Does digital media distribution herald the replacement of satellite? In the session, Tony answers this question with what he describes as the “Any Dream”: any content, any time, anywhere on any device. Tony cites real world examples where digital media distribution is being used to reduce costs and fulfill the “Any Dream”.
Listen in as executives from Five, SDI and Siemens discuss how Signiant has helped solve their digital media distribution challenges.
Well, another IBC has come and gone. This was the 18th IBC that I attended and in my opinion, it was one of the best for a number of reasons. Among them: the number of attendees was the highest yet (49,250); the level of interest and the quality of the questions and discussions was high and meaningful—these were people who had serious research, design, evaluation, and purchase initiatives and came to the show prepared. Writing briefly from a Signiant perspective, we were in the IPTV/Mobile zone and the amount of foot traffic was excellent as one would expect from these two areas that are now of major importance to the media and entertainment industry. We had a constant stream of individuals and companies looking for the ability to move content from, to, and throughout their ever-growing media ecosystem of partners. We demonstrated our new Version 8.0 software which received fantastic reviews from our current customers as well as from people who were new to Signiant, and were honored to be part of NBC Universal’s IBC-award winning MICAH product.
As is usually the case, I didn’t get too far from the Signiant booth until the last day of the show when I typically have to run around and see what new products there are and what companies are innovating. One of the most impressive was Maximum Throughput. The MaxEdit Server Edition and Web Edition are excellent products and truly represent innovation. I remember seeing these products at NAB and they have changed quite a bit since then. I saw web-based editorial (what I refer to as “editing on the wire”) and changes made on the flash-based web version resulting in an edited sequence which you can access on an i-Phone. Further, Max-T actually has a neat review and approval app that they’ve built, complete with grease-marker capability to highlight/annotate areas and that newly marked up version shows up back in the LAN version (because you are always manipulating the content metadata at the source) I urge you to check it out.
It was a GREAT IBC show for Signiant and hopefully for you if you attended!
I first attended IBC in 1991, when we at Avid were just introducing the PAL version of the Media Composer. The show has certainly changed through the years and in 2008 it is very apparent that IT-based implementations are increasingly being adopted and put into practice. Unlike the warming sun of last year, it is a typical overcast, rainy Amsterdam but that has not had any effect on the crowds. Booths are busy and there is energy to the crowd unlike at NAB.
HD is certainly forming a large component of what people are looking at, but hardware and software applications to support IPTV and Mobile initiatives are getting their fair share of increased floor presence and associated foot traffic.
The theme for this year’s IBC is “the world of content creation, management, and delivery” and I think particularly we are seeing more emphasis on, in order, delivery and management than ever before. Any content creator who has a volume of content is now seriously looking at how to manage and to keep track of that content—hence must look at both asset management and content management systems. And, files must be distributed to all the locations that require them—to affiliate stations, cable head ends, telcos, and the vast amount of business partners that are part of this ever morphing world of what we call the media and entertainment industry.
One of the clichés in this business is “NAB is hectic and IBC is much more tranquil”. I don’t find that to be the case at all. In 1991, the pace of IBC was very slow. Today, the pace is fast and people are coming to make evaluations and to make decisions!
