Partnership Between ARK Multicasting and Microsoft for Rural Broadband and Distributed Cloud Services
ARK Multicasting is a broadcast company known for its wide range of services all round the USA. The company utilizes the use of power of television broadcasting to add an IP multicast extension to the current unicast Internet. Their client base consists of media content creators and distributors who tend to benefit more from their end to end direct service delivery for mobiles and devices of audiences. ARK will reduce the cost per GB delivery of Over-the-Top (OTT) video content, software downloads and streamed IP media by two-three orders of magnitude compared to existing Internet service providers.
ARK CEO, Vern Fotheringham said, “With Microsoft’s support, ARK believes that this pilot could be the start of standardizing the groundbreaking use of ATSC 3.0 and TV white space technology to bring broadband to rural America. We believe that every community deserves to be connected, whether large or small, and we’re taking the steps to close the connectivity gap through this work.”
Through this partnership which is a part of the Microsoft Airband Initiative, there will allocation to test both innovative technology approaches to address the broadband gap in rural America and Azure-based media distribution using ARK’s next generation broadcast network. They will be easy access and aims to bring broadband access to at least 3 million Americans in unserved rural areas by July 2022
Solving the broadband gap will require new and creative approaches to efficiently and affordably deliver connectivity to Americans, particularly in rural areas,” said Shelley McKinley, Microsoft’s head of Technology and Corporate Responsibility. “This collaboration with ARK will test advanced solutions and it is our hope that the results can help remove existing barriers to spectrum and regulatory approvals to more quickly deliver access to broadband.”
