Datasheet

Stay in control with customizable monitoring and interface iControl Headend from Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, provides advanced end-to-end video signal path and QoE monitoring for pay TV operators.

It monitors thousands of channels and devices, using rich graphical representations of the signal path and intelligent alarms management.

Monitoring by Exception allows the provider to focus on specific areas that require attention. Its ability to correlate, verify and visualize channel delivery and performance enables service providers to be proac-tive in delivering quality service while reducing Mean Time to Repair.

Monitoring Hundreds of Channels Across Multiple Headends

iControl Headend scales from a local headend solu-tion to a large scale system across multiple local and national headends, spanning hundreds of channels across numerous locations.

Video Signal Path and QoE Monitoring

Correlate, verify and visualize channel delivery and performance

• Collects alarms from several IP video monitoring platforms and consolidates them into a single en-vironment

• Visual monitoring and audio/video probing allows channel performance to be verified

• Allows reduction of false positive alarms and helps reduce the time to repair issues

• Helps operations personnel to be proactive in deliv-ering quality service to their customers

Rich visual and audio monitoring

• iControl Headend uses streaming audio and video to depict channel performance across the signal paths

• Allows operators to see and hear the channels they are monitoring

• Signal path views can feature embedded audio/video players, supporting a wide range of codecs including MPEG-2 and H.264 video, as well as mul-tiple formats of compressed audio

At-a-glance channel and network diagnostics

• iControl Headend provides instantaneous feedback about the performance of each service

• Color-coding helps distinguish valid channels from those impacted by minor, major or critical faults

• Users can sort channels according to several cri-teria - helps establish fault patterns and prioritize necessary interventions

• Alarm management allows channel status to be modified, using operational, maintenance and other models, or subject to detailed schedules

Automated logging and reporting

• When a signal or network error is detected, alarms are automatically raised and logged to simplify di-agnostics and reduce the MTTR

• Comprehensive, automated daily/weekly/monthly Quality of Experience reports and logs

Detailed, dynamic topology views

• iControl Headend can present an end-to-end view of the network, using detailed and dynamic graph-ical depictions of all portions of the network, that can immediately be understood by operators

• Views can include summary representations, de-picting overall network status, as well as detailed, focused representations of specific components

www.grassvalley.com 1

iControl HeadendEnd-to-End, Video Signal Path and QoE Monitoring

www.grassvalley.com 2

iControl Headend End-to-End, Video Signal Path and QoE Monitoring

Video signal path and QoE monitoring

Correlate, verify and visualize channel delivery and performance• Collects alarms from several IP video monitoring platforms and consolidates them into

a single environment• Visual monitoring and audio/video probing allows channel performance to be verified• Allows reduction of false positive alarms and helps reduce the time to repair issues• Helps operations personnel to be proactive in delivering quality service to their

customers

Rich visual and audio monitoring• iControl Headend uses streaming audio and video to depict channel performance

across the signal paths• Allows operators to see and hear the channels they are monitoring• Signal path views can feature embedded audio/video players, supporting a wide

range of codecs including MPEG-2 and H.264 video, as well as multiple formats of compressed audio

At-a-glance channel and network diagnostics• iControl Headend provides instantaneous feedback about the performance of each

service• Color-coding helps distinguish valid channels from those impacted by minor, major or

critical faults• Users can sort channels according to several criteria - helps establish fault patterns

and prioritize necessary interventions• Alarm management allows channel status to be modified, using operational,

maintenance and other models, or subject to detailed schedules

Automated logging and reporting• When a signal or network error is detected, alarms are automatically raised and logged

to simplify diagnostics and reduce the MTTR• Comprehensive, automated daily/weekly/monthly Quality of Experience reports and logs

Detailed, dynamic topology views• iControl Headend can present an end-to-end view of the network, using detailed and dynamic

graphical depictions of all portions of the network, that can immediately be understood by operators• Views can include summary representations, depicting overall network status, as well as detailed,

focused representations of specific components

www.grassvalley.com 3

iControl Headend End-to-End, Video Signal Path and QoE Monitoring

Monitoring hundreds of channels across multiple headends

iControl Headend scales from a local headend solution to a large scale system across multiple local and national headends, spanning hundreds of chan-nels across numerous locations.

