BURLINGTON, MA (April 30, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, which celebrates the world’s best mountain and adventure themed films and books, has standardized on Signiant’s Media Shuttle file sharing solution for digital film submission and distribution at its annual festival and world tour. Requiring fast, reliable delivery of massive HD files with security, acceleration and tracking, the Festival selected Media Shuttle to easily upload, download and transfer large files from a shared file system, providing significant time and cost savings for festival organizers and contributors.

A flagship program of The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is a nine-day event that continues throughout the year as an international film tour featuring about 740 film screenings across every continent, including Antarctica. Banff will rely on Media Shuttle to receive more than 300 film entries from filmmakers worldwide, as well as promotional content from partners to be used throughout the Festival program.

Media Shuttle defines a new class of file sharing solutions tuned for the movement of large files – high-value digital assets that are tens or hundreds of gigabytes in size – and provides simple interfaces delivered from the cloud, enterprise-class security, acceleration and storage control.  Media Shuttle portals can be quickly configured in one of three modes – Send, Share or Submit – to flexibly support the needs of any project, team or media enterprise in a single, multi-purpose solution. By combining the best attributes of online file sharing and accelerated file transfer software, Media Shuttle offers a viable, next-generation alternative to FTP servers.

“We have filmmakers in far-flung locales around the world submitting content on-the-fly, and we need to make the submission process as easy as possible for them. Past delivery solutions could not support the file size and transfer speeds required to deliver films of this complexity and quality,” said Woody MacPhail, Producer of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and World Tour at The Banff Centre. “With Media Shuttle, we’re able to transfer large files quickly in any form, access them anywhere and not limit the type of content received.  We want our filmmakers focused on creating their content, and not file delivery. Media Shuttle lets them really embrace the lifestyle they are filming – last-minute deadlines, living in the instant, capturing the moment.”

Following the Festival, Media Shuttle will be used to distribute files to broadcast partners such as National Geographic, and to support the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, which screens films in approximately 40 countries around the world.  Many locations receive unique master file uploads – typically a terabyte of HD film – often with regional dialect.

“The host organization in each tour location chooses a program that reflects the interests of their local audiences and exchanging digital assets of this size, frequency and specification can be complex,” added MacPhail. “We needed a delivery solution that is reliable and effortless for our host organizations. Media Shuttle gives us the flexibility to work with a wide range of global partners regardless of those elements.”

The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival will be held October 26 to November 3, 2013.  It is accepting film submissions from May 7 through August 6, 2013.

About Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival

The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is jam-packed with stories of groundbreaking expeditions, passionate adventurers, remote cultures – and the world’s best mountain films and books. Each fall in Banff, adventurers, explorers, filmmakers, authors and outdoor enthusiasts come together to celebrate the spirit of adventure in one of the world’s great mountain towns. For more information, visit www.banffmountainfestival.ca.

BURLINGTON, MA (April 17, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that leading broadcast media services company Arqiva has established an innovative content ingest and delivery system based on Signiant’s software that ushers in an elegantly simple and highly efficient approach to file-based workflow automation. Already in use by BlackBelt TV in the U.S. and others, the new automated playout system gives Arqiva a competitive edge in serving its customers – providing speedy remote content ingest, automated workflows and complete visibility into content delivery.  In turn, Arqiva’s customers get the assurance that their content reaches Arqiva swiftly in the proper format with the highest quality and efficiency.

More broadcasters rely on media service providers to create and deliver content in the multiplicity of today’s required transmission formats and languages – a process that necessitates manual intervention to assure that assets arrive intact and ready for use. Signiant’s accelerated file movement solutions automate and manage the file-based delivery process enabling Arqiva to streamline its operations, moving content quickly 24/7 from anywhere in the world over existing networks, and reducing the steps needed to send or obtain content for greater efficiency and scale.

“With Signiant, we’re enhancing delivery-to-air with exceptional time-savings and control,” said Gregory Burns, Workflow Specialist at Arqiva.  “The software, not our operators, now moves content to and between the customer’s location and our Media Centre. As we develop new services the platform will also be used to automate the movement of content and metadata between our Media Centre and other platforms such as VOD or IPTV. We are saving time that we can now be applied toward other, more important business-enhancing activities.”

“We relied on Signiant software and Arqiva to meet tight deadlines for Blackbelt TV’s Africa launch by accelerating the movement hundreds of hours of programming from LA to London,” said Adrian Schmotolocha, COO at Blackbelt TV. “Using Arqiva’s intelligent hub as a single playout source lets us reach a range of different markets fast.  Signiant’s software helped average out our throughput rates to get much faster transmission speeds – and reduce errors, enabling us to confidently meet our compressed operational timeframes.”

“For broadcasters, Signiant clears a wide-open traffic lane on a crowded freeway.   You look out on the traffic jam and think you could never get to where you need to go on time, and then, with Signiant, suddenly you can.”

Signiant’s system-to-system file movement solutions remove human intervention from many steps in the playout workflow.  A private cloud solution for sharing media assets across the broader partner ecosystem, Signiant’s Managers+Agents™ software features a workflow engine that interrogates Arqiva’s automated database and queries whether or not ingested content is known to the system. If it is known, the workflow engine delivers it appropriately – either into online storage or various transcoding applications as required. If content is not known, the system will store it offline, or use customer-provided metadata to publish records into the automation system – instead of requiring operators to check the system for content, note anything that’s missing, or see if content and metadata have arrived.  Software agents installed on the sending and receiving ends manage and track content movement to certify delivery.

“Broadcast service providers don’t have time, staffing level or budget to keep working in the same old way,” said David Nortier, General Manager, Signiant EMEA.  “To stay competitive, they must find new ways to automate traditionally manual processes while ensuring the highest quality.  Signiant is delighted to help organizations such as Arqiva and others to enhance efficiency to their operations and to that of their customers.”

 About Arqiva

Arqiva, the communications infrastructure and media services company, operates at the heart of the broadcast, satellite and mobile communications markets.  The company is at the forefront of network solutions and services in the digital world. Arqiva provides much of the infrastructure behind television, radio, satellite and wireless communications in the UK and has a significant presence in Ireland, mainland Europe and the United States. Customers include major broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV, BSkyB and independent radio groups, major telco providers including the UK’s four mobile network operators, and the emergency services. For more information visit www.arqiva.com.

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 8, 2013) NAB Booth #SL8511 – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement for media and entertainment, today announced that the Eurovision News Exchange operated by EBU has selected its acclaimed Managers+Agents™ software and Workflow Automation Engine to power an automated file-based delivery workflow system. This will facilitate faster news sharing among the network of up to 200 sites of the News Exchange’s 72 active participants. EUROVISION’s innovative File Exchange Platform (FEP) will use Signiant components as the primary management system to control, optimize, accelerate, secure, prioritize and automate the movement of digital content.

At a time when speed, security and peak efficiency are paramount, Signiant’s software will enable EUROVISION and its Members to transform their operations, and facilitate the transition from linear satellite feeds to file-based operations. The rollout of the FEP to EBU Members, which began earlier this year, will enable the unlimited exchange of non-linear content.

The EBU is the largest association of national broadcasters in the world. For more than 50 years it has delivered forward-thinking content distribution services to its Members. The FEP continues this tradition by using Signiant’s software to enable a trusted connection across two active data centers running Signiant Manager software integrated with existing news scheduling servers. This will both push and pull news content to and from EBU Members and subscriber endpoints running Signiant Agents.

Because Signiant’s software is built to centrally manage geographically dispersed workflows, it includes sophisticated features that can support large-scale deployments like FEP, while removing the need for human intervention from many steps in the news workflow.

“The system allows News Exchange members to exchange more content, more quickly, without the limitations imposed by linear transmission,” said Jeff Dubin, Head of News and Events for EUROVISION. “With Signiant’s innovative file workflow management and acceleration technology integrated into the new Eurovision News Exchange platform, EBU Members have increased security, speed and control when sharing their editorial content.”

A private cloud solution for sharing media assets with a broader content delivery ecosystem, Signiant’s Managers+Agents software is optimized for automated file transfers and workflow integration. This allows administrators to prioritize the delivery of assets between sites and control bandwidth usage to specific locations or servers based on content delivery windows to ensure that systems or networks are not overloaded. Critical content gets through when needed without network congestion or incurring the extra cost of adding more bandwidth.

“Broadcasters know it’s time to build file-based news delivery systems that can carry them toward their operational objectives,” said Joachim Bause, Managing Director of Signiant’s Central European Operations. “We’re proud that Europe’s major broadcasters are choosing Signiant as their go-to file movement solution for sharing content, and we look forward to helping the EBU Members to optimize their operations.”

About EUROVISION

EUROVISION, operated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is the industry’s premier distributor and producer of top quality live sport and news, as well as entertainment, culture and music content. The EUROVISION satellite and fibre network is the largest and most reliable in the world, directly plugged in to public service media everywhere. EUROVISION’s staff of experienced media professionals acquire and manage media rights on behalf of EBU Members, and provide network, transmission and events services to the broadcasting industry.  For more information, visit www.eurovision.com, or follow them on Twitter: @EBU_Eurovision  #eurovision  #ebu

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 8, 2013) NAB Booth #SL8511 – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that Hearst Television has selected its Managers+Agents™ technology platform as the file transfer backbone for a new, ultra-efficient TV advertising spot delivery system.  Already deployed at three of Hearst’s 29 U.S. stations for testing, the innovative solution paves the way for same-day ad delivery by centralizing, automating and accelerating the digital ingest, processing, management and distribution of local and national TV spots –demonstrating the promise of software-oriented architectures for streamlined ad delivery and faster time to revenue.

Hearst has long been recognized as a leader in national advertising spot management and distribution across its station group, yet the multiplicity of local TV ad spot sources has dictated widely varied local station workflows for receiving ads, verifying their broadcast quality, transcoding, developing metadata, storing and archiving them.  The level of human oversight frequently required to handle the different delivery methods and file formats of local spots can also force ad closing deadlines that limit revenue potential.

Hearst’s new system is a Signiant-based private cloud solution that creates a centralized ingest, processing and distribution hub for all of its stations – saving local station resources, tape and shipping costs, and offering a new way to enable more late selling of commercial time.  Using the system, local commercials to be aired on a particular station are delivered directly to the central hub, instead of the local station. Once received, the spots are routed via Signiant to Hearst’s Telestream transcoding platform, which is tightly integrated with their traffic system.  During this process, metadata for each ad is generated, logged and stored. Spots are then electronically delivered via Signiant to the appropriate local station for playout.

“For years broadcasters have focused on accelerated file-based content delivery primarily for programming, but local TV spot workflows are ripe for file-based efficiency,” said Joe Addalia, Director of Technology Projects at Hearst Television. “In today’s 24×7 broadcast environment, we can gain a tremendous advantage by allowing advertisers to get their TV commercials on air anywhere in the Hearst network faster than ever.  With the new system we created with the help of Signiant, we’re putting technology to work so the entire process for our advertisers and internal staff can move more smoothly.”

Unlike custom-scripted FTP jobs that cannot easily scale, Signiant Managers+Agents provides a powerful solution for broadcast engineering, IT and media infrastructure professionals seeking more sophisticated automation, security and centralized control of their media delivery processes. The software features advanced resource management tools that allow administrators to prioritize the delivery of assets between sites, and control bandwidth usage to specific locations or servers based on content delivery windows to ensure that systems or IT networks are not overloaded.  Use of Signiant’s Automation Engine facilitates the automated processing of content. Templates can be as simple as moving a file from one location to another, or as sophisticated as directing a package for transcoding and watermarking before publishing.

About Hearst Television
Hearst Television, a national multimedia company, owns and operates 29 local television stations and two local radio stations, serving 30 U.S. cities and reaching approximately 18% of U.S. television households. The TV stations broadcast 60 video channels, featuring local and national news, weather, information, sports and entertainment programming, and local community service-oriented programs. The stations also host and operate digital on-line and mobile platforms that extend the company’s brands and content to local, national and international audiences. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry’s premier companies, and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation.

BURLINGTON MA (April 1, 2013) – With the media industry’s Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS) initiative taking the spotlight in the NAB Lab Futures Park, Signiant’s pioneering role in the FIMS initiative is helping to speed adoption of standards-based interactions amongst products from multiple vendors.  At NABShow 2013 in Las Vegas next week, the market leader in software for intelligent file movement will demonstrate its FIMS implementation in action, and discuss the company’s technical leadership in the development of the FIMS test harness and RESTful interfaces for FIMS.

