SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Jan. 20, 2009 — SKAI Television of Athens, Greece, has selected a 96-TB Omneon MediaGrid™ active storage system to archive daily news content and enable news producers at their desktops to bring archived clips into a Sony SONAPS news production system with drag-and-drop simplicity and speed. The MediaGrid system joins an Omneon Spectrum™ server already in place for commercial playout as a key element of SKAI's efficient, tapeless workflow.
SKAI TV, re-launched under PTS Publishing Group in 2006, was the first non-subscription television station to use a completely digital and tapeless workflow and broadcast SD in 16:9 format, earning itself a reputation as one of the most technologically sophisticated broadcast news operations in the world. It is also the first broadcaster outside Japan to deploy the SONAPS system, and as a result annually draws teams of international engineers to view its Athens facility.
Before SKAI implemented the MediaGrid solution, the broadcaster stored news programming on XDCAM cartridges, making clip retrieval a time- and resource-intensive manual process. Now, under direction of Blue Order asset management, high-resolution broadcast content from each 24-hour news cycle is automatically archived to the Omneon MediaGrid after the final news bulletin of the night. Select rushes are also archived. The MediaGrid system will store about six months of programming, which is readily available for re-use. Acting as a high-performance, high-availability mixed media archive, the MediaGrid system also stores about 3 TB of content from SKAI Radio, which is the most popular news radio station in Greece.
"My colleagues and I have proven experience with Omneon equipment — its reliability, flexibility, and robustness," said Nick Millas, technical director of SKAI Television. "Because we expect our operation to grow, we were also interested in the MediaGrid system's easy scalability. The installation itself was incredibly fast and efficient — it was up and running in less than two days."
The Omneon MediaGrid not only offers high-performance shared storage, it is the first storage system to play an active part in broadcast workflow by performing processing functions on content stored within it. Because it uses multiple intelligent, independent, and interconnected storage servers to combine grid storage and grid computing, the Omneon MediaGrid makes it easier and faster for users and applications throughout a workflow to retrieve digital media.
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About SKAI Television
SKAI Television has provided continuous news and entertainment programming to viewers across Greece since 2006. A free-to-air channel, and the first free digital channel in Greece, SKAI Television offers a rich range of informative and entertaining content with an emphasis on providing comprehensive knowledge and a free exchange of views with integrity. SKAI Television is a regular collaborator with the BBC World and numerous other major networks and production companies. More information is available at www.skai.gr.
About Omneon
Omneon Inc. is a leading provider of scalable media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in more than 50 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.omneon.com.
