TAG has announced that its MCM-9000 all-IP, all-software platform has been enhanced with the addition of an Adaptive Monitoring feature. Adaptive Monitoring is said to give operators even greater agility in optimising high-density probing and monitoring by enabling dynamic, automated, on-the-fly allocation of monitoring resources on a per-input-stream basis. 

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TAG: Adaptive Monitoring is said to give operators even greater agility in optimising high-density probing and monitoring

The feature, says the company, brings operators significant efficiency gains that in turn yield cost savings and more extensive monitoring capabilities.

The MCM-9000 provides complete probing and monitoring for all transmission layers from the SMPTE ST 2110/2022-6 uncompressed to MPEG-TS compressed and OTT streams all the way down to the encoded video content and its quality. Offering more than 350 probing features and supporting all major industry standards, the software can monitor thousands of audio and video signals, performing automated analysis of video and data according to predefined templates, industry standards, and other technical parameters and thresholds set by the operator.

Until now, the MCM-9000 offered full Monitoring Mode, in which the input source is fully decoded in real time for probe analysis, alarming for errors and live video display on the multiviewer mosaic output, and Light Mode, where the input source is probe analysed and alarmed, but only partially decoded and therefore not displayed. This monitoring mode requires significantly less resources.

The MCM-9000 now adds Adaptive Monitoring to the platform. Adaptive Monitoring allows the TAG solution to monitor in any of three operating modes – full, light, and the addition of extra-light monitoring – on a per-input-source basis and in an adaptive manner. Using thresholds set by the operator within the TAG software or triggered by an API command from external devices monitoring the overall ecosystem, the system will automatically adapt between the monitoring modes to ensure optimal monitoring of all streams at all times and full visualisation of errors.

Claimed to be the only integrated probing, monitoring, and multiview solution to offer Adaptive Monitoring, the TAG solution is designed to give operators the valuable ability to optimise CPU usage without sacrificing error detection. It not only elevates monitoring capabilities when using on-premises hardware but yields even greater benefits for cloud-based operations with the ability to dynamically change utilisation of instances based on need at any given time. Moving away from physical hardware, TAG says operators no longer need to scale their equipment and infrastructure to support maximum channel capacity – or leave hardware unused during non-peak times. According to the company, the combination of TAG software with Adaptive Monitoring and cloud-based processing resources allows operators to move toward a more economical pay-per-use model in which they can scale instances to match their need.

Whether on-premises or in the cloud, Adaptive Monitoring ensures that if a problem is detected, the channel is automatically switched to full monitoring mode. The dynamic nature of this model makes TAG’s software an ideal solution, the company believes, for efficient high-density probing and monitoring of OTT channels without compromise.

Tomer Schechter, CTO of TAG Video Systems, said: “The industry is evolving and in turn, so are our customers’ needs. TAG software not only supports efficient monitoring across all channels, but also provides customers with a path forward for ongoing growth. With that in mind, we developed this feature to ensure that the number of channels and points to be monitored are never compromised for financial reasons. Enhanced with Adaptive Monitoring, TAG’s MCM-9000 probing, monitoring, and multiviewing software has the functionality to be three to five times more efficient as it maximises existing resources. And, as with other updates and enhancements to TAG software, this feature is available at no additional cost to both new and existing TAG customers under support agreements.”