FIMS helps media companies realize the efficiencies of file-based media workflows by enabling seamless interaction among products from different vendors. A joint project of the AMWA and the EBU, FIMS standardizes service interface definitions for implementing media-related operations in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).  Signiant’s leadership behind the industry’s adoption of FIMS will be highlighted at NAB:

• Industry leader Harris Broadcast will demonstrate their use of Signiant’s FIMS API in booth #N2503, and Signiant will demonstrate its FIMS implementation including new interfaces and workflow components for Managers+Agents™ software in booth #SL8511. Integral to planned FIMS implementations at some of the world’s largest global broadcast organizations, Signiant’s FIMS API allows Harris Broadcast and others to call out to Signiant to initiate workflow processes through a standards-based interface – a tremendous step forward in device interoperability. “The FIMS initiative gives broadcasters a substantial opportunity to relegate a sea of proprietary interfaces and challenging cross-platform integrations to the past,” said Cynthia Parrish, Product Line Manager, Harris Broadcast.  “Harris Broadcast will leverage FIMS in various ways now and moving forward to help our customers simplify workflows and launch new services.  This includes implementation of Signiant’s FIMS API within our Invenio® Motion media asset management solution.”

• Signiant’s contributions will be included in the “FIMS, A Framework for Interoperable Services in Media Production: What the Market Wants” session on Tuesday, April 9 at 2:00 pm PT in #S227.  A paper by FIMS members including Signiant will explain why FIMS has gained widespread acceptance by providing improved efficiency, agility, facilitating code reuse and avoiding single vendor lock-in. Led by representatives of AMWA and EBU, the session details the paper’s report on lessons learned in an early implementation by Bloomberg, and offers additional insight from other broadcasters such as Turner/CNN and CBC in Canada.

• Signiant is a sponsor of the FIMS booth # N1434, where FIMS members will spotlight the new extensions to the specification which have been requested by users, such as SOA interfaces for repositories and quality assurance to be exposed as services.

“Broadcasters are working with Signiant’s FIMS implementation because they clearly see its potential for delivering the agile workflows of the future,” said Ian Hamilton, CTO of Signiant, and a member of the FIMS technical board.  “At NAB this year, we’re proud to showcase the work these leading organizations are doing along with our own continued innovations.”

Signiant will discuss its FIMS initiatives in booth #SL8511 at NAB Show, April 8-11, 2013.

BURLINGTON, MA (March 27, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced the addition of file sharing capabilities to its award-winning Media Shuttle file transfer solution, allowing multiple users to easily upload and download content from a shared file system.  With super-simple interfaces delivered from the cloud, enterprise-class security, storage control and acceleration, Media Shuttle defines a new class of file sharing solution tuned for extreme files – high-value digital assets that may be tens or hundreds of gigabytes in size.

The winner of the 2012 “Best of IBC” Award, Signiant’s Media Shuttle software is already in use by large broadcasters, Hollywood production companies, media service providers and post-production facilities in every major market.  With the addition of these new file sharing capabilities, Media Shuttle portals can now be quickly configured in one of three modes – Send, Share or Submit – to flexibly support the accelerated file movement needs of any project, team or media enterprise in a single, multi-purpose solution. By combining the best attributes of online file sharing and enterprise-class accelerated file transfer software, Media Shuttle now offers a viable next-generation alternative to FTP servers.

“At a time when files keep getting bigger and timelines shorter, Media Shuttle lightens the workload of users and IT administrators alike,” said Rick Clarkson, Signiant’s Vice President of Product Management.  “It provides a secure, easy-to-use alternative to consumer-grade file sharing options from a company that has made its name addressing the complex file movement challenges of some of the most demanding media environments. Every day now we’re receiving more accolades from media organizations everywhere on the enormous time and cost savings of this approach.”

With powerfully simple branded interfaces delivered from the cloud, Media Shuttle’s three modes puts the power in the hands of users to send/receive, browse, upload, download or onramp to workflow any size file with minimal technical support.  Any Media Shuttle portal can be quickly configured to:

• Send – Fast Transfer Portal enables accelerated person-to-person file transfers.
• Share – File Sharing Portal allows users to quickly browse, upload and download any size file to any accessible file system directory for instant access to media.
• Submit – Send-to-Folder Portal lets administrators configure their branded file transfer portals to deliver content directly to a network folder, providing an instant on-ramp to automated file-based workflow operations, such as virus checking or transcoding.

By maintaining the file cache within the secure control of the user’s network, Media Shuttle’s patent-pending cloud architecture ensures the security of high-value digital assets, and gives IT the power to determine where content is stored and how network resources should be allocated for maximum efficiency. On-premises, private cloud and public cloud storage are all fully supported. Unlike first-generation transfer software and rogue file sharing services, Media Shuttle provides comprehensive content tracking for IT visibility, compliance, management controls, delegated administration and customizable profiles for user access.

“Whether managers like it or not, file sharing is going on in all kinds of unauthorized ways across the corporate world and cobbled together solutions that can all-too-easily compromise security abound. Our research shows this is a large and growing problem for companies of all sizes,” said Terri McClure, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Media Shuttle promises to aid corporate IT departments in bringing employee sharing under one umbrella via a solution that includes all the security and reliability of an on-premises offering while appearing to the user in an easy to use cloudlike interface.”

The extreme file sharing capabilities of Signiant Media Shuttle will be demonstrated in booth #SL8511 at NABShow, April 8-11, 2013.

Try Media Shuttle Now

To send a large file anywhere with Media Shuttle now, or to sign up for a free 14-day trial subscription, visit www.mediashuttle.com or call +1 781-397-6465.

BURLINGTON, MA (March 27, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced the availability of CloudSpeX, a patent-pending software application that helps broadcasters and production professionals save significant time and resources by easily validating media file delivery formats prior to transfer.  CloudSpeX matches file types and metadata against a cloud-based directory of published specifications to ensure that assets comply with customer-defined delivery format requirements.  In moving validation out of the client and into the cloud, CloudSpeX provides a uniform mechanism for automatically checking files against a chosen specification across the entire content ecosystem.

Available for use with Signiant’s Media Shuttle™ or Signiant Managers + Agents™, the CloudSpeX application dramatically lowers rejection rates associated with the receipt of improperly formatted files, and helps to manage the volume and complexity of multiplatform delivery specifications. By registering their own customized delivery specification or referencing an industry standard, such as DPP or AMWA, media enterprises can use the cloud to greatly decrease errors that can impede time to air and drive up resource costs.

In a recent survey conducted by Signiant, a majority of respondents reported file format rejection rates approaching 25% in many broadcast workflows, and that the process of identifying files that do not comply, providing feedback to the sender, and tracking a new delivery can frequently consume up to a half day of staff time per file. They also cited the challenge of pushing files past late delivery thresholds, further increasing the manual processing time required to speed the corrected file straight to playout.

CloudSpeX works by allowing Signiant administrators to associate a delivery specification template with a file transfer portal or automated process. When processing a delivery, the system creates a “metadata fingerprint” of the file and sends it to the cloud for validation against the delivery specification prior to moving the entire file. Both file type (e.g. .mov, .avi, .mxf etc.) and file metadata (e.g. aspect ratio, video coding scheme) can be checked with CloudSpeX.

“Improperly formatted files can take a toll on productivity and expenses, particularly as file-based workflows take hold and drive an almost maddening variety of sources, formats and distribution platforms into the workflow,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management, Signiant. “CloudSpeX helps our users ensure the delivery of properly formatted media in a more efficient and automated way.”

Available immediately, Signiant CloudSpeX will be demonstrated in Signiant booth #SL8511 at NABShow, April 8-11, 2013.

DUBAI, UAE and BURLINGTON, MA (March 11, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media, today announced that Qvest Media, the Dubai-based distribution and system integration company, has been appointed to represent Signiant products in the Middle East.  In a region where bandwidth can be extremely costly, Signiant’s accelerated solutions can help organizations move large files securely and without the need to increase bandwidth, a critical factor in improving workflow efficiency.

Qvest Media focuses on the distribution of high-end broadcasting and media solutions of renowned international and German manufacturers and specializes in on-site systems integration. As one of the leading systems integrators, they are also able provide their customers with the most sophisticated solutions for workflow automation.  The company was named as “System Integrator of the Year 2012″ by a top-class jury at CABSAT 2012. Qvest Media’s customers in the region include leading broadcast, media and telco organizations, such as Al Jazeera, Dubai Media Incorporated, Al Rayan TV, Etisalat, twofour54 and Eqtisadia TV.

“The Middle East is a burgeoning market for content creation, so there is strong demand for solutions such as those from Signiant,” said Thomas Müeller, General Manager at Qvest Media. “We are committed to providing our customers with the industry’s top solutions, and then going beyond that task by helping them to implement file-based workflows that expand their business opportunities. Signiant’s solutions complement our world-class product offerings, and we are pleased to have secured the company as a partner.”

Qvest Media will offer the full line of Signiant’s media file transfer solutions, including the new Media Shuttle™ file transfer solution that provides an effective alternative to FTP or consumer-oriented file sharing  approaches – without the administrative burden, file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture lets users access fast file transfer capabilities through a simple interface delivered from the cloud, while maintaining the file cache within the secure control of their own network. A flexible subscription-based pricing model makes Media Shuttle the ideal solution for project-based initiatives or enterprises looking to scale on demand.

Qvest will also offer Managers+Agents™, Signiant’s powerful workflow automation solution, and Media Exchange™, a private cloud solution optimized for moving file-based media between internal and external users and systems.

“We could not feel more privileged to enter into this partnership with Qvest Media,” said Joachim Bause, Signiant’s Managing Director of Central Europe and the Middle East. “Award winning and known for offering the world’s best IT and AV solutions for media applications and system integration, Qvest Media is a trusted reseller that will be instrumental in expanding Signiant’s presence in this key market.”

Signiant’s solutions will be showcased in the Qvest Media booth E8-10 in hall 8 at CABSAT, March 12-14, 2013.

About Qvest Media FZ LLC

Dubai-located Qvest Media FZ LLC is focused on the distribution of high-end broadcasting and media solutions in the entire Middle East Region. The company distributes professional broadcasting products of renowned international and German manufacturers e.g. Annova Systems, arvato Systems S4M, Code One, DEV Systemtechnik, Draka, Juenger Audio, LSB, LYNX, MediaGeniX, Riedel, RTW, Signiant and Teracue. Moreover, Qvest Media is one of the most powerful system integrators on-site. The planning and realization of projects according to high German quality standards can be achieved in co-operation with Qvest Media’s German partner company Wellen+Nöthen. Concerning the implementation of SD and HD technology, ingest, editing and playout solutions, studio installation, outside broadcasting and mobile production solutions, customers benefit from excellent engineering know-how. For more information, visit www.qvestmedia.ae

By David Austerberry
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NRK, the state broadcaster in Norway, has a long history of technical innovation. With modest budgets compared to heavyweights like NBC or BBC, they make use of technology to support more efficient operations. They long ago moved to file-based playout supported with an Omnibus MAM (now Miranda, a Belden brand).

They are extending file-based operations using workflow automation to manage content ingest from regional centers and their content partners. The traffic department has traditionally handled content movement for broadcasters, but the migration from linear videotape operations to file transfer has not removed the need to manage content transfer. The traffic department still needs to control what is coming in and when to ensure that high priority content like news clips has precedence.

NRK has content incoming from many sources. The broadcaster has 12 regional offices around Norway, and has just started a platform called TIPS, that allows the public to submit user-generated content (UGC).

NRK also belongs to the Nordvision partnership, which also includes: Denmark’s DR, Finland’s YLE, Iceland’s RÚV, Sweden’s SVT, and Finland’s YLE. NRK also exchanges content over the EBU network and with major broadcaster around the world.

Signiant is to be the common platform for all input and output from NRK, whether production houses, other broadcasters, or the EBU. NRK is using Signiant for workflow management rather than just a transfer agent. The software platform allows them to manage content transfers in real time from the headquarters in Oslo.

The system is called Digital Spedisjon, a word that stems from the Italian word spedire meaning to send, but ‘spedisjon’ used in Norway in the wider context of freight forwarding and logistics. In the world of file forwarding and logistics this includes: scanning for viruses, registration with production databases, possible rewrapping and/or transcoding, and finally forwarding to the DAM for archiving.

With TIPS, a producer or journalist can define how, where and when user-generated news content best fits into their operations – and with a press of a button, use Signiant’s accelerated file transfer software to move content through a process where it is metatagged and sent to downstream destinations including the archive. For example, a 20-second video clip of a fire might be routed to breaking TV news, a package news feature for later airing, and the Web. All content is documented and tracked, making it easier for journalists to annotate story packages and find user content for other stories.

