Bridge Technologies (www.bridgetech.tv) creates advanced solutions for protecting service quality in the digital media and telecommunications industries. The company’s award-winning monitoring/analysis systems, intelligent switchers and virtual environments help deliver over 20,000 channels to more than 900 million subscribers in 94 countries. From head-end satellite ingress to microAnalytics in the home network, Bridge Technologies offers patented innovation and true end-to-end transparency. A privately held company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Bridge Technologies has worldwide sales and marketing operations through a global business partner network.
VB 330
The VB330 Probe is the flagship in Bridge Technologies product offering towards broadband and media operators. With dual 10G Ethernet connectivity and a massive multiprocessor architecture the VB330 can deliver monitoring and analytics of thousands of streams and a multitude of technologies in real-time and in parallel. The VB330 is deployed either on dedicated embedded hardware, as a pre-configured and pre-installed appliance or as a software-only solution. This gives the operator greater flexibility when it comes to tailoring the monitoring solution towards the underlying system architecture in the best possible manner. Feature parity is ensured across the various deployment options, varying only in factors such as scalability, power consumption and longevity. The web-based user experience and feature availability stays the same across all the deployment alternatives.
The VB330 utilises the same visual and intuitive approach to monitoring and analytics as other probes. The VB330 is aimed at monitoring the full cross section of services commonly found in media related network operations. As such the VB330 is very much a multi use tool to monitor network performance involving signal formats and areas as diverse as video IP multicast, video OTT/ABR streaming, voice trunks, video-on-demand unicast, Ethernet packet micro bursts, PCAP recording and general traffic protocol inspection.
The VB330 is also available as a Cent-OS/RHE install software image that can be installed on suitable server hardware or in cloud environments by the end user. This allows for installation onto already existing server or cloud-based infrastructure. Some consideration is required in order to match software driver capabilities against the infrastructure to run the VB330 on.
VB 220
A single VB220 blade is capable of monitoring up to 260 IP multicasts as found in FTTH IPTV systems. Three VB220 blades can be placed in one 19″ 1RU chassis, giving a total of 780 streams monitored in a small form factor.
The VB220 is ideally suited for network core and region use. It is an invaluable helpmate for any network engineer attempting multicast detection on multiple VLANs or in the process of IGMP tracking. Fault finding in complex IP networks just got a lot easier.
The monitoring of critical parameters such as loss distance measurements and detailed jitter values will give operators invaluable and precise feedback about network performance. With the patented MediaWindow™, historical data can be easily accessed for meaningful visualisation of media flow in IP networks. Whether establishing or modifying service settings on complex routers and switches, the VB220 facilitates the whole process.
The power of confidence monitoring is further enhanced by continuous monitoring and alarming for vital parameters like bandwidth overflow/underflow, RTP errors and signal loss. Based on a highly sophisticated threshold template system, alarm granularity can be set to reflect actual status, irrelevant alarms being effectively masked. The unique FSM™ framework also allows checking and continuous monitoring of middleware and network services vital to customer QoE.
The VB220 may be used with optional demodulator interfaces, resulting in a very compact monitoring solution particularly suited for systems that use IP distribution to regional nodes. The VB220 monitors IP, ASI and optional demodulator inputs simultaneously, and the transport stream and service compare mechanism makes it easy to validate correct local insertion at regional head-ends.
The VB220 can be expanded with the ETR290 option for full video monitoring and analysis functionality according to TS 101 290 as used in head-end and studio environments. SNMP trapping and XML export enable the IP probes to be implemented in any NMS system with alarm generation; either directly from the probes themselves, or via the VBC server for advanced alarm correlation and filtering. Each VB220 contains the Eii (External Integration Interface) API for seamless and easy integration into any third party system.
Each IP probe runs an HTTP server with the client as a web browser, so there is no need to install custom software on computers needing access to the measurement data. The HTTP traffic is compressed between the probe and the client web browser to allow successful operation across limited bandwidth management networks.
Nomad
NOMAD is a breakthrough design with almost every conceivable interface for media signal monitoring and analysis. Featuring optical/electrical Gigabit Ethernet, ASI in/out, DVB-C QAM cable, DVB-T/T2 COFDM terrestrial, DVB-S/S2 satellite and external 1PPS GPS time-reference, NOMAD can analyse all RF transmitted DVB signals as well as OTT and multicast/unicast IP transmissions. With comprehensive IP packet analysis tools, NOMAD is ideal for IP transport understanding regardless of media transported. NOMAD also is shipped with the ultimate in user friendly setup. The unit contains a Wi-Fi zone, and by pointing a laptop towards this, NOMAD is ready for use without further configuration.
As technologies become more and more complex, using NOMAD will give invaluable insight into modern media signal behaviours without the need for deep operator knowledge of the media technology used. Cut from a single brick of aluminium, NOMAD sets a new standard for both finish and ruggedness. It is also of very light weight and is the perfect companion to a laptop.
NOMAD ships with extensive functionality for superior digital media understanding right out of the box. Additionally NOMAD has a substantial additional set of extended analysis options, enabling it to outperform the most comprehensive systems on the market in functionality. This also allows NOMAD to be an ideal laboratory tool for desktop analysis in the most demanding environments. NOMAD also sets a new benchmark of affordability in the industry.
Remote Data Wall
Remote Data Wall (RDW) allows those responsible for network monitoring and management to quicklyand easily create a visual representation of network activity, enabling potential problems to be rapidlyidentified and appropriate corrective action taken. Depending on the size or complexity of thenetwork being monitored, RDW can spread from a single screen to multiple screens in a videowallformat – but requires no specialist skills to install.
Remote Data Wall enables users with no special skills to create displays, extending over multiplescreens in a video wall format.
