USSI Global Opens Media Transport Lab

USSI Global has officially opened its new Media Transport Solutions Lab at its Melbourne, Florida campus, marking a significant step as the broadcast industry prepares for the next phase of the FCC's C-Band transition.

First announced in October, the facility is described as an industry-first engineering centre designed to give broadcasters and media companies a controlled, platform-agnostic environment to test alternatives to traditional C-Band media transport and distribution. The launch comes at a time when uncertainty remains over how the next stage of spectrum reallocation will unfold.

The lab reflects growing complexity at the edge of modern networks, where satellite, IP, and cloud-based systems increasingly intersect. Drawing on decades of experience in this space, USSI Global said it has seen a surge in demand for fact-finding and solution testing, prompting the development of a facility aimed at accelerating and validating customer-led strategies.

The move also positions the company to support clients once final decisions are made by regulators and operators regarding further C-Band clearing. The first phase of the transition, completed in 2023, saw the lower 300MHz of the band cleared for mobile and emergency services, with existing users relocated to the upper 200MHz. A proposed second phase could clear at least 100MHz more, potentially forcing additional relocations.

Within the lab, customers can test a wide range of distribution models in a low-risk environment, including satellite repacking, IP-based delivery, and hybrid workflows. Connectivity options under evaluation include fibre, cable, microwave, low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations, and 4G/5G mobile networks.

Users begin by selecting connectivity strategies, redundancy models, and real-world scenarios. After testing, they can review detailed performance data to assess outcomes and determine next steps, including whether further configurations should be explored.

"Our Media Transport Solutions Lab offers a secure and professional infrastructure to test theories and design approaches that identify resilient workflows without the time and expense of doing it in-house," Anthony Morelli, President and CEO, USSI Global. "Our customers can configure and re-configure the lab environment with their own technology and third-party hardware, and execute their testing procedures both remotely and on-prem. Nothing else of this nature exists in our industry, and its arrival could not be timelier."

www.ussiglobal.com