Bringing Enterprise-Standard Cloud Streaming to Application Creators with ZeroLight’s OmniStream

By Jason Collins, Chief Product Officer – ZeroLight
By Christophe Renard, Sr. Partner Solutions Architect – AWS

ZeroLight

The interest in cloud streaming for interactive applications is at an all-time high across a diverse range of industries, driven by cross-sector trends that have elevated the topic to boardroom agendas.

In this post, we explore what those trends are and why the release of ZeroLight’s OmniStream product is an exciting opportunity for brands to unlock the full potential of cloud streaming for their applications. Over 50 million minutes of interactive cloud streaming have already been delivered through the platform by brands in many industries.

ZeroLight has been cloud streaming 3D configurators for automotive brands since 2016, becoming the industry benchmark for enterprise scalability, security, resilience, and end-user experience.

With OmniStream, ZeroLight is placing that experience and capability into the hands of creators in any industry to cloud stream their own Unreal, Unity, and Windows applications.

ZeroLight is an AWS Specialization Partner and AWS Marketplace Seller that’s a visualization platform empowering brands to build stunning digital experiences that captivate and convert their customers.

Trend #1: Game Engines for Commercial and Industry Applications

Use of real-time 3D game engines across industries has exploded in the last 10 years, with 85% of companies surveyed agreeing the technology is very important to the future of their company. As a result, game engines are increasingly becoming a critical part of enterprise toolchains, from design and simulation to online and retail sales experiences.

The widespread adoption of Unreal Engine, Unity, and other tools has produced a vast number of innovative, real-time applications that are solving business challenges for brands. With that success comes the demand to expand access to these applications; not by distributing them to run locally on end-user devices, but via cloud streaming.

To take a specific example from the automotive industry, use of game engines to create vehicle configurators has become commonplace, with many brands looking to embrace cloud streaming to expand the reach of their applications across their global websites.

Additionally, many brands have experienced first-hand the challenges of distributing, installing, and maintaining configurator applications within their global dealer networks. The significant and ongoing hardware and support costs mean brands are now looking to cloud streaming solutions such as OmniStream to provide access to their configurator across global showrooms, at significantly reduced costs of ownership and operation.

Trend #2: Virtual Events and Awareness of the Metaverse

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of virtual events is predicted at 21-23% in the coming years, built on pre-pandemic trends but accelerated by the work-from-home (WFH) culture and desire to be more conscientious about our travel carbon footprint.

Alongside this trend is the rapid rise to awareness of the metaverse, illustrating to many that more of these virtual gatherings will be attended as interactive 3D avatars in virtual 3D spaces. These are two topics have put virtual 3D spaces and 3D applications on the map for many enterprises, with 77% of businesses looking to build branded experiences in the metaverse, and many undertaking their own forays into creating metaverse-style applications.

This has led to a significant increase in awareness across sectors of the role cloud streaming plays in providing simple, global access to virtual 3D spaces.

Trend #3: Demand for Cloud-Based Software and Games

The shift to cloud-based and browser-based software tools has normalized online access to applications for many brands. Accessing applications remotely and in a browser has helped brands to simplify and reduce hardware overheads and adapt to WFH, in particular for resource-intensive design and 3D programs.

Cloud-based design tools like Figma, Canva, and InVision have raised the profile of cloud access to applications more generally, and with it the interest in cloud streaming.

Trend #4: Availability of Cloud Streaming Solutions to Evaluate

The availability of cloud streaming solutions that are accessible for brands to evaluate has allowed them to discover the potential of the technology, as well as the benefits of an enterprise-standard solution. While contributing greatly to an overall increase in awareness of cloud streaming within brands, these evaluations have also served to educate the market on the technology and capabilities that define an enterprise-ready streaming solution.

Trend #5: Customer Expectation of High-End 3D Experiences

Transforming online retail from static and transactional to experiential is a key ambition for brands looking to meet the expectations of today’s customer. Statistics demonstrate time and again that brands are rewarded with improved key performance indicators (KPIs) by giving customers more engaging and immersive 3D cloud-streamed experiences.

Lucid Motors, for example, saw a 46% increase in car reservations with its real-time 3D car configurator compared to a traditional 2D alternative. Revenue generated per session also surged by 51%, proving customers are willing to spend more on average when they’re wowed with high-end 3D experiences.

