tx edge is Techex’s software gateway for moving valuable live content anywhere, encrypted, resilient and monitored. It protects and monitors broadcast content between facilities, in and out of the cloud, and between other software processes, so Tier 1 broadcasters can trust IP video the way they once trusted satellite and SDI.

tx edge is trusted by Tier 1 broadcasters and rights-holders to deliver high-value content in an auditable, secure and reliable manner. It also reduces the cost of video transport, giving broadcasters the control and oversight they need.

What tx edge delivers

  • Tier 1 focus: Trusted alongside a very short list of vendors for the most critical, highest-scale Tier 1 use cases.
  • Trust and demarcation: A trusted boundary between the functional and organisational domains it connects.
  • Consistent integration point: One highly efficient API surface for high-scale deployments across your estate.
  • Underwritten performance: Built from the ground up, not assembled from open-source libraries, so performance, security and interoperability are underwritten, not best-effort.
  • Design and support: Focused design and 24×7 support, purpose-built for Tier 1 broadcast.
  • Lower transport cost: Strong monitoring and fault-finding help broadcasters and service providers deliver and receive content reliably over cheaper connectivity.

Protocols and key functions

tx-edge-functionstx edge takes in, protects and delivers live transport streams over the protocols broadcasters use today, with full statistics on every stream.

  • Inputs: UDP, RTP, SRT, RIST, Zixi (receiver 1.12), RTMP, VTTP, HLS
  • Outputs: UDP, RTP, SRT, Zixi (feeder 1.14), RIST, HLS, VTTP
  • Seamless protection: SMPTE 2022-7 input protection from RTP, SRT and Zixi inputs, plus dual 2022-7 output creation with independent path delay
  • Reliable delivery: Fixed-latency ARQ delivery over networks with SRT, RIST and Zixi
  • Input failover: Threshold-based failover to active or passive backup sources, with priority-weighted sources and triggers based on TS sync, bitrate, CC errors or unrecovered packets within a period
  • Encryption: AES-256 and BISS-2 scrambling and descrambling, with seamless odd/even key transition
  • Stream monitoring: Full ETSI TR 101 290 Priority 1, 2 and 3 analysis and a thumbnail for every service
  • Throughput: Optimised SRT implementation delivering over 100Gbps per server

Additional functions:

  • RTP header passthrough, so 2022-7 integrity is maintained for seamless protection downstream
  • XOR and output mute thresholds
  • Transparent null packet removal and replacement to optimise data streams
  • Detailed statistics, including missing, late and duplicate packets and bitrate
  • Debugging tools, including top talkers (identifying unsolicited incoming traffic) and PCAP
  • TS reader

Why tx edge: secure, resilient and broadcast-native

Security and resilience are included as standard, in code written in-house for broadcast rather than assembled from generic libraries.

Broadcast-native code

  • RTP, SMPTE 2022-7, ETR 290 and BISS-2 built in-house
  • No FFmpeg or GStreamer dependency
  • Performance and interoperability underwritten, and trusted in Tier 1 contribution and distribution

Secure and resilient

  • AES-256 and BISS-2 included, with no third-party DRM
  • OWASP ASVS Level 3 and an SMPTE RP2129 trust boundary (media firewall, monitoring, protection, traffic control and replication)
  • Headless, outbound-only operation on port 443
  • Seamless 2022-7 protection and prioritised failover

Product principles

  • Reliability: Low-level, in-house code that avoids generic open-source media libraries
  • Security: Security and code integrity built into the architecture, not bolted on
  • Redundancy: Advanced broadcast-grade redundancy options as standard
  • Monitoring: Probe-grade monitoring, including ETSI TR 101 290 Priority 1, 2 and 3
  • Observability: Deep native telemetry integrations
  • IaC: Pipeline-delivered infrastructure and native container support
  • Efficiency and FinOps: Highly optimised code for the lowest possible compute footprint
  • Design and support: Expert design backed by expert 24×7 support

Control and monitoring

Every tx edge is managed from the central tx core control platform, which offers an authenticated web interface and a full API. Operators see real-time information on every stream, including online state, IP errors, MPEG errors (ETR 290) and network loss.

  • Create streams and manage user accounts and streaming parameters programmatically
  • Centralised control and monitoring, including through firewalls, from a high-availability, horizontally scalable cluster that can manage hundreds of tx edges
  • Local, LDAP, SAML and Azure AD authentication, including two-factor authentication, with a flexible permissions engine
  • Packet statistics that identify the top talkers in unsolicited incoming traffic, making tx edge a strong fault-finding and engineering tool
tx edge gallery 1 tx edge gallery 2

Supported integrations:

  • Observability and telemetry: Grafana (native driver), Skyline DataMiner, Splunk HEC, InfluxDB and Datadog
  • Control and orchestration (REST API): ATOS BNCS, Nevion iPath and Skyline DataMiner

Built for Tier 1 broadcasters

  • Contribution and distribution: Operators moving high-value live feeds between sites, venues and the cloud over IP
  • Ground-to-cloud workflows: Teams pushing live content into and out of cloud production and playout
  • Existing Techex platform users: Organisations already running tx core or tx darwin that want the same engine for transport
  • Security-critical media: Organisations needing encrypted, accredited transport without third-party DRM

Deployment and licensing

tx edge is cross-platform and fast to deploy, on a server or in the cloud.

  • Run it on bare metal, virtualised or as containers
  • Supplied as software (VM, Docker or Linux install files) or as a pre-installed, performance-certified server
  • Runs on a lightweight, stable Linux platform, and can also run on Windows or macOS
  • A licence model that flexes to match your deployment and commercial preferences

Talk to Magna

Contact Magna for expert advice on live video transport, signal protection, monitoring and cloud and hybrid workflow solutions.

More Information

Visit techex.tv/products/tx-edge for more information on tx edge.

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