China Unicom International Multimedia Transmission Platform Operations Support System

China Unicom Office Building

Project Background

In 2015, China Unicom Group management proposed a "focus strategy with innovative cooperative development," positioning TV video services as a strategic core business. Providing low-latency, high-speed, and secure transmission channels can effectively enhance China Unicom's competitiveness in the video services market.

In accordance with this strategic plan, China Unicom decided to build a multimedia transmission platform. The first phase covers major domestic cities and selected overseas POP points, deploying multimedia transmission platform equipment along with media gateways, encoders/decoders, and other devices. Dedicated lines or public networks are used to deliver high-quality real-time video and audio aggregation and distribution between overseas POP points and domestic key cities, serving broadcasting, online video providers, and other important customers. This project establishes multimedia transmission platforms in 9 nodes: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Shenyang, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Fuzhou. Leveraging China Unicom's backbone transport network, the multimedia transmission network provides high-quality real-time video transport for traditional media (e.g., TV stations) and emerging online media (e.g., Tencent Video, iQIYI).

Figure 1. China Unicom Project Composition

9 city office sites and 13 access sites in total, carrying multimedia services;
4 future overseas office sites: Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Los Angeles;
10G IP backbone bandwidth. The overall network topology is shown in the figure on the right. Beijing headquarters has 4 access points: 2 backbone network access points and 2 service aggregation access points. The Tianjin area has 2 access points: 1 backbone access point and 1 user service access point. All other office sites have 1 backbone network access point each;
All inter-site connections are established via the OTN network.

Figure 2. China Unicom Multimedia Transmission Platform Business Expansion Diagram

Figure 3. China Unicom Multimedia Transmission System Connection Diagram

Figure 4. China Unicom Multimedia Transmission System International Expansion Diagram

Automated Reservation and Signal Transmission Software

Based on the unified monitoring and signal scheduling platform, the system provides a web portal supporting automated reservation and signal transmission.
Through this portal, the system supports circuit reservation and integrates with the billing system through linkage based on user levels, enabling online billing, prepayment, and postpayment, along with statistical analysis, data reporting, and other user management functions.

The specific features of the software platform are as follows:

Fully compatible with the device NMS, enabling interoperability and seamless automated control workflows;
Modular design supporting functional expansion; graphical interface allowing users to reserve network resources (e.g., time, resources, signal format, destination, QoS) quickly and conveniently in real time;
Supports Web-based access from any location, cross-platform browsers on Mac OS and Windows, as well as tablets and mobile devices;
Includes a service pricing management module for creating quotations with customizable service and resource pricing. Revenue sharing can be configured directly in the service pricing module in accordance with China Unicom's revenue allocation policy;
The user software platform can quickly locate and track affected orders during network faults. It collects information detailing the type of issue and the faulty equipment, and generates fault tickets promptly so that maintenance personnel can resolve problems as soon as possible.
The platform allows administrators to customize the resource visibility interface for end users. Manageable visible resources include service type, service port, service bandwidth, protection mode, and more.
The platform supports compatible integration with China Unicom's existing support systems, providing resource visibility sharing, unified billing, settlement allocation, revenue management, and fee sharing functions.

Figure 5. Core System Functions and Main Software Modules

The overall software is logically divided into the user software system and the device NMS software, also referred to as the front-end and back-end systems in this document.

1) The device NMS primarily handles device management, monitoring, and signal scheduling. The network core includes link resources and operational status. System-wide configuration, signal scheduling, and route planning for the entire multimedia platform are centralized at Beijing headquarters. Each local office manages its own devices and is responsible for local device status monitoring and maintenance, without service configuration permissions.

2) A major part of the user software system is the Reservation System, which processes service orders initiated by authorized users and executes tasks after approval. Task execution includes matrix switching, data exchange, and other operations. Execution is automated and normally requires no manual intervention. Reservation orders specify the required bandwidth, signal start/end times, and other fields. The rate is displayed before submission and confirmed, facilitating final accounting and settlement.

