RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana), Italy’s national public broadcaster, needed a robust and reliable solution to connect its six international news bureaus with its headquarters in Rome.
As a public news broadcaster with an audience share of 35.9% of Italy, RAI has the important responsibility of keeping the public informed from places all over the world, including geopolitically sensitive areas.
RAI was looking to replace its present provider, providing an opportunity for new infrastructure to be put in place that linked its headquarters in Rome with bureaus in London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Jerusalem, and Moscow.
The challenge
Being a news broadcaster, RAI needed a way to quickly transmit feeds from different parts of the world back to its headquarters in Rome. This included interviews, news segments, and live reports.
Therefore, there were strict latency requirements. Anything above this would make live broadcasts, especially interviews, more difficult and less polished. Moreover, the feeds needed to be resilient and reliable so that broadcasting service was constantly available and uninterrupted.
Lastly, there were political sensitivities to navigate in the case of connecting the bureaus in Moscow and Jerusalem. The solution needed to work around any restrictions put in place by authorities so that RAI could continue to broadcast freely from these places and facilitate the exchange of information.
The solution
Firstly, Cingularity implemented dual diversely routed circuits between each international bureau to Rome. By using hitless protection to ensure seamless switching between circuits, Cingularity eliminated the risk of visible disruptions even if one path failed.
Secondly, JPEG 2000 (J2K) encoding enabled RAI to transmit high-quality video with minimal delay. This met the stringent latency requirements.
Finally, Cingularity procured local connectivity solutions to connect each bureau with Cingularity’s core network. By establishing a return feed from Rome, RAI could conduct real-time interviews with minimal lag – under 300ms, including network and encoding.
Throughout the process, Cingularity complied with all regulations and worked flexibly within all local laws to build an effective solution. This was particularly important in relation to Moscow, where Cingularity effectively worked with a partner who had all the relevant permissions to work in Russia.
The Outcome
RAI and Cingularity completed the project in a timely and cost-effective manner. By the end of the process, RAI had a resilient and reliable network that enabled the broadcaster to reliably transmit live news from six major international cities to Rome.
The sub-300 millisecond latency significantly improved the timeliness of live news broadcasts and, importantly, the quality of live interviews.
Importantly, by effectively navigating complex geopolitical issues, Cingularity could set up infrastructure that enabled RAI to transmit accurate news from internationally sensitive areas. As a result, RAI could continue to fulfil its obligations as a public news broadcaster.