The awareness of these outcomes by brands across industries is contributing to the demand for cloud streamed experiences, as companies strive to keep pace with new benchmarks in customer experience.

Introducing ZeroLight OmniStream

While cloud streaming can be simple to get started, projects can find it difficult to scale to an enterprise level in which cloud streaming delivers a business-critical function.

ZeroLight and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have a long-standing collaboration built on continuous cloud-based innovation and global project delivery. OmniStream earned ZeroLight a renewed Foundational Technical Review (FTR), as well as an additional AWS Competency.

“While the capability to scale concurrency gets a lot of attention, this is only one aspect of what it means to offer enterprise-standard streaming,” says Chris O’Connor, Executive Director at ZeroLight. “OmniStream combines up to 40 different AWS services with proprietary configuration, software, and expertise to deliver scale across concurrency, geography, time, and application iteration. It also provides the robust tools and capabilities for other hallmarks of enterprise solutions such as resilience, security, and user experience.”

Th diagram below illustrates how ZeroLight’s OmniStream uses AWS infrastructure to deliver a superior streaming experience for end users.

Figure 1 – OmniStream architecture.

1. End user visits a webpage that integrates Palette SDK, ZeroLight’s omnichannel configurator solution, and requests either a 3D stream or 2D image.
2. Depending on the request type (3D mode or 2D mode), the session manager directs the request to either the stream or generation manager in the AWS region closest to the end user.
3. The stream manager matches the stream request to an AWS graphics processing unit (GPU) instance from a managed pool of instances.
4. The generation manager curates a queue of requests for 2D images, dispatches these requests to a pool of AWS GPU instances, stores the image in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and serves it to the requesting client.
5. Amazon CloudFront serves any previously generated images, so duplicate requests can be served without having to wait for images to be regenerated.

Enterprise Scalability: Control, Flexibility, and Responsiveness

Despite being an easy-to-understand and often cited metric of cloud streaming, true scalability is not just about getting to a large number of concurrent connections. Rather, it’s the control, flexibility, and responsiveness of capacity that defines an enterprise-standard solution.

With the power and scale of AWS underpinning it, scaling capacity is not an issue for OmniStream, or indeed most other streaming solutions. Where OmniStream differs is its toolset and capability for ensuring scale is directed most efficiently and for the greatest return on investment (ROI):

• Advanced scheduling: Per-region capacity schedules with hourly granularity, including automated relocation and spinning up/closing down instances to efficiently serve changing traffic profiles across global time zones.
• Smart auto scaling: Configurable scaling of services to automatically increase or decrease capacity based on traffic and predefined rules for minimum/maximum instances in use and on stand-by.
• Capacity planning assistance: Strategic and planning assistance for provisioning long- and short-term capacity.
• Fast loading of new instances: Efficient spinning up of additional capacity for optimized usage of scheduled capacity and speed of responding to traffic increases.

When using OmniStream, a JavaScript library initiates all streaming connections, giving developers greater flexibility and control than conventional methods, such as raw Unity Render Streaming or Unreal Pixel Streaming.

A NodeJS and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)-powered global matchmaking service called the Client Authentication Service (CAS) ensures end users are seamlessly connected from their nearest AWS region, without any input needed from the application developer or web integrator. A simple CAS configuration update makes expansion to new regions effortless, requiring zero modifications to the application or web code.

Enterprise Resilience: Monitor, Quarantine, and Replace

With business-critical activities such as online sales, high-profile launches, time-critical product reviews, and live customer interactions taking place through cloud streamed applications, it’s essential brands have confidence their application will be available when, where, and to whom they want.

With OmniStream, brands gain peace of mind from intelligent monitoring, quarantine, and self-healing:

• Self-monitoring and self-healing: Automatic monitoring of cloud services for detection, quarantining, and replacement of problem instances ensures smooth-running services without human intervention.
• 24/7 DevOps monitoring: 24/7 systems monitoring through a combination of automated systems and certified DevOps staff.
• Seamless updates: Blue/green deployments for seamless updates with no downtime.
• AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR) and Competencies: OmniStream has achieved an AWS FTR and multiple AWS Competencies, demonstrating the solution meets AWS best practices and high standards.

