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The media and entertainment industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation, driven by the rapid evolution of high-resolution video formats and the increasing complexity of content delivery. As video resolutions advance from UHD/4K to 8K and now to 16K, the demand for a robust IP infrastructure capable of supporting higher speeds and greater bandwidth has never been more critical. At the same time, organizations face growing pressure to deliver lossless streaming of high-resolution content, both within production facilities and across distributed, remote deployments.
To achieve this level of performance, reliability and ease of deployment, every component of the media network must be seamlessly integrated. This includes audio and video endpoints, broadcast controllers, and management devices operating within a unified IP-based media fabric. Addressing these challenges, Cisco and Panasonic have partnered to create a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) that thoroughly tests and documents the combined performance of their media ecosystem in end-to-end, real-world scenarios.
Why a Cisco Validated Design Matters
Cisco Validated Designs serve as trusted industry blueprints, undergoing extensive testing to ensure interoperability, reliability, and scalability. For broadcasters, this provides assurance that the solution will perform consistently from the network infrastructure through to the application layer, even under the pressures of live production environments. The Panasonic-Cisco CVD offers a proven reference architecture that helps customers accelerate deployments, reduce risk, and achieve faster time to production.
By adopting a fully validated, integrated stack, organizations can scale their end-to-end IP based media infrastructure with confidence that all components will work together seamlessly. This approach delivers low latency, zero packet loss, and consistently high quality of service, all of which are essential for critical live broadcasts and future-proof media operations.
The Role of Cisco IPFM in the Cisco Validated Design
At the core of this architecture, Cisco’s Nexus 9000 switches deliver the scalability needed to expand infrastructure from 100G to 400G and now up to 800G link speeds. This flexibility is further enhanced by bandwidth-aware Non-Blocking Multicast (NBM), which, in combination with Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and the latest innovations in media infrastructure, ensures a truly lossless environment that is ready for future advancements.
Cisco IP Fabric for Media (IPFM) is built on open standards, supporting SMPTE ST 2110, AES67, NMOS IS-04/IS-05, IGMP, PIM, and SMPTE ST 2022-7 for redundancy. This enables robust, interoperable, and future-ready media workflows. In addition, Cisco provides unique capabilities to support AI/ML workloads within media and broadcasting infrastructure, alongside media workflows.
To streamline operations even further, the Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides powerful automation capabilities for managing complex IP-based media environments.
Panasonic + Cisco: Joint Value for Broadcasters
Panasonic’s products integrate seamlessly with Cisco’s IP-based infrastructure, forming the foundation of a validated design that empowers customers to adapt to evolving requirements, accommodate higher resolutions, and support distributed production teams.
Panasonic’s Studio Cameras, PTZ Cameras, Camera Control Units, and IP Gateways* serve as key endpoints, all seamlessly connected through the validated design.
Central to the workflow is the IT/IP platform KAIROS, which introduces an innovative approach to live video production with its advanced architecture for central processing and switching. The KAIROS system, comprising Kairos Core (mainframe), Kairos Control (control panel), and Kairos Creator (GUI software) offers comprehensive multi-format support including ST 2110, NDI, and SRT alongside features such as unlimited scenes and layers, CANVAS functionality, open architecture. Furthermore, various hardware and software options can be implemented, such as the SDI I/O Board for connecting to legacy devices, the Kairos Core Manager for configuring backup systems for the mainframe, and the Touch Control Panel Software for live operation through intuitive touch-based interaction enabling the construction of a system that meets high demands for connectivity, reliability and operability. By connecting directly to Cisco’s IP Fabric for Media via ST 2110, KAIROS ensures seamless interoperability and robust performance.
Complementing this setup, Panasonic’s broadcast controller ecosystem, featuring the Panasonic System Manager (PSM) and Panasonic System Surveillance (PSS), provides comprehensive control and monitoring capabilities, further enhancing the reliability and efficiency of the entire solution.
*Panasonic IP Gateway, PSM, and PSS are currently sold only in the Japanese market.
