Rikei Corporation (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Satoru Isaka; hereinafter “Rikei”) is pleased to announce that it has begun selling the KB-MAX, an encoder/transcoder from Haivision Systems Inc. (Head Office: Canada, CEO: Miroslav Wicha, hereafter “Haivision”) that enables 4K broadcast and 360-degree virtual reality live streaming. Rikei is the dealer of Haivision products in Japan.

Overview of KB MAX

The KB MAX is the latest KB-series model from Haivision. It is ideal for 4K 360-degree virtual reality streaming for on-the-go live events and temporary provision of video transmission services. Despite its compact dimensions, this portable video unit is capable of hardware accelerated encoding of high-quality 4K images, supporting up to 4K UHD 2160p H.264/HEVC .

In addition, KB Max makes cloud transcoding of transport stream unnecessary, which is enabled by encoding full adaptive bitrate (ABR) cascades *1. It thus permits reduction of application cost in cloud services.

*1 ABR cascades: Previously, ABR processing would be conducted mostly on cloud. This technology sends a multi-bitrate stream directly to the cloud from the encoder .

 About the KB Series

The KB series of H.264 & HEVC Internet Media Encoders and Transcoders is a lineup of high-quality products for live event streaming. They help you deliver the highest quality live video to your global internet audience.
The KB series consists of the following four appliance products.

・KB Mini:

The KB Mini is a portable all-in-one H.264/HEVC encoder/ transcoder. It is easy to set up and permits live event streaming from anywhere with an internet connection. It leverages hybrid GPU/CPU processing to deliver ABR cascades up to 1080p.

・KB MAX (New Product):

The KB-MAX is a portable all-in-one 4K streaming appliance that features H.264/HEVC encoding, ABR cascades, and support for a 4K/UHD 2160p channel or up to four 1080p60 channels. It is optimal for streaming of 4K or 360-degree VR video images of live events.

・KB Server:

A rackmountable server, the KB Server features ABR cascades, redundant power supplies, RAID configurations, and support for up to four 1080p video inputs.
The KB Server is ideal for enterprise-grade internet streaming and fits within your existing enterprise infrastructure.

・KB 4K Server:

It is a rackmountable H.264 and HEVC encoding server featuring ABR cascades, redundant power supplies, and hardware acceleration. The KB 4K Server supports up to four 1080p60 channels or one 4K/UHD 2160p channel.

The KB-series appliances have been tested with the following cloud service providers, online video platforms, and CDN*2. The tests were conducted by connecting the appliances to the following, and operation of the products was confirmed.

Major services with which the connection test has been completed:
Akamai, Microsoft Azure Media Services, Brightcove, Facebook Live, Haivision Video Cloud, Level 3, Limelight, Wowza, Workplace by Facebook and YouTube Live

*2 CDN: It stands for content delivery network, which is used to deliver large-volume digital contents on the internet.

 Sales Price

Open pricing

Future Plans

Rikei will provide and deploy optimal systems, mainly in the broadcasting industry in Japan, to cater to diverse needs such as video transmission, contents delivery, and live broadcasting from the scene.

About Haivision Systems Inc.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in the Canadian city of Montreal, Haivision is an enterprise with global influence in the domain of streaming media. It has branch offices in Europe, in the United States, in Asia and elsewhere. At present, it is developing state-of-the-art video technologies and offering end-to-end video streaming solutions that support organizations in collaboration, broadcasting, military, education and medical care sectors.

About Rikei Corporation

Established in 1957, Rikei Corporation is a solution provider for the IT and electronics industries.

Rikei offers a wide variety of solutions centered on the world’s cutting edge technologies and advanced products in the fields of system solutions, such as entrance exam and educational affairs systems and IT infrastructure, business strategy, and information security solutions. It also provides network solutions, such as satellite communication data transfer systems, digital video transfer systems, network systems for telecommunication operators and other private companies, wireless access systems, and disaster management information systems. In addition to solutions, Rikei provides electronic components and devices, such as high frequency components, high performance adhesives for industrial use, testers for automotive audio and navigation equipment, power grid analysis systems, defense-related machinery and security systems. 

Product names and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.