LAS VEGAS
The annual NAB show is a prime opportunity for systems integrators to become familiar with all the key broadcast production gear, whether such products are at the splashiest booth or tucked away in the back corner of the hall. They all agree there isn't enough time to see everything they need and want to see.
Systems integrators want to guide their broadcast clients through the complexities of today's increasingly file-based IT workflows, and show them ways to feed content to multiple broadcast outlets cost-effectively.
GREAT VIGILANCE
(click thumbnail)Rick Bisignano, Ascent Media Systems & Technology ServicesTV Magic a San Diego-based systems integrator will send a delegation of approximately 35 people, including executive management, sales, design, and installation engineers.
"One of the biggest challenges today is the speed at which technologies are changing," said Pat Thompson, vice president of operations for TV Magic. "This requires great vigilance from systems integrators to stay up on all of the new technologies and their respective applications for customers. It is also important to provide feedback to manufacturers about their products with recommendations based on customer needs. With the convergence of IT and A/V, every job requires integration."
TV Magic will promote its engineering design, consulting, systems integration and installation services. They also have a new division dedicated to giving broadcasters one-call access to 24/7 maintenance and engineering services.
TV Magic will also promote its new i/o product line, a scalable workflow system that includes i/oIngest, i/oEdit, and i/oCast. Using the Mac OS X and an RSS feed, i/oCast enables users to distribute digital content for podcasting, VOD, and RSS feeds via Internet and Web-accessible cell phones.
TV Magic has completed a station automation project for 32 affiliates of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a religious broadcast network based in Tustin, Calif. In addition to installing a system that allowed unattended multicasting of five TBN channels, the automation system also enabled the stations to receive network feeds and insert local programming, advertising, and interstitials into the broadcast output.
"At NAB, the key trends and technologies to watch for include file-based products, acquisition, ingest, and new media distribution," Thompson said. "Many of the new media distribution technologies may offer additional paths for increased incremental revenue streams."
DEFINED OBJECTIVES
Ascent Media Systems & Technology Services will have a formidable presence at NAB, with approximately 50 delegates, including executive management, senior technologists, design and applications engineers, and project managers.
"There are three key priority areas for our company, including identifying and evaluating new technologies that will bring our clients efficiencies and/or allow them to address the dramatic changes affecting the media business," said Rich Bisignano, senior vice president and general manager of Systems Integration for Ascent Media systems & Technology Services in Northvale, N.J.
The other two priorities are to gain exposure to new products and technologies for consideration in upcoming projects; and to develop new business, strengthen existing relationships, and promote the company's varied services.
"We want to make sure our customers fully understand their current workflows, to ensure that all decisions that follow have the highest possible success rate," Bisignano said. "Among the trends to watch for are standards-based software that integrates disparate departmental islands in broadcast operations; IP-based portable 'anytime/anywhere' video; and the leveraging of IP networks for targeted advertising."
Media-aware storage, infrastructures, and products that facilitate the repurposing of content for the mobile and broadband TV markets will also be prominent.
Stavros Hilaris, Ascent Media's senior vice president of technology and Bob Timpone, director of technology will present a paper on "Media Storage and Associated Workflows," on Wednesday, April 18, as part of the Broadcast Engineering Conference's Workflow and Interoperability for Television session.
Ascent Media has seen some significant changes since the last NAB. And while the company did do some restructuring in 2006, the changes "did not affect the systems integration unit of the company," said Tom Canavan, executive vice president for Ascent Media's Global Systems and Technology Services Group. "It was a corporate-level restructuring that basically was a consolidation of divisions."
Canavan said the company has launched a systems integration group in London, to serve Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, which strengthens its position as "one of the largest systems integration companies in the world."
GREATER AGILITY
(click thumbnail)Edward P. Hobson, NTCAs part of NAB's technical sessions, John Footen, director of software systems engineering for National TeleConsultants, will present a paper on Service-Oriented Architectures, Business Process management, and Web services in professional media systems. Footen will give examples of how systems of this nature reduce risk and increase agility, efficiency, and accountability.
NTC will also discuss these topics at its suite in the Las Vegas Hilton. NTC's services include design, consulting, and media integration for every facet of the broadcast and media industries.
NTC will send more than 30 of its staff to the show, including design engineers, systems engineers, software engineers, senior consultants, project directors, and procurement specialists, according to Edward P. Hobson, vice president of NTC in Glendale, Calif., and New York.
"NTC's goal at NAB is to continue its close collaboration with its clients and the overall industry in order to fully understand industry needs, as well as to investigate promising new technologies that address these needs," Hobson said.