Figure 6. System Interoperability with Existing China Unicom Systems

This system must achieve interoperability with existing China Unicom systems, including user data, quotation, billing, revenue sharing, and business reporting. The new system is not an isolated silo but an integral part of a unified whole connected with existing systems.

China Unicom Reservation System Overview

The China Unicom Reservation System uses a B/S architecture, providing a complete workflow including port and circuit lookup, reservation creation, execution status monitoring, and reservation modification and cancellation. It is an automated scheduling network platform supporting reservation and signal transmission. The B/S architecture is platform-independent, accessible at any time, easy to maintain and upgrade, and well-suited for business and scale expansion. The automated reservation platform streamlines the entire reservation process. When initiating a reservation, end users can clearly view all necessary information (ports, signal types, available circuits, etc.) and submit reservations quickly, replacing manual entry and multi-party port queries, significantly reducing workload.

Collaborative Workflow

Built on a microservice-based modular architecture, the Unified Control Platform (iSwiftMedia) enables agile, customized business workflows through flexible recombination and scaling.

Collaborative Workflow

Search City Nodes and Port Information

All site ports can be queried, including port name, signal type (J2K, SDI, Ethernet), source or destination, and other information. Multi-criteria queries enable fast location of port information. Port information is shared across different city sites.

Query Nodes and Ports

Simplified Reservation Creation Process for End Users

The China Unicom Reservation System supports automatic port filtering: after selecting start time, end time, and signal type, available ports at the site are filtered automatically.

Automatic port filtering effectively reduces steps in the reservation process. Previously, after determining start and end times, staff had to manually search all ports for those available in the time slot, which was time-consuming. Automatic port filtering intelligently excludes invalid ports based on multiple criteria: time occupancy, city site, source/destination classification, and signal type, improving efficiency.

Create New Reservation

On-Duty Staff View Reservation Execution Status

On-duty staff need to check reservations regularly. The unified query page allows personnel distributed across different city sites to conveniently track reservation execution status. Reservations can be filtered by three states: not started, in progress, and completed.

View Reservation Execution Status

Unified Management of All Reservations

Query reservations by multiple criteria including reservation name, reservation ID, start time, end time, and port.

Modify and Cancel Reservations

Some services may need to cancel a previous reservation due to special circumstances. The Reservation System provides cancellation and modification functions, allowing users to flexibly adjust and arrange ad-hoc services, improving port utilization and fault tolerance. Reservations that have not yet ended can be cancelled.

Cancel Reservation

Existing reservations can be modified, including start time, end time, and source/destination ports.

Modify Reservation

Software Architecture -- Microservice Architecture

Figure 7. Software Architecture -- Microservice-Based System Architecture

Figure 8. Microservice Architecture

Microservice -- Features

Each individual service is easy to develop, understand, and maintain;
Effectively addresses complexity;
Each service can have its own dedicated development team;
Technology-stack neutral, accelerating development;
Each microservice is deployed independently;
Faster version updates and better responsiveness to changing requirements;
Each service scales independently;
Easy to replace and upgrade, better suited for business and scale expansion;

Main Service Modules

1) Device monitoring;
2) Signal scheduling;
3) Web-based program transmission reservation;
4) Quotation;
5) Billing and revenue sharing;
6) User management;
7) Security audit and

Challenges and Countermeasures: Workflow automation requires addressing diverse device control and signal scheduling needs

Diverse Device Control Requirements

Adapting to devices with different interfaces and protocols;
Despite differences in devices and signals, they should be integrated into a complete business workflow;
Complex signal scheduling, including different signal formats;

Layered Device Control -- The device control module serves as both a standalone application and a shared service

The control module provides an API interface for remote invocation;
Supports device configuration and parameter retrieval;
Can publish events including alarms and status changes such as crosspoint changes

Software Modules for Device and Signal Control

● Evertz VistaLink
● Evertz MAGNUM

Figure 9. Evertz VistaLink Demo

Figure 10. Evertz MAGNUM Architecture Diagram