Future of Research and Development and Product Creation in 2025: Focus on Lawo
The broadcast industry is witnessing a significant shift with the introduction of the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) approach. This innovative concept has sparked the Media Exchange Layer (MXL) initiative, enabling software by one vendor to share essence data with software from a different vendor.
One of the companies at the forefront of this change is Lawo, which has committed to contributing to the MXL initiative. The DMF concept allows countless processing apps to be started and stopped at the press of a single button, reconfiguring the entire tech stack.
Challenges and Opportunities
The evolution of technology presents both challenges and opportunities. As each new generation of CPU and GPU offers an increase in compute of 30~50%, managing hybrid cloud workflows, optimizing content efficiency, and addressing evolving audience behaviors become critical.
Challenges
Latency, data security, and asset synchronization in hybrid cloud environments remain major hurdles. Balancing automation and the human storytelling element is also crucial to avoid loss of creativity while leveraging AI for efficiency. Managing creative asset waste and infrastructure migration to IP-based, high-capacity, and energy-efficient broadcast systems are other significant challenges.
Opportunities
The opportunities in this digital transformation are vast. AI-driven creative intelligence enables better targeting of ads by quality and emotional connection. Automation and AI-powered graphics workflows streamline real-time creation, data integration, and workflow automation. Innovations in dynamic ad insertion and video monetization continue to evolve, offering broadcasters enhanced revenue opportunities.
Hybrid cloud and Unreal Engine-based real-time rendering provide scalable, flexible environments for producing more engaging and responsive broadcast content. Migration to IP-centric infrastructures like Appear’s X20 platform enables higher quality, 4K-ready, and secure broadcast feed delivery tailored to new business models and platforms.
Lawo's Focus
Lawo is focusing on transitioning production and processing aspects to the app-based DMF. As high-end compute increases, the low-end also increases, making technology more accessible to a wider audience. Standard servers are evolving, with powerful 256-core CPUs and high-speed network interface cards on the horizon.
Lawo's HOME Apps work on both standard servers and in a public cloud, providing a stepping stone into the public cloud for those who wish to transition. The Media Exchange Layer (MXL) uses a common memory sharing protocol for shared memory access between apps running on the same server or across the network fabric. A multi-vendor solution like Nvidia Holoscan or Intel Tiber is required for the shared memory access between apps from different vendors.
A Balanced Approach
The DMF aims to find a balance between standard IT compute and edge processing. Lawo is working on a comprehensive and compelling solution that covers both video and audio, with the addition of the HOME mc2 DSP app and the HOME Power Core app. R&D involves balancing visible objectives, strategic goals, and customer-facing commitments with less noticeable developments like deployment process, security, licensing, and logging.
Lawo takes customer feature requests seriously and incorporates them into its R&D activities. The HOME Intelligent Multiviewer app, combined with Lawo's .edge gateway and its built-in video proxy generation, offers a more efficient use of CPU capacity and network bandwidth. It is possible to run both HOME and HOME Apps on the same server with a container-based solution, but this requires changes and options in the deployment process.
Embracing the Future
HOME, HOME Apps, VSM, and the Lawo FLEX subscription model are designed to facilitate changing media production facilities. Lawo Workspaces and customers' ability to consistently pick the right tools for the job, be it a hardware device or an app, are exciting developments. The future of the broadcast industry lies in embracing efficiency, innovation, and creative quality through AI and cloud technologies, while carefully managing technological transitions and maintaining the human storytelling element to maximize audience impact and business value.
- In the realm of the broadcast industry, the shift towards data-and-cloud-computing solutions, as exemplified by the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) approach, also extends to the finance and business sectors, considering the opportunities for AI-driven creative intelligence and automation.
- As Lawo focuses on transitioning production and processing aspects to the app-based DMF, the company is not only embracing technology but also sustaining the crucial balance between standard IT compute, edge processing, and the human storytelling element in the industry.