Hobson added that understanding trends--such as HD production, storage, networking, file-based production, digital asset management, collaborative workflow and integrated media technology enterprises--are critical for "survival."
"The broadcast industry must understand, integrate, and successfully leverage these new technology advantages in order to remain viable in the new media world of digital content creation and delivery across an ever-broadening array of media-consumption devices," Hobson said.
NTC recently completed extensive work for KQED, in San Francisco, including a fully upgraded master control operation. KQED's upgraded infrastructure also benefits its two sister stations, KTEH in San Jose, and KCAH Watsonville/Monterey because KQED's new master control room now feeds six 24-hour DTV channels from HDTV servers to both stations--improving cost efficiencies for all three PBS stations.
INDUSTRY LIAISONS
Azcar, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based systems integrator, will send more than 25 people to NAB2007 and the PBS Technology Conference preceding it, including executives from the systems design, integration, and account management departments. Besides its U.S.-based personnel, the Azcar delegation will also include representatives from its U.K. subsidiary, Megahertz Broadcast Systems, and its Toronto office.
Azcar is also presenting a paper, "Designing and Integrating for HD," during the "Workflow Super Session" at the 2007 PBS Technology Conference.
"Beyond seeing the latest technology, toys, and widgets, NAB is the only place that a systems integrator is afforded the opportunity to gauge where the industry is headed with respect to a wide range of media," said Karl Paulsen, chief technology officer for Azcar. "We just need the doors to be open 24 hours a day for two weeks to get through it all!"
For WBNX-TV, in Cleveland/ Akron, Azcar provided consultation, design, and integration of an all-file-based multistream technical operations center using Omneon Spectrum servers with multiseat Final Cut Pro edit in place, Miranda master control, and Sundance automation with nearline cache.
Azcar also provided NFL Network, in Mt. Laurel, N.J. with the design, upgrade, and expansion of its facilities in Culver City, Calif. Other clients include WABC-TV in New York, Cox Television Stations; WNYO/WUHF-TV in Buffalo, N.Y., as well as Fox Network Center in Houston.
Paulsen said that one of the biggest challenges systems integrators face today is, "harmonizing the options available with the new technologies in order to provide a solid, functional solution that meets clients' needs, expectations, and budget."
TRACKING TRENDS
Tampa, Fla.-based Professional Communications Systems will host a hospitality suite for meetings with their clients and manufacturing partners. PCS anticipates sending 13 people to the show, including R.A. "Tony" Stephens, president; Bill Blush, vice president of sales; and Larry Stephen, broadcast systems account manager.
Stephen says they will be looking for trends and technologies in automated newsroom production systems; news acquisition and production equipment; IT-related infrastructure, asset management, and alternative distribution technologies.
"All of these technologies are designed to reduce costs and/or improve productivity in order to increase profitability," Stephens said. "It's also important to understand the bridge between IT and traditional broadcast systems, and to help stations determine what they need to stay competitive and up-to-date."
PCS completed the installation of a new digital broadcasting facility for WMFE, the leading PBS television station in Orlando, Fla. As a result, the Orlando area station can now broadcast one HD and two SD channels at night, and six SD channels during the day, by employing cost-effective automation solutions designed and integrated by PCS. PCS also helped WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Fla., with extensive building and operations expansion. Despite the construction, and the many hurricanes that hit the area, the station remained on the air without interruption.
HD ENDGAME
Venue Services Group, Inc. in East Rutherford, N.J., will send eight people to NAB, including Dave Shaw, president; Craig Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing; and Bob Mohan, chief engineer.
"Systems integrators need to connect with the latest technology, work with customers and manufacturers alike, and develop improved engineered systems for clients," Shaw said.
Recent VSG projects included building out mobile truck provider NMT's HD12 and HD6 HDTV mobile units; as well as NMT's HD11 (debuted at NAB2006), a three-truck mega HD mobile system for CBS Sports. VSG also worked on master control and radio simulcast facilities for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
For the last three years, VSG has been developing Value System, a pre-engineered nonlinear editing solution with Apple Final Cut Pro as its core, and will be promoting this new product at the show. It also includes all of the latest broadcast software from Apple, an interface to an Omneon broadcast server, and it's fully maintained by VSG.
Shaw says a key trend at NAB will be getting HD to the masses with a lot less cost.
"HD has penetrated all markets, and providing this high-quality signal with reasonable pricing has been the end-game we have been striving to achieve for years."
