On-Hertz

• Client: On-Hertz (An Audio-first Production Software company)

• Sector: Broadcast & Media Technology

• Product: ARTISTO, a software-defined audio production platform.

• Objective: To pioneer the industry shift from expensive, fixed hardware to flexible, cost-effective, self-service cloud solutions for major broadcasters.

Business Challenges

• Deployment Barrier: The ARTISTO microservice architecture did not support deployment onto AWS EKS/Kubernetes, which large broadcasters required for high-availability and security within their own cloud perimeter.

• Friction & Market Risk: The complex, non-Kubernetes deployment prevented the platform from being sold as a simple, self-service product, severely limiting new sales potential and market adoption.

• Technical Demand: The cloud solution had to reliably support high-standard, low-latency broadcast protocols (like Livewire and ST2110) critical for audio production.

• Financial Model: Inability to shift customers from a fixed CapEx (Capital Expenditure) model to a flexible, OpEx (Operational Expenditure) subscription model that utilises cloud elasticity.

Approach (The Solution)

Footprint IT engaged under the AWS BOX Program to transform ARTISTO into a secure, self-service cloud-native platform using a GitOps strategy.

• Platform Engineering: Designed and built a proprietary deployment package using AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service).

• Self-Service Transformation: Developed a custom Kubernetes Operator and Helm Chart to package the entire sophisticated microservice architecture into a single, reliable installer.

• Code-Driven Configuration (GitOps): Implemented a GitOps pipeline to define complex audio production configurations in code, eliminating manual setup errors and enabling agile, repeatable deployment.

• Architectural Validation: Conducted extensive validation to confirm the platform's ability to maintain low-latency stability for demanding broadcast protocols in the cloud environment.

Outcomes

• Frictionless Enterprise Adoption: The Kubernetes Operator and Helm Chart removed the largest barrier to entry, enabling secure, rapid, self-service deployment within customer AWS perimeters.

• Financial Transformation: Directly facilitated the transition to a pay-as-you-grow OpEx subscription model, utilising cloud elasticity to scale resources dynamically and only incur consumption costs when needed.

• Market Leadership: Solidified On-Hertz's position as a pioneer by offering a modern, scalable, all-IP alternative to complex fixed hardware solutions.

• Operational Agility: The GitOps strategy ensured configuration quality and confirmed the stability required for low-latency broadcast, drastically improving operational agility.

• Future Innovation: Established a foundational cloud architecture that accelerates future innovation, including integration of LLM (Large Language Model) and MCP technologies.