TIPS uses Telestream Vantage for transcoding and rewrapping and also to automate workflows around the transform processes. The Signiant engine is used more as an IT process automation solution. It manages processes like mitigating and registration of new content with databases, and acts more like a business process management system. It communicates with other applications via APIs and watch folders.

“Signiant helped us to create one of the most advanced automated news workflows in the world, where we avoid time-consuming repetitive tasks, expedite content movement and give our staff the tools to use the wealth of user- sourced content to create engaging news packages across all our media properties,” said Rune Hagberg, Solutions Architect at NRK. “During the Olympics, Signiant’s solution proved its power for greatly accelerating content delivery, and now that we are integrating it with a host of mission-critical broadcast systems, it has become a vital part of our operations infrastructure.”

Signiant’s accelerated Managers+Agents, Media Exchange and Media Shuttle software form the heart of TIPS. Managers+Agents handles the workflow from the data center, Media Exchange is used by staff to submit content, and Media Shuttle used for basic access, typically from the public where they can login via an iPad application. Agents installed on the sending and receiving ends manage and track content movement centrally to certify delivery.

NRK have expressed an interest to adopt the AMWA/EBU FIMS specifications in the future to interconnect services like transform with workflow orchestration and business process management. They will also adopt the EBU Core metadata set.

NRK did not need a full-scale ESB for the TIPS project, which is a development of the system set up originally for the 2012 Olympics coverage. That innovative broadcast automation platform, built for NRK by local integrator Mediateket, enabled remote coverage of the Games for the broadcaster.

BURLINGTON, MA (February 26, 2013) – At the BVE Conference in London today, Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media, announced that A+E Networks™ UK, a joint venture between A+E Networks™ and BSkyB, is using its Media Shuttle™ hybrid SaaS file transfer solution for easy, high-speed file transfers of massive content files to its broadcast partners across the globe. Combining the simplicity of a consumer-style file transfer tool with the control that IT needs, Media Shuttle allows A+E Networks UK’s end users to move massive files easily and securely – while assets remain secure, tracked and under the IT department’s control.

A+E Networks UK, whose portfolio of channel brands include HISTORY™, MILITARY HISTORY®, BIO™ and  Crime & Investigation Network®, centers its business around fast, efficient delivery of content to playout centers for rebroadcast. By late 2012, the company wished to move away from consumer-grade file transfer approaches that were unreliable or limited file sizes. In a pilot program using Media Shuttle, A+ E Networks UK achieved such startling performance – 300 Mbps delivery speeds direct to the desktop while serving large groups of simultaneous users – that it quickly finalized the decision to deploy Media Shuttle.

A+E Networks UK now maintains several Media Shuttle Workgroup portals allowing its entire product line of content to be transferred from A+E in New York to London quickly – for instance, transferring 70GB files between partners in just over an hour – from a branded, easy-to-use Web portal. Meanwhile IT retains the power to determine where content is stored – on private networks or in the cloud – and how network resources should be allocated for maximum enterprise-wide efficiency.

“As a long time user of Signiant solutions, we know their depth of expertise in network optimization and file acceleration, which is clearly demonstrated in Media Shuttle,” said Tony Gill, Director of Operations, A+E Networks UK. “Media Shuttle was easy to set up without IT intervention, even easier to use, and lets us leverage both the public and private cloud. With Media Shuttle we have gained a highly scalable system that’s reliable and effortless both internally and for our partners.”

A+E Networks UK joins a fast growing number of organizations worldwide that are adopting Media Shuttle to fill the gaps of online file sharing and FTP solutions. Media Shuttle, the newest addition to Signiant’s portfolio of accelerated file transfer solutions, provides an effective alternative to these technologies –without associated file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture lets users access fast file transfer capabilities through a simple interface delivered from the cloud, while maintaining the file cache within the secure control of their own network. A flexible subscription-based pricing model makes Media Shuttle the ideal solution for project-based initiatives or enterprises looking to scale on demand.

“A+E Networks UK’s experience with Media Shuttle shows that it’s indeed possible for end users and IT to achieve harmony even with demanding applications like extreme file transfer,” said Dave Nortier, Managing Director, Signiant EMEA. “In fact that’s our goal.”

Signiant is showcasing Media Shuttle at BVE 2013 in London this week along with its UK-based resellers, Altered Images, stand #C22, and Boxer Systems, stand #B32.

About A+E Networks™ UK

A+E Networks™ UK, a joint venture between A+E Networks™ and BSkyB, is a leading broadcaster representing a portfolio of high-quality, ground-breaking factual channels including HISTORY™, HISTORY™ HD, Crime & Investigation Network® and Crime & Investigation Network® HD, BIO™ and MILITARY HISTORY®. A+E Networks UK launched in November 1995, and operates channels in 77 countries across the UK, Scandinavia, the Benelux, Central & Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and is available in more than 67 million homes and in 15 languages.

The rapid pace of change in the media industry demands that leading media organizations implement efficient and agile digital media processing capabilities to control costs and capitalize quickly on new business opportunities. However, achieving the full promise of file-based media workflows and the efficiencies they bring requires seamless interaction among products from different vendors. Therein lies the challenge: Getting disparate products to interoperate is like getting a group of individuals each speaking a different language to understand each other. The effort requires standards for more than just the words or the dialogue — i.e. the file formats. Seamless interaction also requires standardizing the way the dialogues are handled — i.e. the approaches to coordinating and connecting the components of media processing systems.

Most modern businesses today leverage service-oriented architectures (SOAs) to assemble agile business systems. Indeed, SOAs offer tremendous advantages to processing media for playout and distribution. A key element of SOA involves exposing system components as shared network-based services. Connections with services can then be created and reconfigured quickly to respond to changing requirements and demand.

The Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS) was initiated as a joint project between the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to create a common framework for applying SOA principles to processing media. FIMS standardizes service interface definitions for implementing media-related operations in a SOA. As one example of how it can be used, a system that ingests and prepares content for playout and nonlinear delivery can leverage FIMS to interact flexibly with media capture, transfer and transform products from multiple vendors. Using FIMS, system components can easily be added, updated and removed in response to changing business requirements and demand.

The problem

Although workflows are commonplace for moving, processing and storing media using software-centric systems deployed on commodity IT infrastructure, many software-based media processing systems suffer from problems endemic to older hardware and physical media-centric film and video processing systems. Whenever unique media processing requirements must be addressed — and let’s face it, what broadcaster does not have a unique requirement of some sort — there’s an expensive custom software integration project needed to delivered bespoke hardwired media processing silos.

Worse yet, many software-based systems use watch folders to hand off media between components of the system. While watch systems can allow multivendor interoperability and loose coupling, they create a whole new set of quality, reliability and management problems.

The approach

FIMS focuses on the abstract service layer that connects applications and orchestration systems with services that perform operations on media like capture, transform and transfer. (See Figure 1.) FIMS addresses media specific requirements associated with the resource-intensive nature of processing and storing media.

For example, FIMS accommodates long-running processes by incorporating an asynchronous calling pattern and resource prioritization through queuing. The FIMS 1.0 specification defines services interfaces for capturing, transforming and transferring media, with ongoing development efforts under way to define additional services. With FIMS, a workflow that receives media, transcodes it into the required formats and then transfers the result for linear playout and nonlinear distribution can easily be automated through standards-based service orchestration.

Figure 1. FIMS Reference Model

To those unfamiliar with SOA and Web services, the breadth of products and technologies marketed by big IT vendors can be intimidating and overshadow the underlying principles. The FIMS 1.0 specification avoids much of this complexity by defining a resource model as a central component of interaction between service providers and consumers. The resource model approach places more emphasis on what is being communicated between the service consumer and provider than on how it is being communicated. This allows a neutral position on Web services technical debates such as those concerning SOAP versus Representation State Transfer (REST).

The main resources in the FIMS 1.0 model are Services, Jobs and Media Objects. Jobs are processed by Services to perform operations on Media Objects. In the context of the resource model, the Media Objects are formally called Business Media Objects. This qualification is made because these objects only contain the metadata relevant to the business operation being performed along with information about how to access actual media content.

FIMS 1.0 also makes a clear distinction between Media Objects on the message bus and the media bus. The term bus is borrowed from computer architecture where a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components of a system. The message bus is used to communicate information about media, including media processing instructions. The media bus is used to store, access and move master, mezzanine and finished media products. This model is analogous to the management of physical products where business systems track raw materials, components and inventory for associated real-world objects that are stored and transported using warehouse, ships, planes and trucks.

FIMS Test Harness Project

A practical approach to standardization requires more than object models and interface definitions to gain serious traction. Consequently, the FIMS Technical Board recognized the need for a tool to help FIMS implementers validate their implementations. Signiant did as well, given the test-driven development methodology we use to develop software. Using such an approach, developers create and code tests to validate an implementation before coding it. This leads to higher quality products that can be evolved quickly.

Signiant initiated the FIMS Test Harness Project within the FIMS Technical Board and helped design and build a test harness for contribution to the FIMS effort. The ultimate goal of the test harness is to remove barriers to FIMS adoption and promote implementation of FIMS-compliant interfaces.

Through discussion among the technical board, it was agreed that the test harness should consist of a set of service consumer and service provider simulators. (See Figure 2.) Doing so facilitates interaction between third-party products, which is a key benefit of FIMS. The simulators allow FIMS implementers to independently test their service consumer or provider implementation. These independent tests give vendors confidence that their products will interact properly in real-world conditions.

Figure 2. FIMS Test Harness Components

Completely data-driven testing was another goal of the test harness project. As such, test cases and associated service behaviors are specified with test configuration data. Service consumer configurations specify a sequence of commands to invoke against a service provider. Service provider configuration specifies how the service responds to specific commands with mock behavior. This approach helps ensure that no coding is required to use the test harness and create new test scenarios.

In addition, the test harness project sought to leverage an existing Web services test framework. Broad availability of standards-based testing tools is a significant benefit of a standards-based SOA approach. Through a series of proposals and discussions in the technical board, the decision was made to use the soapUI test framework. SoapUI is an open-source Web service testing application for SOAs. The functionality of soapUI covers Web service inspection, invoking, simulation and mocking, functional testing, and compliance testing. As such, the soapUI framework covers most of the service consumer behavior, and new code was only required to implement mock service provider behavior.

Despite its name, the soapUI framework supports both SOAP and RESTful interactions between service providers and consumers. SOAP is a remote procedure call (RPC) standards-based approach to Web services that references a stack of related standards. The REST approach is conceptually simpler than SOAP and uses standard HTTP operations to interact with resources. FIMS 1.0 formally defines SOAP bindings for services and, although the resource-based approach allows for RESTful interactions, work is ongoing in the FIMS Technical Board to further specify a REST interface. The test harness design allows a REST interface to be easily plugged in on top of existing mock service implementations.

A first version of the FIMS test harness has been contributed to the FIMS initiative for free use by the FIMS community. The FIMS test harness is an easy way to gain practical experience with FIMS, including working with FIMS calling patterns and the FIMS resource model. It provides valuable feedback to both vendors implementing FIMS and users wanting to start working with FIMS. The FIMS community is encouraged to utilize and help expand the test harness through the implementation of additional test cases and behaviors.

Toward lower costs, greater agility

The full promise of file based workflows requires seamless interaction amongst products from multiple vendors. FIMS applies SOA principles to media to facilitate an important part of this interaction. The FIMS Test Harness Project provides a practical starting point for working with FIMS. Adoption and implementation of FIMS brings the media industry a big step closer to file-based workflow’s promise of lowering costs and ultimately improving business agility.

Feinzig joins Signiant from Sermo, the largest online physician community in the U.S., where as CFO, he helped scale the digital media company across multiple channels and regions.  Prior to this, Feinzig was vice president of finance at Gomez – an Internet infrastructure company – during the time when the rapidly growing SaaS company was in the SEC filing process to go public and was sold to Compuware in a highly successful transaction.  A CPA by background, Feinzig held various senior leadership positions at Stratus Technologies and Notara earlier in his career, and also worked within PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Technology Industry Group.

Signiant’s software solutions are used by tens of thousands of users within the world’s top media and entertainment companies to deliver professional media and other massive files fast, easily and securely over private networks and the public Internet.  The company’s product suite includes subscription-based Media Shuttle™ file sharing software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, enabling unattended media deliveries to content suppliers via powerfully simple Web, mobile and desktop interfaces; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for accelerated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow automation.

“With his expertise in company growth and evolving business models at venture-backed digital media organizations, Adam’s guidance will be extremely valuable to the company’s future growth plans and direction,” said Margaret Craig, Signiant CEO. “Adam brings an impressive breadth of experience that will have an impact on our operations today and well in the future. We’re thrilled to welcome him to our senior management team.”

