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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
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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
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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.
Broadcaster off air
Local HeadendFrom National HE
Transcode or rate shape
Conditional Access
ATSC to IP
To Hubs
National Headend
Transcode or rate shape
LBand to fiber
LBand to fiber
LBand XptS
A
RF to IP
To local
Headends
From Headend
RF
RF
OTNEdge QAMs
SDV control
Edge QAMsCA
Edge QAMsOTN
RF over glass
NodesAd insertion
VOD
HubsSTB STB STB
STBSTBSTB
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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