New TV service on-the-go: leisure on the train
In December 2020, SPB TV and A1 launched a video service for passengers of the operator of the Belarusian railway network BelZhD.
This is a large-scale national project, thanks to which the passengers of BelZhD have access to hundreds of popular films from the A1 video library. A physical server is installed in each train, which ensures reliable uninterrupted operation of the service at every point of train movement.
1 train - 1 server
For the autonomous operation of the video service in transport, only one server is required, on which both a streamer and middleware can work simultaneously.
The service does not require constant access to the Internet and additional equipment for transcoding on the train: all videos are already been converted into the required format and are stored on the train server.
What is inside?
Server. To run the video service on a train, plane or other transport, you need 1 physical server, which will be installed directly in the transport unit. The hardware model was chosen by the customer basing on the minimum requirements, and the final server configuration depends on the expected load and the amount of video service content.
The technological solution allows you to increase the amount of content on the server and add not only video, but also audio content, graphic images and text files to the service catalog.
The master server in the data center is used for monitoring purposes, working with content, database; it is synchronized with physical servers in each train (streaming + middleware).
Network. The video is broadcast on the internal network (at least 1 Gbps), which can work on the train or, for example, on the plane. A permanent Internet connection is not required, but the SPB TV platform can connect to the network to synchronize data and download statistics.
Monetization. The BelZhD video service is available free of charge for all passengers immediately after connecting to the train network.
However, the SPB TV Rosing system allows to implement or change the monetization model in accordance with business goals. For the service inside BelZhD trains, this can be the sale of coupons, vouchers, promo codes or the introduction of online payment for access through an Internet connection.
A full-fledged OTT solution using the core of the Rosing platform at transport facilities in conditions of limited equipment amount and capacity was implemented for the first time .