PARIS
Orange serves some 182 million customers in 32 countries, currently ranking as the fifth-largest telecom operator in the world with both wireless and fixed data networks. Earlier this year, we initiated new processes to allow us to more efficiently and easily store, manage, and distribute content to any service provider and on any multimedia platform.
The Orange headquarters building This new system was designed to manage this process from end to end and incorporates Netia’s CMS (content management system), which was conceived to meet this requirement while providing the versatility and intuitive operation that are so critical in dealing effectively with thousands of media files.
COVERING ALL BASES
Netia’s CMS supports Orange France’s evolving media delivery services by enabling highly flexible workflow management through a simple, easily configurable, and all-encompassing GUI. Equally important, the Netia solution is designed to simplify cataloging of media and allows us to leverage metadata at several levels, while providing the tools to manage images, audio, video, and text—often in packages interconnected by metadata—in an unending array of formats.
At the beginning of the content management cycle, Orange in France uses the system for ingesting content from sources such as post houses, production facilities, and traditional TV and radio broadcasters. CMS, which is built on Netia’s media asset management software, interfaces with ingest, production, automation, and storage applications to streamline automatic take-on of high-resolution media and associated metadata.
The Netia application automatically enriches ingested media with supplemental metadata, and this information in turn allows our staff to find and access specific stored content with greater accuracy and speed. It provides the familiar click, mark in/mark out, and drag-and-drop functions, allowing users—both technical and non-technical—to enter a precise search query to find and retrieve a particular piece of content. Consistent metadata about media, organized in categories tailored to our operations, combine with a powerful search engine to maximize our control over and access Orange France media assets.
In managing our workflow, the CMS uses Netia’s Workflow Engine to organize the media management processes, harmonize exchanges between different applications, handle prioritization across the system and also automate the content distribution processes. As our staff prepares content for delivery, the CMS performs metadata extraction, transcoding, quality checking, image processing, and subtitle management.
JUST RIGHT FOR MULTIPLE PLATFORM CONTENT DELIVERY
To streamline content delivery itself, the CMS is equipped with tools for content packaging, metadata tagging, and rights management, along with workflow-supervision guiding these processes. A set of configurable rules govern delivery of content to specific service providers and numerous platforms ranging from VOD to set top box, mobile phones, Internet portals and more. Orange can adapt these rules easily to accommodate continued expansion of multiplatform services and partnerships with content providers.
Netia’s CMS is built on well-established MAM solutions that have been tailored to support Telco operators’ shift into multiplatform content delivery. We’ve been able to take advantage of these proven solutions and Netia’s expertise to realize a comprehensive, yet straightforward, system that helps to maximize the value of content more easily and efficiently across current and future delivery platforms.
Pierre Louis Pipitone is in charge of major television projects at Orange’s French Networks. He may be contacted at pierrelouis.pipitone@orange-ftgroup.com.
For additional information, contact Netia at 888-207-2480 or visit www.netia.com.