BURLINGTON, MA (February 6, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that Venture 3D, a stereoscopic 3D conversion production company based in Los Angeles, is using its Media Shuttle™ hybrid SaaS file transfer solution to facilitate collaboration with partners in Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul and Korea on an upcoming feature film.  Built for workflows that demand fast, reliable delivery of massive files, and IT management features typically associated with more expensive solutions, Media Shuttle is allowing Venture 3D to dramatically broaden its business base in the Asia-Pacific region.

Known for its conversion work on “Titanic 3D” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” Venture 3D is using Media Shuttle to deliver the film “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons” directed by Stephen Chow of “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle” fame. Venture 3D’s business success on the project requires the ability to move massive files – sometimes 200-300 GB in a single transfer ­– to multiple entities across Asia.  As such the company required a solution that would give their global partners access to large files without the administrative constraints of FTP. In addition Venture 3D needed ultimate control over who is accessing clients’ high-value-assets, for how long, and to set limits on their permission to files.

“What we needed was a tall order – the ability to transfer large files quickly, access them anywhere, control and track file access and not be limited by the size of the file or the number of people that could access those files,” said Todd Cogan, SVP, Operations, Venture 3D. “Using Media Shuttle we are able to go outside of our circle of local partners to expand our business in Asia, while making the workflow process extremely easy for our clients. Solutions we have used in the past made content delivery laborious and cost intensive but with Media Shuttle we are able to move content efficiently and affordably.”

Exchanging digital assets of this size and frequency can be complex and Venture 3D needed its delivery solution to be both reliable and effortless for its production partners.  Media Shuttle’s onboard checkpoint restart feature automatically retries or resumes transfers if they are interrupted for any reason, and email notifications alert users when content is delivered.  The system’s graphical dashboard gives Venture 3D complete visibility into all file transfer activity, including average transfer rate, file size and speed.

“The notification feature was a great selling point for us as it takes the onus off the client and makes Venture 3D a desirable collaboration partner,” Cogan continued. “Media Shuttle gives us the freedom to work with partners of our choosing and allows us to work globally regardless of location and file size.  Additionally, we can now work with the multiple offices of our partners in the region – essentially anyone who needs to partner with us – easily without delays or limitations.”

The newest addition to Signiant’s portfolio of accelerated file transfer solutions, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP and public file sharing solutions – without associated file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture lets users access fast file transfer capabilities through a simple interface in the cloud while maintaining the file cache within the secure control of their own network. Unlike other solutions, Media Shuttle gives IT the power to determine where content is stored – on private networks or in the cloud – and how network resources should be allocated for maximum enterprise efficiency. A flexible subscription-based pricing model makes Media Shuttle the ideal solution for project-based initiatives or enterprises looking to scale for demand.

“Venture 3D is leading the fast-growing market of 3D conversion and with Media Shuttle we are able to stay on the cutting-edge by having the most sophisticated solutions available to ourselves and our partners,” said Cogan. “Being able to defy the constraints of file size and distance and instead focus on creative collaboration we are able to perfect our specialty and in turn, advance the industry.”

Known for its conversion work on “Titanic 3D” and “The Chronicle’s of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” Venture 3D is using Media Shuttle to deliver the film “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons” directed by Stephen Chow of “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle” fame. Venture 3D’s business success on the project requires the ability to move massive files – sometimes 200-300 GB in a single transfer ­– to multiple entities across Asia. As such the company required a solution that would give their global partners access to large files without the administrative constraints of FTP. In addition Venture 3D needed ultimate control over who is accessing clients’ high-value-assets, for how long, and to set limits on their permission to files.

“What we needed was a tall order – the ability to transfer large files quickly, access them anywhere, control and track file access and not be limited by the size of the file or the number of people that could access those files,” said Todd Cogan, SVP, Operations, Venture 3D. “Using Media Shuttle we are able to go outside of our circle of local partners to expand our business in Asia, while making the workflow process extremely easy for our clients. Solutions we have used in the past made content delivery laborious and cost intensive but with Media Shuttle we are able to move content efficiently and affordably.”

Exchanging digital assets of this size and frequency can be complex and Venture 3D needed its delivery solution to be both reliable and effortless for its production partners. Media Shuttle’s onboard checkpoint restart feature automatically retries or resumes transfers if they are interrupted for any reason, and email notifications alert users when content is delivered. The system’s graphical dashboard gives Venture 3D complete visibility into all file transfer activity, including average transfer rate, file size and speed.

“The notification feature was a great selling point for us as it takes the onus off the client and makes Venture 3D a desirable collaboration partner,” Cogan continued. “Media Shuttle gives us the freedom to work with partners of our choosing and allows us to work globally regardless of location and file size. Additionally, we can now work with the multiple offices of our partners in the region – essentially anyone who needs to partner with us – easily without delays or limitations.”

The newest addition to Signiant’s portfolio of accelerated file transfer solutions, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP and public file sharing solutions – without associated file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture lets users access fast file transfer capabilities through a simple interface in the cloud while maintaining the file cache within the secure control of their own network. Unlike other solutions, Media Shuttle gives IT the power to determine where content is stored – on private networks or in the cloud – and how network resources should be allocated for maximum enterprise efficiency. A flexible subscription-based pricing model makes Media Shuttle the ideal solution for project-based initiatives or enterprises looking to scale for demand.

“Venture 3D is leading the fast-growing market of 3D conversion and with Media Shuttle we are able to stay on the cutting-edge by having the most sophisticated solutions available to ourselves and our partners,” said Cogan. “Being able to defy the constraints of file size and distance and instead focus on creative collaboration we are able to perfect our specialty and in turn, advance the industry.”

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2012 marks the dawn of a new era for ESPN’s X Games. The action-sports series will double the number of annual events from three to six, beginning with the 17th edition of Winter X Games this week in Aspen, CO. The move is part of a global push by ESPN that will see new X events in Foz du Iguacu, Brazil; Munich; and Barcelona join previously established events in Aspen, Los Angeles, and Tignes, France.

Doubling the number of events has forced ESPN to drastically rethink how it produces and distributes the X Games — both in the U.S. and abroad. In that vein, the ESPN brain trust has developed a cookie-cutter–style production model that will be essentially duplicated at all six X Games this year. The new workflow reduces on-site staff and gear, while using ESPN’s Bristol, CT, broadcast center as a de facto IBC (International Broadcast Center) for graphics insertion, features editing, live-feed integration, global distribution, and more. The revamped production model debuts this week in Aspen.

“The new production model and the global expansion are obviously tied together,” says Chris Calcinari, VP, remote operations, ESPN. “If we want to grow this and make a business for six events a year, we simply have to become more efficient. So we cut about 50 people from [the on-site crew] and put more of the burden on Bristol. That means huge savings and allows us to do more events.”

New X Workflow: Aspen to Bristol and Back

ESPN has moved a large chunk of its previously on-site operation, including almost all features/highlights-editing and graphics-insertion staff and facilities, back to its broadcast center in Bristol. As a result, Aspen and Bristol are intimately connected, exchanging files and live video feeds via a 1-GB fiber path that runs through Denver.

“Bristol is basically our IBC now,” says Senior Operations Manager Severn Sandt. “There has been an amazing amount of collaboration between Bristol and our people to make this work. That includes several key areas, especially transmission, file transfer, and the studio group.”

The on-site team transmits four MPEG-4 live feeds from both Venue A (SlopeStyle and SuperPipe) and Venue B (all other events) back to Bristol: discrete left-eye and right-eye dirty feeds (for the 3D telecast, with the left eye serving the 2D ESPN domestic telecast), a world feed that features only non-sponsored graphics, and a clean feed. In addition to these eight feeds, the Aspen team sends back feeds from two cameras on its X Games studio set (which are cut together in Bristol) and a beauty shot that takes the place of studio and sponsored elements in the world feed.

“We have 17 transmission circuits leaving here and five coming back this year,” says Larry Wilson, operations manager, ESPN. “In the past, we would consolidate everything here and deliver the finished product from Aspen. But now we are giving all those individual feeds back to Bristol and letting them assemble it all there.”

ESPN is utilizing a combination of owned Ericsson encoder/decoders and rented Adtec decoders (for the 3D feeds) to deliver the video back to Bristol.

Once these feeds arrive in Bristol, ESPN performs graphics insertion (only one floating Vizrt graphics machine is running on-site for basic graphics), and then the feeds are used for a variety of linear-telecast feeds around the world. In addition to the domestic ESPN 2D and 3D network feeds, ESPN provides an English world feed, non-English world feed, and non-sponsored world feed, as well as customized feeds for Brazil, Spain, and Germany (not coincidentally, the three new X Games sites) that feature corresponding sponsor elements and graphics. ESPN sees these customized feeds and ability to insert specific sponsor graphics for different countries as prime sponsorship opportunities moving forward.

“I know I’m not the sponsorship guy, but I believe the value proposition we are creating for our partners in Brazil, Spain, and Germany is unprecedented,” says Phil Orlins, senior coordinating producer, X Games. “For us to produce the world feed coverage, push it back to Bristol, and then send it out to countries with unique sponsorship elements or clean of any sponsorship elements if they wish – and without them having to even show up on-site – is pretty impressive. If they want to come on-site and do V-O at home, it’s going to feel like its their own [telecast].”

File-Exchange Galore

ESPN worked closely with EVS and Broadcast Fusion (as well as with Signiant for file-transfer applications) to develop a comprehensive file-based architecture that allows Aspen and Bristol to easily exchange content over the 1-GB fiber path.

This workflow has three tiers. First, all live feeds are ingested at ESPN into Quantel- and Avid-based editing facilities at Bristol and are made available in real time to all users on Bristol’s network. Second, certain special clips (a big trick or crash, for example) are flagged by an operator, who automatically sends it to Bristol by putting a specific character in the clip’s title. Third, Bristol editors can browse all content from Aspen via lo-res H.264 proxies and request that the hi-res file be transferred to Bristol.

The EVS network is comprised of 11 EVS XT2 servers (six for Venue A and five for Venue B) and an EVS SpotBox for both venues. ESPN utilizes a Dulce storage system to house the flagged and unflagged media, as well as the media delivered from GoPro (which is on on-site capturing unique angles of the competition with hundreds of miniature cameras) in Aspen.

“A lot of this has been experimenting with different technologies, finding issues, and saying, so how are we going to figure this out now?” says Steve Raymond, associate director, event operations. “We could test all the technologies individually but really couldn’t see how it all worked together until we all got on-site here.”

Much of the metadata assignment is still performed on-site, but ESPN is working towards moving that to Bristol as well.

Going Global
This phenomenally complex and sophisticated workflow all boils down to one thing:  growing the X Games internationally. By creating a cheaper on-site production model and allowing Bristol to distribute X Games content abroad like never before, ESPN believes it is on the brink of turning the X Games into a truly global brand and live-event series.

Acccording to ESPN, Winter X Games Games will be televised in more than 192 countries and territories to more than 232 million homes. The event will also be simulcast on ESPN’s international broadband platforms in 13 countries. And that is likely only the beginning as ESPN begins it’s international quartet of X Games in Tignes, France on March 20.

“A whole new dimension has opened up for us in serving international-rights holders,” says Sandt. “ESPN International has been around for a while, but there has not been a really strong effort to sell our content to other customers. We’ve never had a world feed until now. But this now opens up those kinds of opportunities.”

While Norway’s NRK, Japan’s NHK, Brazil’s RedeTV, ESPN Argentina, ESPN International, and a handful of others are on hand with commentary positions or standups, most international-rights holders have opted to take the world feed (clean or dirty, depending on the outlet) and apply commentary at home.

“We basically have an IBC in Bristol for international distribution, so we give them the world feed, and they make their show,” says Paul DiPietro, coordinating director, event operations. “However, in the future, our hope is to someday get that line of booths with different announcers from international carriers — very much like an Olympics or World Cup. There is so much potential for growth with [the X Games]; we think it’s just matter of time.”

BURLINGTON, MA (January 22, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that Norway’s national broadcaster NRK has launched an innovative file-based workflow solution for publishing field and user-generated content with superior speed and automation across all of NRK’s broadcast and Web outlets. Combining the strengths of Signiant’s accelerated Managers+Agents™, Media Exchange™ and Media Shuttle™ software, the application known as TIPS leverages an innovative broadcast automation platform built for NRK by local integrator Mediateket to expedite remote coverage of last summer’s London Olympics.

As the broadcast networks continue to seek new, more efficient ways to tackle the massive volumes of valuable content being generated by social sharing and mobile devices, NRK’s advanced broadcast automation platform and TIPS application for handling user-generated video, audio and text demonstrate how Signiant’s software is helping broadcasters and other media service providers to deliver a step-change in process efficiency.