Multiple automated and manual systems ensure OmniStream is able to offer the highest possible resilience and availability. At the lowest Amazon EC2 GPU instance level, the system conducts application monitoring to guarantee the client’s application is transmitting either stream frames or 2D images. If the application’s delivery of these images falters, the application logs are extracted and dispatched to a monitoring platform, Sentry, triggering an application restart.

One level up, the system oversees individual instances. A failed application restart leads to the instance being quarantined, prohibiting end-user access. The instance’s logs are then extracted to Sentry before shutdown.

Above this, ZeroLight orchestrates multiple clusters across AWS Availability Zones (AZs) in each operational AWS region. Each of these clusters run a complete OmniStream setup and can function autonomously, with CAS units communicating to distribute load across zones. Should an AZ falter, remaining CAS units increase capacity to meet demand.

OmniStream infrastructure is also constantly monitored by Amazon CloudWatch, with alarms promptly alerting ZeroLight DevOps to take corrective action.

Enterprise Security: Independent Certification and Monitoring

The risks of a compromised application in the cloud range from damage to a brand’s reputation to serious security vulnerabilities. It’s essential brands have confidence in a streaming provider’s capability to keep their application secure, especially when confidential content is featured or a stream is embedded into the company’s principal website.

Building on top of AWS, OmniStream gives security-conscious brands confidence through:

• ISO 27001 certification: Storage and access to all assets validated end-to-end to ISO 27001 security standards.
• TISAX certification: Storage and access to all assets validated end-to-end to TISAX security standards.
• Third-party security monitoring: Vulnerability monitoring and assessment for cloud system security.

Every OmniStream customer operates within their own designated AWS account, providing robust protection. In the unlikely instance of a rogue customer deploying malicious code, their reach would be solely restricted to their individual AWS account. This setup guarantees enhanced security, shielding other OmniStream clients from any potential data breaches.

Enterprise User Experience: Content, Connectivity, and Quality

Amongst the technical and implementation details of a cloud streaming solution, creators and brands should remember the importance of the end-user experience.

Failed or slow connections, low-quality streams, and interactivity or lack of innovative content types can impede success regardless of the quality of the application. OmniStream gives the level of connectivity, quality, and content that a brand’s application needs to succeed:

• Multiple content modes: Stream 3D, 2D, XR, shared, and retail-specific content of your application.
• High connectivity and compatibility: Multiple video encoding methods for widest possible availability, including H264 and VP9 via WebRTC and H264, VP9 and MJPEG over WebSocket (TCP) plus location, connection, and device analysis to broker the best connection to the application.
• High-quality visuals and experience: Up to 4K UHD streams with ray tracing and latency optimizations, interactive hotspots, and dynamic resizing of stream.

OmniStream’s image-on-demand content mode efficiently serves multiple end users from a single EC2 GPU instance, slashing operating costs. Rather than direct connections to a real-time stream, users receive on-demand images that match the application state they expect to see.

The state request is sent from the client to OmniStream, which checks Amazon CloudFront for existing images matching the state. If found, it’s instantly served; if not, the request enters an image queue and is processed by the next available GPU instance.

Rendered images are stored on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and returned to the end user before being added to CloudFront so subsequent requests for the same image can be retrieved faster. This dynamic system also supports application state versioning, enabling smart cache clearing when configurations are updated. In terms of the web client, 3D and 2D operate identically and only require a single parameter change to switch connection types.

A full breakdown of OmniStream’s enterprise-standard features is available on the ZeroLight website.

Conclusion

With OmniStream, the demonstrable benefits of cloud streaming for real-time applications can be fully realized for brands and end users. Reliable, scalable, and secure cloud streaming is essential for the evolution of customer experiences online, and services like OmniStream are set to become a key building block in those systems.

To mark the launch of OmniStream, ZeroLight is hosting a cloud streaming showcase that will feature third-party application creators on its platform. ZeroLight is looking for innovative and creative 3D applications that showcase the benefits of 3D streaming, and is inviting any individual, team, agency, or brand to submit their Unreal, Unity, or Windows application for the showcase.

To learn more, get in touch with the ZeroLight team at info@zerolight.com.

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ZeroLight is an AWS Specialization Partner and visualization platform empowering brands to build stunning digital experiences that captivate and convert their customers.

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