How MDOT Streamlines Statewide Traffic Video with Wowza Streaming Engine

Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) operates a mission-critical traffic video network to keep roads safe, inform travelers, and coordinate responders. Their system is built on Wowza Streaming Engine as the programmable and reliable video infrastructure, enabling automated provisioning, predictable scaling, and efficient public delivery.

What you’ll learn in the full case study

How MDOT handles hundreds of statewide video feeds

MDOT publishes approximately 1,200 camera feeds and distributes origin clusters across four regions (North, Central, South, and Hattiesburg) to shorten paths and keep operations predictable. The case study shows how regional placement, plus centralized control, supports MDOT’s day-to-day operations.

How Wowza helps MDOT automate ingest and simplify operations

MDOT’s Camera Manager treats Wowza as an API-driven fabric. Add a camera, select a regional host, and the application is provisioned automatically. If a stream drifts, operators trigger a one-click rebuild, turning servers into true “appliances” and reducing manual touches.

 How MDOT uses Wowza and edge caching to improve efficiency

In production, MDOT targets about 100 cameras per origin (roughly 200 streams with dual bitrates) to preserve headroom, while generating still images for maps and listings with Wowza Transcoder. The result is smoother day-to-day operations. Wowza remains the authoritative origin while NGINX perimeter caches serve the public site. Since adopting edge caching, MDOT has seen significant improvements in circuit utilization, keeping usage in check while maintaining responsiveness.

Why this matters for smart cities, departments of transportation, and monitoring teams

If you manage live camera networks or DOT traffic cameras, you’ll see how a programmable origin, region-aware placement, and edge caching can translate into dependable visibility and simpler operations without over-engineering. The case study walks through MDOT’s choices so you can evaluate what fits your environment and build your optimal smart city video platform.

Technical highlights (at a glance)

• Efficiently manages ~1,200 video feeds via API with Wowza Streaming Engine
• Reliably supports automated ingest and management of ~100 cameras per origin (≈200 streams via dual bitrates)
• Leverages Wowza Transcoder for still-image generation supporting maps and listings
• Improved resource allocation with NGINX perimeter caches with Wowza as the authoritative origin
• Runs Wowza on Ubuntu + AMD EPYC processors; validated for high stream counts in testing

Want the full details, workflow, and specific decisions behind MDOT’s success? Get the PDF.