With TIPS a producer or journalist can define how, where and when user-generated news content best fits into their operations – and with a press of a button, use Signiant’s accelerated file transfer software to move content through a process where it is metatagged, transcoded if needed, and sent to downstream destinations, including a Media Asset Management (MAM) system for archiving.  For example, a :20 second video clip of a fire might be routed to breaking TV news, a package news feature for later airing, and the Web. All content is documented and tracked, making it easier for journalists to annotate story packages and find user content for other stories.

“Signiant helped us to create one of the most advanced automated news workflows in the world, where we avoid time-consuming repetitive tasks, expedite content movement and give our staff the tools to use the wealth of user- sourced content to create engaging news packages across all our media properties,” said Rune Hagberg, Solutions Architect at NRK.  “During the Olympics, Signiant’s solution proved its power for greatly accelerating content delivery, and now that we are integrating it with a host of mission-critical broadcast systems, it has become a vital part of our operations infrastructure.”

Signiant’s Managers+Agents software includes powerful file-based workflow modeling and administration features that are designed to orchestrate the time-consuming tasks of preparing material for distribution and playout, including ingest, quality screening, virus scan, update scheduling, transcoding and MAM archiving. Signiant allows media organizations to exchange content and metadata files with other users, systems and applications regardless of geographic location or file size. Agents installed on the sending and receiving ends manage and track content movement centrally to certify delivery.

“File-based workflows present tremendous opportunities for efficiencies, but as we know many gaps remain in the workflow, particularly with user-generated content coming to broadcasters in so many different formats,” said David Nortier, General Manager, Signiant EMEA. “TIPS is only one of many initiatives at NRK where Signiant’s software has made it faster and easier for journalists to upload and assemble stories and reuse content across NRK’s diverse operations. We are delighted to support their vision for the broadcast automation platform of the future, and look forward to helping NRK derive even greater benefit from their investment in our products.”

BURLINGTON, MA (January 16, 2013) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced several enhancements to its award-winning Media Shuttle hybrid SaaS file sharing solution.  The new features further expand its capabilities for media enterprises grappling with the challenge of delivering large videos or other massive files fast, easily and securely over private networks and the public Internet.

Recently deemed a “standout solution among available accelerated file transfer options” and winner of the 2012 “Best of IBC” Award , Signiant’s Media Shuttle has seen broad market adoption as the simplest, most affordable way for media professionals to move large files.  Since the patent-pending software debuted six months ago, Media Shuttle is now used by large broadcasters, Hollywood production companies, media service providers and post-production facilities in every major market.

“With Media Shuttle, we have the ease of use and flexibility of a cloud-based solution, but files arrive directly on a server sitting on our premises, which cuts delivery time in half compared to other products on the market,” said George Rizkallah, founder and CEO of The Product Factory, a Burbank-based creator of animation TV shows.  “As a subscription-based solution, Media Shuttle also lets us avoid sizable capital outlays.  After working for years with customers like Marvel and NFL Films who routinely send us large digital files using Signiant’s solutions, it’s a delight to be able to access all of the key capabilities of Signiant in an affordable, easy to use tool like Media Shuttle.” 

With software deployed in the cloud, Signiant is able to deliver continual enhancements to users without the typical hassles of software upgrades.  Available immediately, the latest enhancements include:

• On-Ramp to Automated Workflows. Media Shuttle administrators can now configure their branded file transfer portals to deliver content directly to a network folder, providing an instant on-ramp to automated file-based workflow operations, such as virus checking or transcoding.  These workflows can be driven by Signiant’s own powerful Managers+Agents™ software for secure, automated system-to-system file movement, or any third-party workflow process.

• Cloud-based APIs.  Media Shuttle cloud APIs enable Signiant customers to gain management intelligence on file transfer processes for business analytics or to drive billing, content tracking, compliance and audit systems. For example, a media company could use the data to develop a report identifying a list of users by department and files transferred for internal chargeback.

The newest addition to Signiant’s portfolio of accelerated file transfer solutions, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP and public file sharing solutions – without associated file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture lets users access fast file transfer capabilities through a simple interface in the cloud while maintaining the file cache within the secure control of their own network. Unlike other solutions, Media Shuttle gives IT the power to determine where content is stored – on private networks or in the cloud – and how network resources should be allocated for maximum enterprise efficiency. A flexible subscription-based pricing model makes Media Shuttle the ideal solution for project-based initiatives or enterprises looking to scale for demand.

Enhancements to Signiant’s Media Shuttle are available immediately in both Media Shuttle versions: Media Shuttle Standard Edition, a downloadable single-portal solution for project teams up to 50; and Media Shuttle Enterprise Edition, a multi-portal solution scalable to thousands of users with features for delegated administration, storage management and server load balancing to ensure optimal performance across multiple file transfer portals.

 Try Media Shuttle now.

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For the past 10 days, the Australian Open in Melbourne has helped tennis fans and others with the winter blues get a taste of summer: the sun always seems to shine on this opening Grand Slam event. And the production teams at ESPN, Tennis Channel, and Channel Seven Australia, and production-services team at Gearhouse Broadcast have been at the center of creating that taste of summer.

“The Australians are passionate for their sports and also reflect a gregariousness and enjoyment that does not have an overly serious mindset,” says Jamie Reynolds, VP, event production, ESPN. “I’m not saying that they do not respect or have reverence for the sport, but it is hard not to be in good spirits and have energy with what this event conveys.”

It’s a busy event, like all Grand Slams, but it’s even more so as the first Grand Slam of the season and the networks try out new technologies and workflows for the upcoming season.

ESPN is on-air 12 hours a day with the year’s first Grand Slam.

“It’s a test drive of sorts that points to what we will do in June,” says Reynolds. “How do we change the workflow and systems so that we are ready when we get to the larger broadcast window of Wimbledon?”

ESPN’s efforts at the Australian Open begin with a solid relationship with Channel Seven, the host broadcaster. Operating out of a production compound completely devoid of production trucks (something unique to the Australian Open) and comprising multilevel cabins, the ESPN team of 85 personnel from the U.S. and another 50 from Down Under makes use of Hitachi cameras, Canon lenses, a variety of EVS replay gear, a Grass Valley Kayenne production switcher, two Lawo MC2 audio desks, two Yamaha audio desks, and Orad and Vizrt graphics gear during on-air windows that begin at 1 p.m. Melbourne time (9 p.m. ET) and conclude nearly 12 hours later.

“We take advantage of the fact that our broadcast window begins in the middle of the night, and we put more priority on the day-session matches,” explains Reynolds. “We may not have the marquee matches, but that is our primetime window.”

From a production standpoint, the workflows are nearly identical to the other Grand Slam events. Helping in that effort is that now, more than ever, it is possible to rent the same production technologies around the globe.

There is, however, one major difference that is immediately discernible to tennis fans who watch all the Grand Slam events: the heavy reliance on the Spidercam system, which is used much more dramatically than on other Grand Slam events. With costs shared by ESPN and Channel Seven, the system is integrated into the world-feed production, giving it the ability to sweep lower and closer to the players than with similar systems in place at the U.S. Open and the French Open.

In addition to Channel Seven productions, ESPN has access to discrete camera feeds and its own camera positions.

“The players are becoming more comfortable with it, and its use has evolved as our relationship with the host broadcaster is becoming stronger,” Reynolds explains. “It’s a long-term investment that was a prototype three years ago and is now part of the world feed. Channel Seven shares our mindset that this system can elevate the stature of the event and the consciousness of the fan.”

Whether the use of Spidercam-like systems at other Grand Slam events will eventually become as compelling as it is at the Australian Open remains to be seen. But one additional area of emphasis for ESPN is improving audio.

“We still believe that the audio of what is coming off the court and the crowd will help define what the sport is about,” adds Reynolds. The challenge, however, is that the audio experience at each Grand Slam event is not consistent in levels, miking techniques, or mixing techniques.

Besides relying on the Channel Seven host productions from the seven TV courts, the ESPN team has access to discrete camera feeds and its own camera positions within Rod Laver Stadium. EVS XT3 servers and 24 IPDirector systems play a key role in giving U.S. viewers the replays they want and a massive Signiant data pipeline between the compound in Melbourne and Bristol, CT, allows content and clips (along with relevant metadata) to be pushed and pulled between the two locations.

With the tournament heading toward its final day and on track for a very exciting final few days, the goal now is to keep the big-time tennis fans tuning in and the casual tennis fan willing to stay up late. Or, as in the case of last year’s historic six-hour men’s final, getting up early to tune in.

“Last year, we had the ardent fan going the distance and the casual fan checking in on Sunday morning,” says Reynolds. “Whether we can capture lighting in a bottle like that again I don’t know, but we will just ride the wave.”

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Video file transfer specialist Signiant has enhanced its Media Shuttle cloud-based file-sharing product for broadcasters, studios and production firms, adding greater workflow automation and management intelligence about large video file transfers between collaborators.

Media Shuttle leverages the cloud to provide browser access anywhere, anytime by anyone who is given permission, addressing the challenge of delivering large videos or other massive files securely over both private networks and the public Internet.

It employs what the company terms a “hybrid SaaS” model. “With Media Shuttle, we have the ease of use and flexibility of a cloud-based solution, but files arrive directly on a server sitting on our premises, which cuts delivery time in half compared to other products on the market,” said George Rizkallah, founder and CEO of The Product Factory, a Burbank-based creator of animation TV shows. “As a subscription-based solution, Media Shuttle also lets us avoid sizable capital outlays. After working for years with customers like Marvel and NFL Films who routinely send us large digital files using Signiant’s solutions, it’s a delight to be able to access all of the key capabilities of Signiant in an affordable, easy-to-use tool like Media Shuttle.”

In terms of the enhancements, Media Shuttle administrators can now configure their branded file transfer portals to deliver content directly to a network folder, providing an instant on-ramp to automated file-based workflow operations, such as virus checking or transcoding. These workflows can be driven by Signiant’s own powerful Managers+Agents software for secure, automated system-to-system file movement, or any third-party workflow process.

Also, Media Shuttle cloud APIs enable Signiant customers to gain management intelligence on file transfer processes for business analytics or to drive billing, content tracking, compliance and audit systems. For example, a media company could use the data to develop a report identifying a list of users by department and files transferred for internal chargeback.

The newest addition to Signiant’s portfolio of accelerated file transfer solutions, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP and public file sharing solutions – without associated file size constraints or security risks. Media Shuttle’s hybrid SaaS architecture gives IT the power to determine where content is stored – on private networks or in the cloud – and how network resources should be allocated for maximum enterprise efficiency.

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With the NHL season shuttered through Jan. 14, video-production teams from across the league have found ways to keep busy during the lockout. Some have even used the work stoppage to their advantage, improving existing video-production workflows in preparation for hockey’s return.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) — which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as the Air Canada Centre, Toronto Raptors (NBA), Toronto FC (MLS), and Toronto Marlies (AHL) — turned to Signiant and Dalet to enhance the video-production workflow across its portfolio.

Using a combination of Signiant’s Media Exchange and Dalet’s Sports Factory platform for media-asset management, MLSE has been delivering behind-the-scenes content to Toronto sports fans and keeping Leafs faithful engaged with the brand.

“We embed producers with each of the teams: they travel on the team plane, they travel on the team bus, and they feed us back stories that we want to get turned around very quickly,” says Ed Holmes, director of engineering, MLSE. “We take the game and create what we call a Game in Six, which is a six-minute highlight package, [and] we integrate that with a lot of the feature things. I mean, we shoot on the bus, we shoot anywhere we can, [and] we try to get it back here to Toronto as quickly as possible.”

Before adopting the Signiant-Dalet workflow, MLSE relied on FTP sites for file transfer. Field producers are skilled at locating WiFi to upload video, turning a coffee shop or hotel lobby into a de facto workstation. The challenge stems from adhering to the team schedule.

“Because they do travel with the teams, they are under very strict timelines,” explains George Kostoulias, broadcast engineer, MLSE. “If their upload doesn’t finish when the bus is leaving, they have to literally cancel the upload and start it again from the airport, whereas, with Signiant, [they have] the opportunity to pause the upload, get on the bus, make it to the airport, and log back in via the airport’s WiFi and continue that upload.”

Signiant’s Media Exchange enables users to move large media assets fast and securely over IP networks without extensive IT support. Once files are sent back to MLSE’s Broadcast Centre in Toronto, Dalet’s Sports Factory centralizes and organizes the content for easier search and distribution. While the system currently serves MLSE’s in-house productions, Holmes and Kostoulias see potential for future expansion.

