New Approaches for Codec Transcoding

The increased number and variety of audio and video codecs flooding the modern telecommunication networks is making it difficult for carriers to keep their heads above water. While consumers play YouTube videos at the tap of a finger and experience high-definition audio on their mobile phones due to these codec varieties, carriers are witnessing heightened network management complexity and forking out greater media processing investments.

One solution is transcoding, the process of converting from one encoding format to another, which allows operators to standardize on a smaller subset of codecs. With few codecs requiring support in the core network, a service provider can minimize equipment capital expenditures (CapEX) and ongoing operating expenditures (OpEX).

Transcoding has been an inherent capability in Radisys Media Servers for many years now. For example, a Media Server supporting heterogeneous conference call mixing uses transcoding to normalize the call legs to a common codec before it mixes the audio and then re-encodes each conference leg to the end-points’ codec requirements.

While some carriers may utilize all benefits of performing multi-service media processing with built-in transcoding in a full-feature IP media server product, other carriers are instead looking for an economical, dedicated, transcoding-only solution. It all comes down to scalability, control and economics.

For these requirements, Radisys now offers a cost-effective Transcoding Processor Card (TPC-I), which could also be hosted in a Radisys CMS-9000 media server system. The TPC-I card is ideal for service provider core network deployments, as well as decomposed access edge deployments where RFC 4117 3PCC is available. By simply placing the TPC-I in the existing core, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers’ (TEMs) see improved economics and finally the desired transcoding control at the individual media stream level using the RFC 4117 control interface.

The addition of TPC-I and RFC 4117 support provides RadiSys customers with an even broader choice of transcoding capabilities to meet their unique mobile, NGN and IMS network requirements, making the variety of codec standards much less daunting and much more manageable.

About the Author

Ray Adensamer has worked in the telecommunications industry with industry leaders including Convedia (now Radisys), Abatis (now Redback) and Nortel, along with system integration firms Deloitte Consulting and Accenture. He enjoys sharing his passion and viewpoints around IP-based telecommunication solutions with Radisys customers and partners. Ray has a B.A.Sc. in Systems Engineering from the University of Waterloo, along with an M.B.A from University of British Columbia