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2004

GWR Demonstrates Capability Of THUS's MPLS IP Service For Live Broadcast And Voice over IP Traffic

THUS plc has today announced that radio broadcaster GWR Group is now multicasting more than 1,000 hours of live broadcast content per month between 53 AM and FM radio stations. GWR and THUS were the first to multicast commercial audio broadcasts over MPLS in the UK and GWR is now broadcasting to six million listeners over THUS's MPLS IP network.

The radio group is using THUS's national IP network for its broadcast, data and voice traffic with each station receiving around 5Gb of audio data per day. In addition, the IP network is carrying around two million minutes of voice traffic per month. By consolidating traffic from three legacy networks to one central network, GWR has simplified day-to-day broadcast and network management and reduced costs.

MPLS multicasting on an IP network allows one GWR station to send live broadcasts to a few, several, or even all of its sites simultaneously. This enables GWR to share broadcast content, for example celebrity interviews or major concerts, cheaply and efficiently while making maximum use of its network bandwidth.

Over the summer the new network has been tested with a number of live broadcast events. The largest of these was GWR's Milton Keynes Summer XS Concert in June with six GWR stations in the local area choosing to broadcast live content. Using THUS's network, the DJ in the Dunstable station was able to multicast the concert to the other stations at the press of a button. Once the show was over, the DJ seamlessly switched all six stations back to the IP multicast of the standard overnight FM show from Bristol.

"The commercial radio industry is an incredibly competitive market, and we are always looking to our suppliers to work with us in an innovative way to meet our needs," said Vincent Bourne, Infrastructure Manager at GWR Group. "For us, the key advantage from THUS's MPLS IP network is flexibility. We can multicast to and from any station which means we can pick and choose the best content for each station at any given time. The ease with which we can control content gives us a clear competitive advantage."

Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer, THUS plc commented, "Reaching one thousand hours of live audio multicast is a significant achievement for THUS and GWR. GWR's use of the network to broadcast live events such as the Milton Keynes Summer XS Concert showcases the benefits of MPLS technology. The successful convergence of broadcast, data and voice on a single network is a great proof point of the capability of our UK-wide IP network."