Products

Net Manager is a highly reliable GUI-driven network management system designed to control DVB/IP satellite receivers using in-band communications.

Service providers often have deployed an extensive network of satellite receivers and are then faced with the daunting task of having to upgrade and reconfigure receivers already deployed and operational in a network. From satellite providers shuffling segment allocations that require new frequency assignment programming to network operators changing the carrier symbol rates to accommodate additional bandwidth, there exists a requirement to re-program carrier parameters for each receiver. Net Manager helps operators address these challenges.

Net Manager is IDC’s next generation network management system designed to work with IDC’s vast portfolio of audio, video and data products. It consists of highly reliable software running under a Linux operating system on a rackmount server. Featuring a Web-based GUI for operator friendly local and/or remote operation, this robust system supports multiple languages.

With the ability to interface and control individual receivers, groups of receivers and entire networks via the satellite link, Net Manager securely maintains configuration information for each receiver. The audio, data and control outputs of SuperFlex Pro Series Receivers (Pro Audio, Pro Data, Pro Video), as well as their receive frequencies and demultiplexor parameters can be administered by Net Manager remotely.

Net Manager is also capable of sending upgrades in a foreground queue or continuous background queue.

Net Manager generates a UDP/IP multicast data stream which is injected into the DVB carrier by an IP Encapsulator. This data stream is then received and interpreted by the satellite receivers as it contains addressing, authorization and routing information. All receivers tuned to the DVB carrier receive the Net Manager control data stream. They decode addressing information within the IP data stream to determine which data to extract and use for configuration. Each SuperFlex Pro Series Receiver contains a unique IDC address, and may also contain a list of group membership where the receiver is a member of some subset of all receivers in a network. Each message Net Manager sends contains either the individual IDC address or a group address allowing for efficient configuration update for as many or as few receivers as needed.

As a background task, Net Manager continuously cycles through its database of receivers, sending to each its configuration; ensuring receivers stay current with the network. This is our Broadcast Wheel Information (BWI). To minimize the effect of having a receiver repeatedly handling configuration information addressed to it. The BWI message addressed to any specific receiver includes a BWI, sequence number that increments whenever a change in configuration occurs. This allows the receiver to optimize its handling of BWI.