“The next phase [is] probably feeding our resources here to the other players in Canada, like TSN [and] SportsNet,” says Kostoulias. “What we want to do is start using our resources to give them content, and we see Signiant as perhaps one of the easy gateways from us into them.”

As MLSE anxiously awaits the beginning of the NHL season, producers are keeping busy: Raptors fans can check out daily videos from the road, while hockey fans can get their fix through a constant stream of Marlies’ content posted on both the Marlies’ and Leafs’ Websites. Although MLSE has certainly taken advantage of the work stoppage, both Holmes and Kostoulias insist that the 80-strong video-production team will be ready the moment the lockout ends.

“We identified last year that we were losing content because of the unreliability of our FTP transfers,” says Holmes. “There’s no other way to do it because it has to get back here as quickly as possible. I think we’re all excited about the new season starting so we can deploy this technology.”

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This year’s EMA awards on MTV were held in Frankfurt, but the broadcaster needed the content at its London headquarters for playout and for repurposing for online and mobile. The solution was to use Signiant file transfer software for secure and accelerated delivery of show highlights.

The broadcast mixed packaged content developed by MTV in London with live footage from the show taking place more than 600km away. The challenge of moving multi-gigabyte files back and forth was compounded by the need for speed to get the news online as quickly as possible.

The Signiant Managers+Agents software delivered the content, such as performances and acceptance speeches, from Frankfurt to London at “superfast speeds”, according to the company. It was also used to exchange content between Europe and New York as part of MTV’s worldwide delivery requirements.

“When video has to be there, and it has to be sent fast, Signiant is the solution that more broadcasters trust,” said David Nortier, EMEA general manager for Signiant. “The reliability of our products takes away some of the worry associated with getting large files quickly from one location to another. It provides a powerful solution for media organisations like MTV seeking more sophisticated workflow automation, security and control of their global media delivery processes.”

After this year’s theme, or ‘catch’, was revealed at Digi60′s ‘Catch Event’ in September, the race was on as invited filmmakers and the Festival’s Ottawa-based production sponsors had just 60 days to create and submit their finished films for judging. This year’s catch in the Scripted competition category requires that short films centre on a reunion and include a rhyming couplet at either the beginning or end. Films can be up to eight minutes long with one additional minute allowed for credits. The judging form totals 60 points, with a bonus point added to the judging total if the film both begins and ends with a rhyming couplet.

“For previous festivals, we relied on free file sharing sites for digital film submissions. With finished file sizes exceeding 2Gb, filmmakers often experienced long upload times – up to three hours – and if transfers were interrupted for any reason, time was lost and they had to start all over again,” said Festival President Kevin Burton. “With 60 days to make their films, every minute counts.” In addition to submission of lower resolution judging versions of entries, Media Shuttle will be used to submit the final ProRes digital film versions for screening, instead of relying on couriers or in-person deliveries.

Signiant Media Shuttle is designed as an alternative to FTP by achieving substantially faster transfer speeds over existing networks. Media Shuttle also has no file size constraints or associated security risks of storing media in the cloud. While users access Media Shuttle through a cloud-based interface, the assets themselves remain stored on the user’s computer or network. Onboard Checkpoint Restart fuctions assure file delivery by automatically restarting transfers if they become interrupted for any reason.

The Digi60 2012 Festival entries will be screened 7 to 8 December 2012 at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts in Ottawa.

The use of file-based workflows has become a standard at remote-production compounds across North America and all over the world, allowing remote sites to exchange files among multiple trucks at a time or even with a home broadcast facility thousands of miles away. Nowhere is this workflow more prevalent than in the International Broadcast Centers (IBCs) that pop up every two years at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

“To give you an idea of how much the world has changed, at our first Olympics [in 2006], there was a question as to whether moving file-based media around even made sense,” Signiant CTO Ian Hamilton said during a session at SVG’s recent TranSPORT event. “Now it is just assumed that it is going to happen. We work with major broadcasters around the world, and they are all routinely moving files back and forth in large quantities and sizes at every Olympics.”

The London Games this past summer served as a coming-out party of sorts for mass deployments of file-based workflows within sports production. The ability to exchange high-quality files between the IBC in London and home bases oceans away became a reality, allowing many broadcasters to leave crew at home and save on expensive accreditation and travel costs.

“File-based workflows allow [broadcasters] to deploy less people while also providing better coverage of the Olympics,” Hamilton continued. “With a much smaller group of people in London, they could provide all kinds of great second-screen experiences that file-based technology enables.”

These workflows continue to evolve at a breakneck pace, creating more and more opportunities for Olympic-rights holders to deliver more coverage faster and with less manpower. NBC, for example, used Brevity’s platform to exchange files between London and its 30 Rockefeller Center broadcast facility in New York with great success.

“One of our goals at the Olympics this year was to be able to do more for less,” said Mike Jackman, VP, business development, Brevity. “With that in mind, we were able to maintain a very high resolution in the file as we moved it. We were compressing it down, but that high visual quality was then re-created on the other end — either as a transcoded [file] or in its original format.

“For NBC, that allowed them to save about 50% of the bandwidth,” he added. “There were days where 300-400 GBs or more were moved, but the actual bandwidth that we needed was equivalent to about 150 GB. That allowed them to use that [extra] bandwidth to do more elsewhere.”

Aspera CEO Michelle Munson has seen file-based workflows evolve drastically at the Olympic IBC since they were introduced just a few years ago. For instance, at the Turin Games in 2006, Aspera provided an Avid integration for Canadian rightsholder CBC that is now commonplace for several broadcasters at the Olympics IBC.

“They wanted to allow editors to send directly between Avid stations, with the fast protocol providing the high-speed transport from the events side back to CBC. That kind of concept was very experimental at that point in time. But the primary bottleneck in that scenario was the I/O speeds [to and from the Avid] Unity storage system.

“To give you an idea of how much the world has changed, that same type of Avid workflow [used by CBC in Turin] was rather fundamental for NBC,” she continued. “We ended up transferring 700 hours of HD video for NBC with that same Avid integration. But what was so satisfying was that the old storage bottleneck could be eliminated. For me, that has really been the hallmark of how sports-event file-based workflows have evolved over the course of our company from the 2006 Olympics until this year.”

However, the linear telecast is obviously no longer the only consideration for Olympic-rights holders. The multiscreen revolution has forced broadcasters to use these same file-based workflows to deliver video content — both live and non-live — to viewers across a variety of screens and devices.

“The advent of over-the-top and online content has created a whole new world as well,” said Munson. “We powered all the transfers to YouTube for NBC this year at the Olympics. That content did not even exist in our first Games, and now the consumer experience demands it. A day will soon come when you have this mixture of real-time, near-time, and next-day content, where the backend of this is very efficient and all file-based.”

Founded in 1993, 2G Digital is the only mid-sized post-production facility competing in the exclusive world of studio/network mastering. Although our roots are in post, about a decade ago we began to add services such as digital backup and delivery following the advent of full HD production and nonlinear editing. Our preferred term for these types of services is fulfillment, and our clients include major movie and TV studios that rely on 2G Digital to ready content for sale in the form of iTunes® downloads, and for distribution on other digital platforms.

The recent commissioning of 2G Digital’s new, state-of-the-art facility in Burbank – the first all-fiber post-production operation of its kind – is the crowning achievement in our company’s re-invention as an ultra-efficient media/fulfillment factory. A central component in the new operation is Signiant’s Media Managers+Agents and Media Exchange file movement software, which drive automation and workflows that enable us to not only stay relevant in our industry, but steps ahead of our competition.  As one of only five iTunes Preferred Vendors, 2G Digital current delivers between 350 and 450 movies and TV programs per week from studio clients to Apple for electronic sell-through via iTunes stores in the U.S., Germany, Japan, Mexico, and other territories. The Signiant accelerated file transfer solution, deployed over our high-speed fiber optic infrastructure, has enabled us to operate at much greater capacity and with a smaller and leaner facility.

One factor that drove our adoption of the Signiant solution were requests from several of our large studio customers that also have existing investments in Signiant. The software provides powerful security, management and control of automated file exchanges between 2G Digital and clients with Signiant agents, speeding such tasks as the processing of raw content, adding metadata and closed captions, or formatting conversions for distribution in other countries. Signiant’s Media Exchange software offers 2G Digital a powerful and interactive tool for initiating desktop-to-desktop transfers, in turn enabling secure delivery of finished content to broadcasters and playout centers.

The Signiant solution has been integral to our relationships with electronic sell-through providers, and the ability to deliver new and innovative service offerings. For instance, one longtime studio client began requesting “special deliveries” for global markets, which lead to our creating a service niche of preparing  international versions of digital content. With Signiant facilitating high-speed and security media transfers, we’re now able to create and deliver electronic sell-through files in “three-twelve” packages, each containing three dubbed languages and subtitles in 12 languages.

The economic climate of the past few years has challenged companies like 2G Digital to evolve very rapidly and adopt technologies that can advance our market leadership. In a business climate where so many post-production companies are being consolidated or struggle to stay relevant, we like to think of ourselves as the “little engine that could” — a company that has been able to adapt and thrive by embracing technologies that help it stay nimble and operate as efficiently as possible. Signiant’s file movement solution is a prime example of that strategy, helping 2G Digital create new efficiencies in aggregating and delivering digital media and enabling us to expand our business opportunities across geographic boundaries.

Author Chuck Filliettaz is the owner of 2G Digital, a media fulfillment and post-production company based in Burbank, CA.

Published in M&E Journal, 2012 Fall/Winter Edition
By Rick Clarkson, VP Product Management, Signiant

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In today’s digital production environments, media enterprises of all types have one thing in common: the requirement to move large content files rapidly, securely and in a carefully controlled and managed fashion. With the explosive growth in multiplatform content delivery requirements, files have gotten bigger, formats more varied and production cycles shorter than ever before. Often, production professionals take it on themselves to find fast and efficient ways to exchange digital media with remote colleagues and business partners, including post-houses and outsourced vendors. And more often than not, that quest leads them to the ever-growing array of unmanaged, public cloud-based file transfer services.

Without question, public cloud services occupy an important place in the broader realm of digital file movement and are a boon to consumers and small businesses alike – with easy-to-use, reliable and convenient tools for exchanging smaller documents such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint files. However, these services are not appropriate for media enterprises in a few key areas. First, most cloud services are not optimized for accelerated movement of large media files; in fact, most have gigabyte file size restrictions that rule out many transfers (by the standards of these services, a 2GB file might be considered huge – but of course it’s entirely small for a media operation). Also, these cloud services offer little or no capabilities for safeguarding valuable media assets, a serious concern in this age of global piracy and well-documented media security breaches.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the file movement requirements of today’s busiest media enterprises. We will also describe a model cloud system that offers all of the ease, convenience and flexibility of the most popular cloud file-sharing services, with the enterprise-level security and administration required to protect and manage high-value digital assets.

A Tale of Three Stakeholders

To understand the complexities of file movement in a media operation, it’s useful to consider the vantage point of three user groups: IT managers, operations managers and end users.

IT managers, the folks that stay up at night worrying about security breaches and protection of digital assets, would like nothing better than to eliminate the ad hoc use of the unmanaged public cloud services. They are concerned about maintaining control of transfers and having visibility into who sends what, and to whom – information that is not provided by the public services. IT managers want to empower the operations teams with the tools they need, but at the same time, they’re not interested in burdening the network with a bandwidth-gobbling new application. And they would rather not saddle their overworked IT teams with yet another system requiring user and group administration at a very micro, individual level; for instance, adding a temporary team member for two weeks for a certain project, removing another team member that has left to go to another job, or adding a new contractor.

Operations managers are also concerned at some level about security, but their main objective is to ensure that a project – such as the delivery of the next five episodes of a popular TV series – is completed on time and on budget. These professionals are responsible for assembling and managing workgroups and making sure all of the players, both employees and contractors, are motivated and have the tools they need to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Operations managers place a high value on global collaboration and partnerships, which by definition require the seamless exchange of content with outsourced vendors and other external business partners such as post-production companies and distributors.

The third group consists of end users, the media professionals on the front lines of content creation, processing, editing and distribution. These users have established relationships with their business partners, and they are happy to access public cloud file transfer services – that is, until the service can’t handle the file size or complete the transfer in an acceptable timeframe. Then, users have to fall back on other means such as FTP, which has its own issues regarding inefficiency, security and general unwieldiness.

