16
NEWS & VIEWS
September 2016
MOG highlighting Skywatch
production management platform
Back to basics
in broadcasting
As the pace of technological change
accelerates and opportunities such as
broadband, 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) and
8K TV open up, there is an urgent need
to get broadcasting basics right. The
key challenge faced by broadcasters
is providing better content faster and
more economically across multiple
platforms and connected devices.
Reliable infrastructure and seamless
connectivity determine the consumer
experience and are driving profits
across the industry.
Impact of the Internet
The Internet impacts every aspect of
our daily lives, enriching consumer
experiences and raising demands for
better media quality, timeliness and
convenience. At the forefront of global
technology trends is the integration of
Internet Protocol (IP) into traditional
broadcasting infrastructures and
workflows. IP networking provides
more agility and higher capacity, making it easier to create and deliver compelling content with a lower overall investment. It is redefining the broadcast
industry, its business models and every
step in the media value chain.
Fibre foundation for the future
As copper can no longer keep pace
with growing needs for more bandwidth, fibre optic (FO) is rapidly becoming the new technology standard
worldwide. It provides a critical link to
IP transmission, interfacing easily with
IP networks and guaranteeing safe,
reliable data transfer. Because fibre
transmission uses a universal protocol,
it ensures a high level of compatibility
across platforms and devices, saving
time on steps such as post-processing
and distribution. It can also be built
on the existing FO physical links that
many countries already have for their
Internet. Not only are fibre networks
easy to install and maintain, but
they also offer great flexibility and a
foundation for future innovations, for
example, allowing hardware to evolve
without needing to change existing
FO links.
Seamless connectivity
Although IP networks are already used
for transmitting live content like highprofile sporting events, they are fragile
and depend on reliable connections.
We are observing a trend towards
plug-and-play fibre-optic solutions,
which save set-up, field deployment
and testing time, while enabling more
Dominique
Glauser,
CEO,
Fischer
Connectors
Since copper can no longer
keep pace with growing needs
for more bandwidth, fibre
optic (FO) is rapidly becoming
the new technology standard
worldwide.
modularity and flexibility. To help
broadcasters reap the benefits from IP,
Fischer Connectors has been working
closely with its customers to develop
ready-to-use fibre-optic cabling solutions for field broadcasting activities
that maintain the stability they need
for a high-quality optical link — even
in harsh environments. These solutions are safe, fast to deploy, have been
designed to be easy to use and to clean
even in the field, and offer good value
for money.
Miniaturising to maximise
performance
Another trend is the use of high-performance, miniaturised connectors to
reduce weight and space. An example
of an innovative, compact product —
offering higher precision and faster data
transmission rates over long distances
— is Fischer Connectors’ smaller,
smarter single fibre-optic connectivity
solution (FO1), which belongs to the
Fischer FiberOptic Series. This product
line includes a rugged fibre-optic connector with two or four fibres, and a
rugged hybrid connector with two fibre
channels and two electrical contacts,
to increase flexibility. Available either
in pre-configured reels, or integrated
into custom assemblies, these connectors ensure easy integration into
existing infrastructures to save time
and money.
Getting solid infrastructure and
connectivity basics in place frees
broadcasters to focus on creating
content that delights customers and
maximising ROI. q
Visitors to IBC 2016 can look forward to the
Skywatch enterprise platform from MOG
Technologies, which the company describes as “one giant leap” for production management.
Skywatch is designed to allow users to access the full landscape of their
production environment by supervising,
controlling and managing a complete production workflow.
It also provides a tool for media professionals to obtain statistics on productivity, availability and efficiency of production resources, thus helping them with
investment decisions.
Skywatch unifies the production
process by adding all areas of operations
into one solution. Users may shape the
Skywatch to suit their specific production environment, controlling the whole
ingest process and monitoring every
third-party system or application that
is part of the workflow.
Users can also keep track of storage
usage, see the status of the projects, and
check the average lifetime of the assets and
generally, use Skywatch to monitor, analyse
and measure system activities.
Skywatch also keeps track of user’s pro-
cesses and ensures the proper allocation of
resources, collect information in segmented
reports that reflect on the user’s business
needs, and predict future project resources based on the history dashboard.
Furthermore, a single user can control the operation of an integrated set
of production modules, as well as manage
multiple ingest points, without geographic
boundaries.
MOG Technologies is at booth 7.G30.
MOG Technologies is presenting the Skywatch
platform, which helps users manage their
production workflow.
4K and IP sports production
top SAM’s show agenda
To address media organisations’ changing
operational and business needs, SAM is presenting its latest capabilities in 4K/Ultra HD
(UHD) and IP sports production workflows,
as well as a “complete ” IP product portfolio.
Highlights at booth 9.A01 include SAM’s
IP-Edge production routing technology,
which is designed to take complexity away
from hybrid and pure IP roll-outs and follows
the interoperability goals of the Alliance for
IP Media Solutions (AIMS), of which SAM is
a member.
Available in 25GbE and 40GbE, the IPEdge interfaces are integrated in many of
SAM’s products including routers, switchers,
and multiviewers, along with dedicated IPonly processing control products.
Building on SAM’s 4K/UHD workflow
offerings, the new LiveTouch 4K/UHD
sports highlight solution can be used as
a standalone system or integrated into a
wider production environment. Designed
for 4K/UHD needs especially in live
sports, users can collaborate highlights, replays and slow-motion
“with no media movements”,
according to SAM. Alongside the LiveTouch,
SAM is also showcasing its entire range of
Kahuna switchers, including the 4K/UHD
Kula 1ME/2ME production switcher.
SAM’s software-based application portfolio includes the ICE range of channel-ina-box solutions that integrates operational,
technical, regulatory and commercial functionality required for broadcast playout environments. Available as ICE SDC and ICE IP,
these solutions provide playout functionality
from a software solution running on IT hardware, either from a facility or a data centre,
and as part of a cloud strategy.
SAM’s 4K/
UHD Kula
1ME/2ME
production
switcher.
SI Media expands broadcast horizon
Italy’s SI Media wants to share with visitors the company’s latest developments in traffic,
playout automation, media asset management and newsroom solutions for TV broadcasters.
This includes an updated graphical user interface version of the Media News solution,
which now offers empowered social media integration. A new version of the Proxy-Editor
news editing production tool offers applications to allow journalists to work in real time
and from any location.
At booth 8.B93, SI Media is also explaining how its New Room Computer System
(NRCS) software platform has grown into a “new dimension”. An important aspect, stressed
the company, is social media integration and real-time application, designed to speed up
journalists’ work processes.
Social media input and output functionality is now fully integrated, while the Mediawire
application manages the import of multiple incoming sources, including Reuters, APTN,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.