swXtch.io's cloudSwXtch delivers high-performance networking on Azure

Microsoft partner swXtch.io’s cloudSwXtch allows companies to transport live, broadcast-quality video streams and hit line-rate network throughput.

Companies hesitant to move workflows

Historically, media and entertainment companies have taken a cautious approach to transitioning their live, broadcast-quality media workflows to the cloud because they're afraid of losing industry standards-based capabilities found on-premises, such as reliable transport for JPEG XS and uncompressed video streams.

A true multicast solution based on Azure

cloudSwXtch, from Microsoft partner swXtch.io, delivers the high-performance networking these customers need, ensuring compatibility with high-quality, visually lossless streams and also achieving lower bandwidth costs and higher network performance.

Millions of packets per second

Through Azure virtual machines, cloudSwXtch can enhance network capabilities, ensure reliable transport, and improve network performance. It allows companies to transport those live, broadcast-quality video streams and hit line-rate network throughput.

A Microsoft partner bolstering the Azure network

Based in New York City, swXtch.io specializes in technology for the media and entertainment industry. The company's involvement with Azure came about in response to a request from the Azure Global Engineering team to add multicast to the Azure network. A demo of cloudSwXtch in November 2020 led to ongoing engagement, with swXtch.io becoming transactable in the Microsoft commercial marketplace the following spring. Supported by the Azure sales team, swXtch.io expanded into other vertical markets, including financial services, government, and IoT, and became part of the Microsoft live-media workflow at the 2022 International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam.

“Our Microsoft partnership has exposed us to a much broader number of customer prospects than we ever could’ve achieved without them,” said Geeter Kyrazis, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of swXtch.io.

cloudSwXtch is a network appliance that is deployed as a virtual machine image so it can be created with any tools that create VMs. The cloudSwXtch VM Image page in the Azure Marketplace connects professionals with templates to easily deploy cloudSwXtch on an Azure virtual machine and test its functionality on a pay-as-you-go basis. The templates ensure correct setup of the VM and network interfaces.

Speed and stability are here in the cloud

Transitioning to the cloud usually results in two choices for a company: making a solution to fill the gaps in cloud networking or buying such a solution. Making a solution can take years, but with the networking expertise of swXtch.io and its cloudSwXtch solution, companies can expect their timelines to go from years to weeks, or even days, for full implementation.

Thanks to cloudSwXtch, organizations accustomed to high-performance networking on-premises will find the cloud familiar. cloudSwXtch offers microsecond latencies and high bandwidth throughput at a scale similar to bare-metal networks. With an emphasis on live-media production, cloudSwXtch implements network path redundancy (SMPTE 2022-7), Precision Time Protocol, standards conversion with Tachyon LIVE, and remote production collaboration. cloudSwXtch takes any supported packet protocol (SRT, RIST, unicast, multicast) and fans it out to multiple receivers of another packet protocol.

“cloudSwXtch creates a wealth of new possibilities for live-media workflows in hybrid and cloud environments," said Brent Yates, CEO and co-founder of swXtch.io. "The Azure cloud, enhanced with cloudSwXtch, becomes a powerful destination for broadcast media customers that require high-performance networking capabilities in order to thrive.”

For video distribution, the number of supported endpoints outside the cloud is the exact multiple of the egress cost savings. For example, if a broadcaster wants to distribute its channel to multiple locations in another cloud, each external connection can be replaced by a single outbound flow and then fanned out in the cloud infrastructure using multicast. A single 100 megabyte-per-second stream going to 30 processing endpoints will equal $900,000 of savings in egress costs.

“The Azure cloud, enhanced with cloudSwXtch, becomes a powerful destination for broadcast media customers that require high-performance networking capabilities in order to thrive.”

—Brent Yates, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, swXtch.io

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