“ The best way to predict the future is to create it .” ~ Peter F . Drucker relationship
March 2016 MANAGEMENT 21
flow potential
affordable price . Additional storage technology using optical disc for long-term retention is also available .
“ An archive management system must be able to support all of these technologies and those still in development with backward compatibility to support technologies used previously ,” he notes .
Besides , archiving of intermediate production material is in higher demand .
“ In this instance , the requirement is to archive entire projects including different files as an ‘ object ’, rather than archiving single files ,” he says . Fortunately , SGL is a pioneer of object-based content archiving for the media market , so these developments can be addressed , Li concludes .
Meanwhile , in the automated playout realm , the newly formed Snell Advanced Media , or SAM , says that two of its new playout solutions are ideal for Asian broadcaster workflows . Karl Mehring , director of playout and delivery at SAM , tells APB that the company ’ s ICE SAN and ICE IP — part of the broader ICE channel-in-a-box family — has already been deployed by major broadcasters and playout centres in Asia-Pacific .
“ ICE IP is the next generation of the highly successful ICE product range , allowing hybrid SDI ( HD and SD ) and IP streams to be generated from a single platform ,” Mehring says . “ ICE SAN allows for shared scale-out storage , providing fast turnaround of media from ingest to playout , shared content across playout channels and a larger
central storage . Both are well suited to the broadcast environments in Asia-Pacific .”
The ICE IP , in particular , also promises to be a future-proof playout solution option . Mehring says this is because the ICE IP allows for hybrid SDI / IP playout , and as “ we begin the journey into IP on the playout side , this is of course essential ”, he explains .
But while companies such as SAM offers top-of-the-line solutions for playout , broadcasters still need to keep in mind that cutting-edge solutions like these would only prove useful , if it addresses playout issues that they are currently grappling with .
For example , Mehring says in order to ensure a high-quality playout output , broadcasters are increasing bitrates , which demands
❝ In the current market environment , which is technologically fragmented , every broadcaster wants to know that their investments have longevity and will continue to be supported . They need to be sure that they are not investing in dead-end technology .❞
— Karl Mehring , Director of Playout and Delivery ,
SAM
more from disk systems : increased storage space , speed or retrieval from disk and transfer speeds . “ ICE SAN overcomes this by providing a high-performance storage system directly connected to the desired number of ICE systems ,” he reveals . “ Capital expenditure is an issue , now more than ever with a need to get more channels to air for less money . ICE addresses this by making the cost of playout a fraction of that compared to discrete devices .”
Another solution is in the form of ICE SDC , a software product that further ameliorates playout workflow costs . “ Broadcasters have always had a desire to create eventbased channels or test new channels without significant upfront cost ,” says Mehring . “ The ICE SDC can turn this into a reality as a software-only system utilising commodity IT hardware with the concept of ‘ pop-up ’ channel licensing .”
And while SAM promises to offer consistently high-quality playout solutions , it also stresses that the recent changes within the company would not adversely affect its Asian customer base .
“ We ’ ve had a very positive response from our customers in the region — in fact , in all regions . In the current market environment , which is technologically fragmented , every broadcaster wants to know that their investments have longevity and will continue to be supported ,” Mehring says . “ They need to be sure that they are not investing in deadend technology . Everything we ’ ve done since launching SAM — from investing in regional support to product roadmaps — has been with a view to giving them this confidence .”
“ The best way to predict the future is to create it .” ~ Peter F . Drucker relationship
have been compatible with HPE equipment for some time . The only change in procedure that the announcement brings is that where Imagine Communications bundles its software with hardware as an appliance , the preferred hardware will now be from HPE . The new facet of the relationship with HPE does not impact existing customers . We will continue to support all platforms currently hosting our software .
Imagine has also mentioned improved price points and performance . Could you give us more details or examples on these ? Dr Connan-Lostanlen : We are anticipating improvements in price / performance through the close collaboration with HPE technical experts that the new relationship includes . We ’ ll be working closely with HPE ’ s technical and engineering experts to make sure Imagine Communications ’ solutions running on HPE servers and storage systems are optimally tuned to deliver industry-leading price / performance . We ’ ll be able to work with HPE to deliver the optimal configuration , for example , of memory , processing and storage — helping our customers to assemble an IP-based infrastructure that is finely tuned for their specific needs .
We expect this optimisation to result in increased densities . We anticipate our customers ,
❝ We ’ ll be working closely with HPE ’ s technical and engineering experts to make sure Imagine Communications ’ solutions running on HPE servers and storage systems are optimally tuned to deliver industryleading price / performance .❞
— Dr Glodina Connan-Lostanlen , Chief Marketing Officer , Imagine Communications
for example , to be able to increase the number of channels that can be supported on highdensity servers , which should deliver substantial gains in price-per-channel performance .
Why are we watching the global Television shipment data ?
Because the size , format and brightness of the television sets being sold have a direct influence on viewer behaviour . That , in turn directly affects the system design of current or future television channels ( and transmission head ends ). Larger screens , UHD TV , smart TV in more homes will change viewing habits irrevocably . Broadcasters need to make sure that they are leading the change . We specialise in building broadcast facilities that are digital , IP centric , automated , 4K ready , transmitting over multiple formats and capable of handling dynamic business models .
LET ’ S NOT TRY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE , LET US CREATE IT !
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