reducing IT costs and carbon footprint.

This guarantees a fresh production system every time with no concerns about aging legacy environments, expensive maintenance, and the monetary and environmental cost of leaving traditional production environments running 24/7.

Integrating NDI

“Deploying live production tools in the cloud is only half the battle. By automatically integrating NDI and free NDI tools such as NDI Bridge, Viz Now connects your cloud-based live production tools with the talent and cameras that are still on the ground, either in a studio or on-location,” says Jon Raidel, Global Center of Excellence Lead for Live Productions, Vizrt.

While there is significant time and money saving value in automating the deployment process, Viz Now is a simple tool that enables something much bigger – access to fully end-to-end live productions in the cloud for complete production freedom and flexibility.

At launch, Viz Now supports Viz Vectar Plus for 4K switching, Viz Trio et Viz Engine for broadcast quality graphics, Viz Mosart for studio automation, Telos Infinity VIP for intercom, Harrison Mixbus VBM for audio mixing, and 3Play by Viz Now for replay and slow-motion and Viz Libero for sports analysis.

Viz Now is software-as-a-service (SaaS) hosted and maintained by Vizrt, which then automatically deploys the live production tools you select into your own AWS account. In short – Vizrt manages Viz Now, and the customer operates and manages the deployed products. Viz Now is free to use for Vizrt customers with a Flexible Access subscription and currently supports the automated deployment of the Vizrt Live Production Solution and selected 3rd party products into AWS. More Vizrt and 3rd party products will be supported in future releases, as will other cloud providers.