Key Results from the Cisco Validated Design
- Media Traffic with No Packet Loss: The network reliably transports ST 2110 video, audio, and ancillary data flows without packet loss, even under sustained high-traffic conditions. Playback at receivers confirms the integrity of media, with no observable distortion or degradation, demonstrating the design’s ability to handle high-bandwidth, time-sensitive streams.
- Minimal Latency for Live Production: The architecture minimizes latency between media endpoints by optimizing network path selection, ensuring that media signals are delivered in real time. This low-latency performance is essential for live production and real-time monitoring, supporting seamless and responsive broadcast workflows.
- Flexible, Scalable, and Resilient Architecture with Centralized Control: Built on a spine-and-leaf architecture with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches, the design scales effortlessly to meet growing production demands. Reliability is ensured through full redundancy, including ST 2022-7 seamless protection switching and dual PTP infrastructure, which provides continuous operation and fault tolerance, even during hardware or link failures. With integrated NMOS (Networked Media Open Specifications), the architecture enables centralized and dynamic control of ST 2110 media flows. This allows broadcast controllers to easily discover, connect, and manage streams, supporting scalable and user-friendly operations with minimal manual intervention.
What’s new with Cisco IP Fabrics for Media?
- Media Exchange Layer for AI/ML workloads: As the use of AI and machine learning in post-production becomes increasingly prevalent, customers are seeking coexistence between AI/ML workflows and media flows. Cisco will support the coexistence of media frames over RDMA (AI/ML workflows) with NBM Active 2110 multicast flows (media flows) within a single fabric in different VRFs. This capability drastically reduces workflow latency, facilitating real-time, bidirectional media exchange and enabling immediate inference and analysis within media workflows.
- Enable support for 8k and 16k video resolution: With Cisco IPFM, the maximum bandwidth rate per flow has increased from 25 Gbps, which is suitable for UHD quality video, to 96 Gbps per flow to fully support the requirements of 8K and 16K video resolution. This enhancement allows media broadcasters to prepare their IP-based media infrastructure for future high-resolution content delivery.
- PIM Flooding Mechanism and Source Discovery (PFM – SD): Traditionally, PIM-SM (PIM Sparse Mode) relies on a Rendezvous Point (RP) and shared trees to establish multicast traffic paths. PFM–SD simplifies this process by removing the need for RPs and shared trees, instead flooding multicast source information throughout the PIM domain using a generic PIM flooding mechanism. This enables routers to discover active sources without requiring initial data packets or a central RP, thereby reducing operational complexity and providing much faster convergence as well as optimal traffic forwarding. We will offer support for PFM – SD in both single and multi-site scenarios.
By combining Cisco’s proven IPFM architecture with Panasonic’s trusted media solutions, this CVD gives broadcasters a clear path to building scalable, reliable, and standards-compliant IP-based infrastructures.
Cisco at IBC 2025: Mini-Theatre Sessions at Our Booth
Catch all the latest innovations with Cisco IPFM at Cisco’s booth at IBC. Here are the topics of discussion:
- Automating IP Fabrics for Media on Sept 12 (Friday) at 11:30am, Sept 13 (Saturday) at 2:30pm, Sept 14 (Sunday) at 5:30pm
- AI Networks for Media on Sept 12 (Friday) at 2pm, Sept 13 (Saturday) at 1:30pm, Sept 14 (Sunday) at 3pm
- Future of IP Media Networking Sept 12 (Friday) at 12noon, Sept 13 (Saturday) at 12noon, Sept 14 (Sunday) at 12noon
- Orchestrating Media Networks with Cisco IPFM and Sony/Nevion VideoIPath on Sept 13 (Saturday) at 11am
- Building Future-Ready Media Production Networks with Cisco IPFM and Imagine’s Magellan Control System on Sept 13 (Saturday) at 3pm
- Leveraging Multicast NAT with Cisco IPFM and EVS Cerebrum on Sept 14 (Sunday) at 11am
Meet with us at International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) 2025
Register and join Cisco at IBC 2025 in Amsterdam, from September 12 to 15. Cisco will showcase industry-leading solutions through booth exhibits, speaker sessions , and meetings with industry experts.
Our booth is at Hall 3 Stand B51, we look forward to seeing you there!
Learn more about Cisco IP Fabric for Media and how it can future-proof your broadcast operations.
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