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Belden, Belden Sending All The Right Signals and the Belden logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Belden Inc. or its affiliated companies in the United States and other jurisdictions. Grass Valley, Densité and iControl are trademarks or registered trademarks of Grass Valley. Belden Inc., Grass Valley and other parties may also have trademark rights in other terms used herein.

Copyright © 2014 Grass Valley. All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice.

WWW.GRASSVALLEY.COMJoin the Conversation at GrassValleyLive on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Grass Valley - A Belden Brand on LinkedIn.

GVB-1-0060A-EN-DS

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iControl Headend End-to-End, Video Signal Path and QoE Monitoring

IC-HEADEND-001 iControl Headend - Multichannel, multiplatform video network management systemiControl package for network monitoring and management of multichannel delivery systemsRequires: iControl base edition with Application Server

IC-SNMP-DRIVER-CREATOR iControl SNMP Driver Creator - Allows creation of iControl SNMP Drivers for third-party devicesIC-REPORT-001 iControl Interactive Report Generator - Includes data formatting, summarization and chart builderEdgeVision Edge signal monitoring device - single channelKIP-X300 Kaleido-IP X300 multi-image IP processorKIP-X100 Kaleido-IP X100 multi-image IP processorAXINO IP loudness processor

ORDERING

At-a-glance status of every service

Signal alarms correlated from multiple third-party monitoring systems

Audio metering and selectable acoustic monitoring

Channels in dashboard can be sorted accord-ing to several criteria, helping operators correlate alarms

High quality streaming video/audio from remote set-top-boxes using EdgeVision

KEY FEATURES

Alarm Correlation and Verification• System performs highly effective correlation by integrating tightly with

third-party monitoring platforms, including IP-video probes from Tektro-nix, JDSU, IneoQuest and others

• Third-party monitoring system alarms are verified and deep-probed todetermine if they truly impact service delivery

• Integrates with Kaleido-IP multiviewer, EdgeVision set-top-box probesand other Grass Valley platforms to provide visual and audible monitor-ing of multiple channels, giving operators the “eyes and ears” to assess content

Highly Visual, End-to-End Signal and Network Monitoring• Streamlined monitoring workflows allow operators to instantly visualize

and hear signal impairments using streaming video and audio• Based on Monitoring by Exception, with all the channels continuously

monitored to assess if they have any errors, or are outside pre-set signal limits

• Whenever signals breach alarm thresholds, the system immediatelydirects the operator to the faults, helping to reduce the Mean Time to Repair

Extensive Support for Streaming Audio and Video• Signal path views feature embedded audio/video players, supporting

a wide range of codecs including MPEG-2 and H.264 video, as well as multiple formats of compressed audio

• Streaming player can use low bit rate thumbnails from Densité modularinterfaces and probes, and from third-party encoders, as well as streams from the EdgeVision STB probe

Device Control to Address Faults• iControl Headend provides direct access to the native applications that

control each device in the signal path, allowing any problems to be addressed rapidly

Automatic Logging and Reporting• When a signal or network error is detected, alarms are automatically

raised and logged to simplify diagnostics and reduce the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

• Integrates with iControl Reports to provide comprehensive daily, weeklyor monthly Quality of Experience (QoE) and system performance reports, and help operators focus on the most important areas of the network

SNMP Monitoring of All Key Platforms• Leverages the SNMP capabilities of existing platforms to provide a co-

herent representation of the entire network, from aggregation receivers to IP routers, digital signal processors, and edge modulators

• iControl SNMP Driver Creator can be used to extend the range ofSNMP monitoring to all SNMP-enabled third-party products

Scalable Network Management• iControl Headend scales from a local headend solution to a broader

monitoring system, across multiple local and national headends, span-ning hundreds of channels across numerous locations

• System supports multisite, multiuser administration with security andpassword protection