Arqiva and MediaKind launch Arqplex to revolutionise headend services for video service providers

New headend-as-a-service simplifies content processing for broadcast and OTT networks

September 9, 2022 – Arqiva and MediaKind today announce the next stage of their pioneering partnership with the launch of Arqplex, a new hybrid content processing service that is set to transform headend services for broadcast and OTT networks. 

The fully managed headend-as-a-service has been designed and developed for a broad range of broadcasters and network or platform operators, including leading global, regional, and national broadcasters and regional cable and satellite network operators. 

The Arqplex service provides secure and reliable content aggregation, encoding, multiplexing and packaging for content distribution and will unify OTT and broadcast operations, reducing complexity, increasing efficiency and delivering rapid speed to market for customers.

About Arqplex

Arqplex is underpinned by decades of experience in broadcast and broadband services for tier-one service providers. The partnership combines MediaKind’s cloud-native multiplexing, encoding, and packaging headend media processing technology delivering globally renowned content quality and distribution reliability with Arqiva’s expertise in systems integration, connectivity, and managed services. Arqiva’s operational teams fully manage and monitor the service, bringing real economies of scale to headend operations. 

Through MediaKind’s cloud-native headend software, Arqplex will deliver broadcast-grade service levels to OTT operations. The service utilises Arqiva’s global content network to collect content from any source, whether satellite, fibre, cloud, or the internet.  It also includes options to manage ad insertion and catch-up functionality for customers. 

The highly scalable and flexible Arqplex service is built on a cloud-based subscription model, removing the need for large capex investment in the latest technology advances. Customers can have technology upgrades and patches securely applied as soon as they are available, removing the need to source and install updates. 

Media service providers can use AWS public cloud, an alternative cloud provider or Arqiva’s UK-based datacentres. Where customers opt for cloud processing, operations can be sited in the region most appropriate for their services. The Arqplex service also integrates seamlessly with other products across the Arqiva portfolio. 

The existing Arqplex roadmap will be extended further, with Arqiva and MediaKind integrating a range of partners to expand the service's capabilities. Arqiva has already begun the process of migrating existing headend customers to the new headend-as-a-service offering.

Arqplex will radically simplify the headend operations of broadcast and OTT operators, enabling them to focus on growth. The ways in which content is consumed, and the content itself, have become increasingly diverse in recent years. At Arqiva, we’re embracing cloud technology to remove hassle and empower agility for our customers, so that they can meet the needs of their consumers. We’ve already begun the process of migrating existing headend customers to the new headend-as-a-service offering. We’re excited to be leveraging our partnership with MediaKind once more, building on our cloud-migration proposition.

Shuja Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Arqiva

We are delighted to announce our first offer from our partnership with Arqiva and introduce a new hybrid content processing service that will streamline content delivery. Underpinned by peerless infrastructure, cloud and processing development and service knowledge, Arqplex combines MediaKind’s market-leading media processing technology with Arqiva’s service management expertise for complete assurance. Increasingly our customers require the tools to be agile and ultra-responsive to the media and entertainment market’s continuous evolution. Arqplex is hybrid to the core, secure and ensures a cost-effective means of content delivery, allowing both operators and broadcasters to focus on creating new, exciting, and differentiated content.

Allen Broome, Chief Executive Officer, MediaKind 

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About Arqiva

Arqiva is at the heart of the broadcast and utilities sectors in the UK and abroad, providing critical data, network and communications services. We work in partnership with our customers – major broadcasters and utilities like the BBC, ITV, Sky, Viacom CBS, Al Jazeera, Global Radio, Bauer, Thames Water and Anglian Water – to meet everyone’s demand for information, content and entertainment and enabling a switched-on world to flow.

We are the only supplier of national terrestrial television and radio broadcasting services in the UK, consistently delivering digital TV, analogue and digital radio to people in all four corners of the country. We distribute over 1,000 channels internationally using our fibre and satellite infrastructure. Our advanced, secure and dedicated networks are also supporting the management of critical data for a range of smart metering networks in the energy and water sectors.

About MediaKind

MediaKind is a global change-leader in media technology and services. Its mission is to deliver transformation by building a continuously better media universe alongside its customers and partners. Drawing on a pioneering industry heritage and fuelled by innovation, MediaKind embraces and champions new standards, methodologies, and next-generation, immersive live and on-demand media experiences worldwide. Its end-to-end media solutions portfolio includes Emmy award-winning video compression for contribution and direct-to-consumer video service distribution, advertising and content personalisation, high-efficiency cloud DVR, and TV and video delivery platforms. For more information, please visit: www.mediakind.com.