Use of the public cloud services tends to be project-based; for instance, a new season of a TV series that has a finite schedule and requires the assembly of a dedicated, collaborative workgroup. Production of promotional videos is one project for which public cloud services are often pressed into use, because promotions often need to be developed and sent to air as quickly as possible. News and sports coverage, by virtue of its often unpredictable nature, is another area that often requires mobile news crews to transfer content as quickly as possible to editors and news bureaus.

Access in the Cloud; Storage in the Network

Out of these requirements has emerged a type of file movement software that combines the best features of two vastly different worlds: the public cloud and private corporate networks. In this hybrid architecture, users access their information through a simple and intuitive user interface delivered from the cloud, with the content itself maintained under the secure control of the internal network. Within media companies of all sizes, content stakeholders are able to enjoy the ease and convenience of the cloud file sharing services without file size limits, and without the security concerns that might arise from storing high-value media assets in the cloud.

A critical aspect of a hybrid solution, like Signiant’s Media Shuttle, is file acceleration. Considering that the file size for a single one-hour TV show can reach 40GB, no fast-paced production schedule has room for the hours that might be required to move such a file via FTP – and no public consumer cloud service is up to the task. File acceleration ensures high-speed file transfers that are often 200 times faster than FTP with up to 95 percent network efficiency.

Although there are some instances in which longer-term archiving of content is appropriate for the cloud, a hybrid solution lets users keep work-in-progress content close at hand. Think of the kitchen drawer that holds tools you use every day, vs. attic storage for items you might only need once a year or less. Also, since public cloud storage does offer some degree of security, it can be useful for archiving previously-aired content (such as video work for past seasons of a TV series), thereby freeing space on the local network for highly classified works in progress – such as the new season that resolve’s last year’s nailbiting cliffhanger.

Security cannot be overemphasized when managing and transferring high-value media assets, and a hybrid solution should be iron-clad. Consider the risk factor of a public cloud service, which allows anyone to create an account and offers no safeguards to prevent a member from sharing the login info with friends or others; the piracy potential is mind-boggling. With the model hybrid solution, however, all content remains under the secure protection of the internal network. Features such as encrypted browser sessions, file transfers based on 256-bit AES encryption and built-in certificate authority for managing a public key infrastructure all help to ensure that the content ends up where it’s supposed to, and stays in the right hands.

Across-the-Board User Satisfaction

It’s easy to see how a hybrid file transfer solution that embraces the cloud would be useful for the accelerated movement of media assets such as television series content, theatrical productions or news/sports footage. The best hybrid solutions are architected by vendors who intimately understand the varied requirements and priorities of all media types and productions. Workgroups access the system in much the same manner as the public cloud services, for ad hoc file sharing on a wide range of projects. Distribution of proxies, scripts, schedules and images or routing of media for approvals on ad and marketing campaigns are just a few examples. The system is invaluable for file movement related to any type of creative media collaboration, such as editing or localization of content for distribution to foreign markets.

Such a solution has instant appeal for IT managers, who now have a way to empower their users while at the same time cutting down (or eliminating) the use of unsecured public cloud services. With the actual content stored locally, security concerns are eased. Tracking and reporting tools offer a centralized view of the system’s usage and user activity including numbers of users, status of currently running transfers, file size metrics, bandwidth usage and storage capacity. And, by delegating the lion’s share of user administration to project and operations managers, IT managers are freed to perform other tasks.

For operations managers, a hybrid file transfer solution offers an excellent platform with which to create a collaborative, motivating environment for workgroups and project team members. With easy customization tools, project managers can add logos and graphics to create a branded portal with its own URL (or multiple portals in different languages, for collaboration on short- or long-term projects). Since managers can handle their own day-today administration of the portal, including managing authorized users and administrators, they are more in control and less reliant on IT for assistance.

With the hybrid file transfer model, end users are presented with a very simple interface that closely resembles those of the public cloud systems – but with complete sanction from corporate and IT management. Even better, they have the ability to share files freely and rapidly with colleagues, partners, and vendors, with no restrictions on file size.

Powerfully Simple File Movement

If there’s one truism in the media and entertainment industry, it’s that files will continue to get bigger and delivery schedules shorter. Consumers’ appetites for the latest and greatest high-definition and 3D programming will continue to grow, and one consequence is the sheer size of the files that now need to traverse the network – with “super HD” formats such as 1080p 50/60 and even 3D gobbling up huge amounts of bandwidth. Media organizations are pressured like never before to get content to market as quickly as possible and distribute the latest versions to multiple territories within a select and finite period. It’s a process that’s highly dependent on global collaboration and partnerships that enable the seamless and secure exchange of content between content owners and post production companies, distributors and other business partners.

A hybrid system for accelerated and secure file transfer that provides an easy-to-use user interface in the cloud, but keeps the actual content within the secure confines of the corporate network, addresses the key file movement challenges facing IT, media operations staff, and end users. IT is freed from day-to-day system management, operations managers have complete control, and end users are empowered with the same type of access and file movement tools they expect from public cloud services – but without file size limitations. With such “powerfully simple” capabilities, such a system is specifically tailored to the demanding requirements of today’s media enterprises.

BURLINGTON, MA (November 27, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that filmmakers competing in next month’s Digi60 2012 Digital Filmmakers Festival in Ottawa are using Media Shuttle file transfer software to speed the submission of film versions for judging and screening. The unique competition highlights the extreme creativity of local filmmakers, screenwriters and production partners who must create short films with a “catch” under tight time constraints – a timeline that cannot accommodate the delays and interruptions endemic to FTP and consumer file sharing solutions.

After this year’s catch was revealed at Digi60’s ‘Catch Event’ in September, the race was on as invited filmmakers and the Festival’s Ottawa-based production sponsors – Affinity, inMotion, Mountain Road and Parktown – had just 60 days to create and submit their finished films for judging. This year’s catch in the Scripted competition category requires that short films center on a reunion and include a rhyming couplet at either the beginning or end. Films can be up to eight minutes long with one additional minute allowed for credits. The judging form totals 60 points, with a bonus point added to the judging total if the film both begins and ends with a rhyming couplet.

“The countdown clock to the deadline is merciless. For previous festivals, we relied on free file sharing sites, such as YouSendIt and WeTransfer, for digital film submissions. With finished file sizes exceeding 2GB, our filmmakers often experienced long upload times – up to three hours – and if transfers were interrupted for any reason, time was lost and they simply had to start all over again,” said Festival President Kevin Burton. “With 60 days to make their films, every hour – every minute – counts.  The speed, ease of use and reliability of Media Shuttle lets users focus more on the creative process and less on the technical aspects of getting their submissions in before the clock runs out.”

The newest addition to Signiant’s accelerated file transfer solutions, Media Shuttle provides an effective, easy-to-use alternative to FTP with transfer speeds up to 200X faster over existing networks. And, unlike consumer file sharing services, Media Shuttle eliminates file size constraints and the inherent security risks of storing media in the cloud.  Users simply access Media Shuttle through a powerfully simple cloud-based interface, while assets remain securely stored on the user’s laptop or network. Onboard Checkpoint Restart features assure file delivery by automatically restarting transfers if they become interrupted for any reason.

In addition to submission of film versions for judging, Media Shuttle will be used to submit final ProRes digital film versions for screening, a process that typically requires couriers or in-person deliveries. Films entered in this year’s Digi60 2012 Festival will be screened at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts in Ottawa, and the public is welcome to attend. Documentary screenings will be held on Friday, December 7, 2012, and Scripted Short screenings will take place Saturday, December 8, 2012.  For complete information on the schedule, venue and ticket prices, visit www.Digi60.org.

About Digi60
The Digi60 Filmmakers Festival was formed in 2004 as a way to bring Ottawa filmmakers together to create short films in 60 days based on a “catch”, and to provide a public screening of their work. Over 70 different filmmakers have entered the challenge in various years, ranging from experienced producers to first-timers. Some short films created for Digi60 have gone onto other film festivals or have been expanded into longer films. The festival runs on shoestring budgets, volunteers and a passion for filmmaking. For more information, visit www.Digi60.org

 
HONG KONG and SINGAPORE (November 15, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that New Digital Technology Ltd. (NDT) will represent Signiant products in Hong Kong and China.  With the recent addition of Media Shuttle™ software to the company’s family of file transfer solutions, NDT will be instrumental in assisting content creators and distributors across the region to achieve more efficient and reliable digital media movement – featuring unmatched acceleration, automation, security and control.

Based in Hong Kong with offices throughout China, NDT offers a range of professional products and services for broadcast, digital media, wireless network and satellite communications. With a versatile engineering team, the company is highly specialized in HDTV, 3D, IPTV, and the Next-Generation Networks.  Some of their customers include CCTV, China Telecom, China Unicom and many of the region’s top broadcasters.

“Quality of service and customer satisfaction is the key to our success. To address new market opportunities brought about by today’s emerging video, IT and IP technologies, we strive to maintain a portfolio of the best products and services available,” said Mr. Daniel Fung, CEO and Chairman of NDT. “Signiant’s family of accelerated file transfer solutions allows us to support a spectrum of file-based workflow needs with technology that broadcasters around the world know and trust.”

Under the distribution agreement, NDT will offer the full line of Signiant’s media file transfer solutions, which includes subscription-based Media Shuttle desktop file transfer software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users and systems; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“Over nearly two decades, NDT has earned a strong reputation for helping the Chinese media industry migrate from analog to digital. We are pleased to welcome this leading distributor and integrator to our growing community of resellers,” said Michael Burnie Managing Director Asia Pacific and Japan. “NDT is an outstanding partner, and we are honored that they have chosen to make our products part of their overall solution portfolio.”

About NDT

NDT group is a renowned distributor and system solution provider in broadcast, telecommunication and other professional industries in China. Our services include design, system integration, product distribution and consulting.  Major customers in China include TV stations and network companies. Our experienced staff has provided services to the TV broadcast industry since the 1980’s. In 2000, the company went through a strategic re-organization to form the NDT group with headquarters in Hong Kong and an operation center in Beijing to strengthen support for the Chinese market. Today the company has more than 100 employees with offices and subsidiaries in major cities across China. For more information, visit www.ndtchina.com.

A juggernaut among music award shows worldwide, the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA) event is back on Sunday November 11, broadcasting live from Frankfurt (Germany). On the day, the highlights of Europe’s top musical acts will reach broadcast, web and mobile with the help of Signiant’s Managers+Agents file transfer software.

Signiant’s customer Viacom will use the software to transfer very heavy video files back and forth between base operations in London (UK) and the live show venue in Frankfurt.

The show mixes packaged content – developed by Viacom International Media Network’s MTV team at the base operations centre in London – with live on-site footage in Frankfurt. All files must be sent quickly and without loss between both countries, with multiple versions of the same live video footage being generated for on-air broadcast, web and mobile.

The MTV EMA team in London will use Signiant to deliver the latest news bulletins of 2012 MTV EMA winners to the base station for transmission to MTV affiliates worldwide and to move critical material, such as live acceptance speeches and last-minute edits to packaged content.

The Signiant software will deliver digital media-cleared versions of news, as well as backstage blogs, interview and press conferences, back to London for encoding and delivery. It will also deliver daily content from the MTV2 US production team back to New York, via London, for broadcast and other online uses.

 
LONDON and FRANKFURT (7 November, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that the 2012 MTV EMA broadcast from Frankfurt this Sunday, 11 November at 9 pm CET will employ Signiant’s award-winning Managers+ Agents™ file transfer software to ensure the secure, accelerated delivery of show highlights to London for playout to air, Web and mobile. 

The biggest international awards show with results that are watched around the world, the 2012 MTV EMA mixes packaged content developed by Viacom International Media Network’s MTV team at the base operations center in London – including promos, backstage blogs and press conferences – with live on-site footage in Frankfurt.  The distance between the cities alone can be a logistical nightmare in delivering multi-gigabyte video content files back and forth from on-site producers to their London colleagues– who must push out the content to online media channels and mobile feeds without delay.

The MTV EMA team in London is using Signiant to deliver the latest news bulletins of 2012 MTV EMA winners to the base station for transmission to MTV affiliates worldwide – and move critical material, such as live acceptance speeches and last-minute edits to packaged content, at superfast speeds.  Signiant software will deliver digital media-cleared versions of news, as well as backstage blogs, interview and press conferences, back to London for encoding and delivery.  Signiant will also deliver daily content from the MTV2 US production team back to New York, via London, for broadcast and other online uses.

“When video has to be there, and has to be sent fast, Signiant is the solution that more broadcasters trust,” said David Nortier, General Manager, Signiant EMEA. “The reliability of our products takes away some of the worry and hard work associated with producing a live show when it comes to getting large files quickly from one location to another. Signiant Managers+Agents provides a powerful solution for media organizations like MTV seeking more sophisticated workflow automation, security and control of their global media delivery processes.”

