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When access to physical location is either limited or non-existent , companies have often struggled to keep operations going uninterrupted . Accessing systems , performing software updates , and managing systems via remote logins has been a big problem for media organisations . Mediaproxy : The main challenge has been ensuring that those working from home have been able to communicate and work with those at the main facility efficiently and in real-time . Fast Internet connectivity and low latency on IP or fibre links has been crucial in enabling both working from home and remote production or operation . For remote compliance operations , Mediaproxy ’ s LogServer system can be mirrored in the homes of technical operators , delivering the same level of checking and audience experience . Pebble : Over 40 % of our staff were already remote workers , and those who were office-based pivoted to home working overnight . Much of our commissioning processes had involved sending our teams out on site , which obviously had to stop . Nevertheless , during the various lockdowns in 2020 we successfully designed , delivered and commissioned more than 230 systems remotely , and those numbers have increased significantly this year . Upgrades , support and training have all continued virtually too . Having seen that there were some positives which could be taken from remote working we carried out a staff survey so that our workforce could inform the way forward following extended periods of lockdowns . Plume : Plume is tracking cities across the US , Canada , and Europe in terms of the number of people working from home , defined as their smartphones and laptops being active for more than six hours during the working day . For example in the US , Seattle showed the greatest increase in working from home ( 256 %) right after the pandemic hit , and is still up 206 % at this time . At the other end of the spectrum is Jacksonville , which was up 80.8 % in April 2020 , and is now up 69 %. This shift meant multiple people working simultaneously in many homes , using real time services like video conferencing has challenged WiFi networks . Plume ’ s optimisation system had to perform over twice (+ 117 %) as many client steering operations in order to keep client devices working well in these more heavilycongested environments . Spicy Mango : The biggest challenge remains the provision of secure access to systems .
With more people needing remote access to tools especially across unsecure networks , IT teams have had to ensure that robust security processes are in place and adhered to whilst operating in as user friendly a way as possible to discourage users attempting to circumvent protocols if they can . Synamedia : We ’ ve faced the same challenges as everyone else on the planet but have performed well , with a stellar year of great growth in terms of market share and our business performance in general . Our globallydispersed team adapted very quickly to find work around solutions to the restrictions lockdown imposed on us . Torque Video Systems : In our opinion , the broadcast industry is very ‘ high touch ’ compared to other industries , and where close long-term relationships develop between sales people and their clients . It is a comparatively small industry , so these tight relationships follow the people - as the sales people move between different vendors , customers move between different operators over the course of their careers . VeEX : There have been different types of challenges at various stages of this pandemic , affecting our customers , suppliers and end users of telecommunication services . At the beginning of the work-from-home stage , subscribers found that they needed reliable Internet with faster upstream speeds . That triggered ISPs to change the way they viewed residential and small business services , QoS and QoE . From a T & M perspective , this prompted renewed interest in remote testing , centralised testing and centralised monitoring , as well as remote training and assistance to field technicians . VIAVI Solutions : Communications networks are essential businesses needed to support the vital services that allow subscribers to work or study remotely . This means that despite extended lockdowns , it ’ s critically important for service providers to continue to optimise the performance of today ’ s networks to maintain remote connectivity and sustain dynamically changing traffic patterns , while simultaneously deploying tomorrow ’ s next-generation technologies to enable greater speed and capacity . This situation only compounds existing troubleshooting challenges created by ongoing disaggregation of network architectures spanning many diverse technologies and legacy systems . Meeting these challenges requires test and measurement tools and processes that speed and simplify deployment and activation , such as virtual activation , fibre monitoring , test process automation and remote instrument access — reducing time spent in the field while addressing and troubleshooting a myriad of issues . Has there been a greater reliance on virtualised / Cloud-based services under lockdown ? Accedo : We were already using virtualised and cloud-based services . One thing that is quite new is virtual brainstorming . Normally we would all want to be in a whiteboard session , but we have found ways to make virtual brainstorming work . It has required people to be even more structured and conscious of time and that means having to prepare well for this to work . Ateliere : As we say in the entertainment industry , the show must go on even during a pandemic . Content creation is not immune to Covid , and the enormous demand for home entertainment forced the industry to find
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