24
MANAGEMENT
September 2018
Say hi! to hi – a new
approach to broadcast
and media control
BY HUMPHREY HOCH
Media technology has experienced
several revolutions in the past
years: from SD/HD to 4K/Ultra HD
(UHD), from baseband to IP, from
monolithic core systems to modu-
lar and software-defined plat-
forms. Because the transition to IP
will not be completed overnight,
legacy and IP-based equipment
will work together in hybrid sys-
tems for quite some time. IP-based
and software-defined platforms
offer unique power and versatil-
ity for production workflows and
teams.
However, with great power
comes great responsibility —
networked- and software-driven
systems offer unprecedented
flexibility for broadcast and media
environments but require special
caution. It is the user’s respon-
sibility to define functionalities,
workflows and control mecha-
nisms for all the new devices. These
configuration processes take a lot
of time and effort — and in the
worst-case scenario, they need to
be re-done every time a piece of
your system has changed.
Mis-configurations in an IP-
based system can have dramatic
effects on the whole infrastructure.
The effort to provide a fail-safe
production environment increases
dramatically. This is why Broadcast
Solutions created hi.
At this year’s IBC, Broadcast
Solutions is introducing hi, a new
approach to control layers in
broadcast and media technology
environments. Based on more
than 20 years of experience in
system design, hi provides a reli-
able and easy-to-use control layer
for media installations. Broadcast
Solutions’ hi makes the configu-
ration process smart and easy,
detects new devices automatically
and protects the user from false
configurations.
Using modern auto-discovery
and zero-configuration technol-
ogies, hi is reducing the set-up
and configuration time of your
systems dramatically via a user
interface that provides easy control
and monitoring of complex infra-
structures, and resembles those of
common smart mobile devices.
Thus, the system works easily on
any end-user device: on a PC, a
Mac, on tablets — or even on the
user’s smartphone.
Built on decentralised software
architecture, the hi system can run
on almost any platform: on lap-
tops, dedicated servers and server
clusters, as well as in your data
centre or on cloud services such
as AWS or Microsoft Azure. This
architecture ensures non-disrupted
availability, even in case of hard-
ware, power or protocol failures.
Self-healing algorithms ensure
that all parts of the system are up
AJA’s Ki Pro Ultra recorder and player is being used to produce a weekly eSports
competition in Las Vegas.
Broadcast Solutions’ hi reduces the set-up and configuration time of one's systems
dramatically via a user interface that provides easy control and monitoring of
complex infrastructures, and resembles those of common smart mobile devices.
and running properly — even if
they are distributed over different
hardware platforms or even work-
ing from different locations.
Reliability and ease-of-use
are the keys to successful inter-
action between the system and
the operators. This is why the main
focus during the development has
always been the user and how
workflows can be simplified.
For further information, come
around at Broadcast Solutions’
indoor stand (Hall 8.D74), grab
a coffee and try out a new way of
controlling media infrastructures.
Come by and say hi!
Humphrey Hoch is senior innovation
director, Broadcast Solutions. More
information on hi can be found at
www.hi-app.de
Digital Glue brings more creativity to media storage
Digital Glue has welcomed a new hybrid NVMe solid state
drive (SSD) and hard-disk drive (HDD) media storage solu-
tion to its creative.space platform.
//DEUS EX balances solid state and spinning disk
technology with a fully optimised internal architecture to
provide playback in the most demanding environments,
according to Digital Glue. The hybrid system is the latest
to launch in the creative.space series, an on-premise man-
aged storage (OPMS) service that includes round-the-clock
monitoring, technical support and next-day repairs for an
affordable, all-inclusive monthly rate.
Designed for end-to-end post-production workflows,
//DEUS EX is built for uncompressed high-resolution work-
flow