As the industry continues to explore its passion for cloud computing, new cloud-based models are appearing each week for steps in the broadcast and production workflow that formerly required access to on-premises systems. However, content players are moving beyond the use of the cloud for jobs like file delivery and applying intelligent cloud solutions to problematic tasks that the industry has put up with for years.

One such domain is the issue of file format compliance against published specs. As the number of content sources, formats and distribution platforms grows, so does the issue of improperly formatted content being received by broadcasters via network file transfer for playback and non-linear delivery. In a recent webcast, Turner Broadcasting’s Michael Koetter, Vice President of News Technology, cited QA around file-based systems as a “huge and escalating cost” for broadcasters.

“According to a recent survey, each improperly formatted asset received takes a material amount of time to correct, and worse yet can put deadlines in jeopardy by triggering expensive crisis level reaction,” says Ian Hamilton, CTO and Co-Founder of Signiant, a leading technology provider of media file movement solutions. “For one operations manager responsible for content ingest that we spoke with, his people can spend as much as 20 percent of their time handling non-compliant files.”

And, it’s not just the inconvenience factor. Incompatible formats, the wrong number of audio channels or unsupported encoding schemes delay all-important time to air. They exact real hard-dollar costs in terms of time, labor, bandwidth and lost productivity and hard-dollar costs in bandwidth and staff time.

A new cloud-based approach from Signiant offers the promise of consistent validation of file-based content throughout the content distribution ecosystem. Instead of doing what the majority of content players do now – validating and correcting file compliance AFTER the transfer occurs – this new approach helps ensure that the right media format gets delivered for the right platform BEFORE the transfer occurs – saving everyone time and money.

“MXF and XML files are the primary target, but we’ll be adding other file formats as customers require them. It’s useful across the board where people are exchanging media in a specific format,” Hamilton explains.

Working with standards from the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Digital Production Partnership (DPP), Signiant demonstrated this new file format compliance technology at SMPTE and IBC, and will be rolling it into the company’s intelligent file movement solutions in early 2013. The asset compliance tool, when integrated into the workflow, allows the broadcaster to define and reference specifications to which any file they receive must conform before it is sent. Signiant solutions then verify the file before it is delivered. Further, the software will not allow the file to be transferred if it doesn’t reach the technical standard required.

Hamilton says that complementary tools that can be bought from Quality Control (QC) vendors inspect the file at a much deeper level, but also at much higher time and resource cost. In contrast, Signiant’s compliance tool is a pre-flight check, so it can check the basics of the file without having to have access to the entire file.

The patent-pending technology works by providing a cloud-based directory of broadcast content specifications and a mechanism for automatically checking files against a chosen specification. By registering their own customized delivery specification or referencing an industry standard, media enterprises can provide a readily accessible, uniform means of asset validation to their entire content delivery ecosystem. Significant throughput improvements at the ingest stage are possible when content partners are able to ensure compliance easily prior to submission.

Signiant’s asset compliance tool is the digital equivalent of the carpenter’s adage to “Measure twice – cut once.” By checking for compliance first, before transfer, Signiant’s approach catches many errors very early in the workflow and lowers rejection rates and errors at later stages. This saves broadcasters time and money, and provides peace of mind that the asset can enter their transmission supply chain without disruption. It also puts content contributors on alert as to expectations, and should the asset needs to be redone, allows them to be fixed before the send.

Certainly, other checking and potential correction of the content must still occur after the transfer. Yet by putting cloud technology to work proactively, the industry has the opportunity to minimize the longstanding problem of costly errors upstream of the transfer, and opens the door to greater productivity.

 
BURLINGTON, MA (November 1, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today named Doug Cahill as Vice President of Business Development. Cahill brings more than two decades of business development experience in the storage, networking and security industries to Signiant’s senior leadership team. Based in Boston, he will drive strategic partnerships with IT technology partners and service providers worldwide. Today Signiant’s accelerated file movement software is used to replace FTP and other file sharing technologies to facilitate the daily file transfer needs of tens of thousands of users in some of the world’s largest media companies.

Cahill joins Signiant from Bit9, a leader in advanced threat protection where as Vice President of Business Development he established and developed OEM, channel and strategic alliances. Previously, Cahill held a similar role at storage management vendor AppIQ (acquired by Hewlett Packard), and also served as Vice President of Product Management at HighGround Systems (acquired by Sun Microsystems.) Early in his career, Cahill held senior marketing, product management and technical positions at Shiva Corporation, Progress Software and Access Technology.

Signiant’s enterprise-class software solutions are designed to address all aspects of file-based media movement — including acceleration, automation, security and control — across global networks. The company’s product suite includes subscription-based Media Shuttle™ desktop file transfer software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“Growth in both the size and volume of data files is making tightly integrated big data solutions imperative to efficient business operations. This has contributed to growing demand from the IT supplier community to incorporate our accelerated, resource-efficient file movement technologies into their solutions,” said Margaret Craig, Signiant CEO.  “With a proven track record in building strategic global relationships, Doug is already making a strong impact by defining new points in the technology value chain where Signiant’s offerings are the perfect match.  We’re delighted to welcome him to the team.”

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For many years we have been talking about file-based workflows and it’s fair to say that data is fast becoming the norm at every stage of the production and post-production path.  The plethora of codecs, formats and platforms has introduced a technical challenge of marshaling all this data into usable, transmittable files.

Thankfully the DPP, a union of UK broadcasters, is in process of defining the standards by which they will accept files into their organisations for future transmissions.  Each element of the production has been considered — from acquisition to distribution.  As the metadata standards are defined, Signiant has been instrumental in aiding the DPP in the process.  The results of this were recently published in the DPP’s report titled “The Bloodless Revolution.”  And, signs of progress are emerging as ITV have selected “Emmerdale” as their first show to fully integrate the DPP blueprint into its workflow.

Following Signiant’s involvement, the company’s R&D team looked to develop a tool to support the Broadcast community, each of whom are enabled with Signiant file transfer technologies, to ensure materials due for distribution arrive to the broadcaster fully compliant with the DPP standard.  Non-compliant files are costly for both parties. The broadcaster has to check each element for proper format, not just once but a second time if they must be resubmitted, whilst the production company incurs the cost of reworking the file to ensure compliance with the stated delivery specification. Not only have both parties incurred costs, but wasted time fixing and resubmitting the files. File-based workflows are designed to introduce high levels of efficiency and yet at the final hurdle, too many were failing.

Signiant has developed an asset compliance tool, which when integrated into the workflow, allows the broadcaster to select the standard with which any file they receive must conform to.  Signiant solutions then verify the file before it is delivered.  In fact, the solution takes things one step further, whereby the software will not allow the file to be transferred if it doesn’t reach the technical standard required.

By introducing the compliance element before the file has been sent, Signiant removes the need for the broadcaster to check the files, thus giving peace of mind that the asset can enter their transmission supply chain, and saves both parties considerable time and money. This approach also gives an early warning to the producer that his material is yet to reach the standard required with the added benefit that his reputation as a technically capable supplier remains intact.

 
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA and BURLINGTON, MA (October 30, 2012) – Signiant, the U.S.-based market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Besco SI has been appointed to represent Signiant products in South Korea.  With the recent addition of Media Shuttle™ software to the company’s family of secure, accelerated file transfer solutions, Besco will be instrumental in expanding the footprint for Signiant solutions in this key Asia-Pacific market.

As a leading equipment and services provider in the Korean film and broadcast market for more than 15 years, Besco has earned a strong reputation among its customers and partners. The company was the first to consult to leading broadcasters and post-production facilities on end-to-end file based workflows from content acquisition to delivery. Today their customers include terrestrial broadcasters such as KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS; CJ PowerCast, Korea’s largest CATV; The Korean Film Council; and CTP, the country’s largest post-production facility.

“We are committed to providing the world’s best technologies to our customers, and take pride in the strategic relationships we build with our suppliers,” said Mr. Kim Young Bae, President and CEO, Besco. “Signiant’s world-class products fit perfectly into our portfolio of leading brands, and we look forward to working together with Signiant to create and address demand in our region for secure, accelerated file movement solutions.”

Besco will offer the full line of Signiant’s compatible family of media file transfer solutions, which includes subscription-based Media Shuttle desktop file transfer software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users and systems; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“With more than a decade of achievements in market, Besco is an outstanding partner to distribute our products in South Korea. We are honored that they have chosen to make our products part of their overall solution portfolio,” said Michael Burnie Managing Director Asia Pacific and Japan. “As Besco leads this industry forward in the transition to all-digital media environments, Korea will be a key market for Signiant within the region.”

About Besco

As a leading equipment sales and services provider in the Korean film and broadcast market for more than 15 years, Besco offers a wide range of broadcast technology options from leading manufacturers such as Sony, Adobe, AJA, Avid and Quantum. Based in Seoul, South Korea, Besco offers a wide range of solutions for HD, 3D, DI and digital cinema, including non-linear editing, network storage and archiving, workflow consulting, and studio system design and construction. For more information, visit www.nbesco.co.kr.

TORONTO — StationEX (www.stationex.net) is using Signiant’s Media Shuttle desktop file transfer software as part of its new, long-form video content delivery service for broadcasters and post professionals. Media Shuttle gives StationEX the ability to move large volumes of video content quickly, easily and securely. Signiant offers a flexible subscription-based model that allows the firm to pay as it grows.

StationEX was founded in June in an effort to address the high-end, long-form delivery market, where client project files often exceed 100GBs. Their services is positioned as an alternative to shipping storage bricks or disks with content to colleagues, imposing delays for both domestic and international businesses.

“We surveyed every corner of the market and Signiant’s Media Shuttle was the standout solution among available accelerated file transfer options,” notes StationEX GM James Murday. “It is as easy to use as email and provides the level of speed and reliability our business depends on. Just last week our team used Media Shuttle to send a 74GB broadcast-resolution file from Toronto to Eastern Europe in under two hours over the Internet. This phenomenal speed lets us deliver on our promise of same-day delivery anywhere in the developed world.”

Media Shuttle provides is an alternative to FTP, with file transfer speeds up to 200x faster, while delivering the ease of use of consumer-based file sharing solutions without file size limits or security risks. Users simply access Media Shuttle through a cloud-based interface, while assets remain securely stored on the customer’s network. Onboard Checkpoint Restart features assure file delivery by automatically restarting transfers if they become interrupted.

BURLINGTON MA  (October 22, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, announced that stationEX of Toronto is using Signiant’s award-winning Media Shuttle™ desktop file transfer software as an integral part of its new, long-form video content delivery service for broadcasters and post-production professionals. With video and film creators embracing the Internet as a smarter approach to content delivery than physical shipments of HDDs, Media Shuttle gives stationEX the ability to move large volumes of video content quickly, easily and securely – with a flexible subscription-based model that allows the firm to pay as it grows.

Founded in June 2012, stationEX addresses the high-end, long form delivery market where massive client project files, often exceeding 100 GB, can bring conventional file transfer technologies to their knees. As a result, broadcasters are forced to ship storage ‘bricks’ or disks containing files to colleagues – imposing two- to three-day delays for shipments that go internationally, while racking up project costs.

“We surveyed every corner of the market and Signiant’s Media Shuttle was the standout solution among available accelerated file transfer options,” said James Murday, General Manager of stationEX. “It is as easy to use as email and provides the level of speed and reliability our business depends on.  Just last week our team used Media Shuttle to send a 74GB broadcast-resolution file from Toronto to Eastern Europe in under two hours over the Internet  – this phenomenal speed lets us deliver on our promise of same-day delivery anywhere in the developed world.”

The newest addition to Signiant’s software products suite, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP with file transfer speed up to 200X faster, while delivering the ease of use of consumer-based file sharing solutions, but without file size limits or associated security risks. Users simply access Media Shuttle through a powerfully simple cloud-based interface, while assets remain securely stored on the customer’s network. Onboard Checkpoint Restart features assure file delivery by automatically restarting transfers if they become interrupted.

“A surprising number of broadcast teams still deliver project files via overnight couriers, eliminating many of the time- and cost-saving advantages of file-based workflows,” said Rick Cramer, Senior Vice President of Global Operations, Signiant. “There is just no easier, more affordable or reliable way to move large media files than Media Shuttle. We are delighted to welcome stationEX to our growing list of Media Shuttle customers, and look forward to helping others in the media and entertainment industry realize the benefits of fast file transfer at the user level.”

Signiant will be showcasing Media Shuttle this week at the SMPTE Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, Loews Hollywood Hotel, Hollywood, CA, booth #105.

SINGAPORE (October 15, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today named Steve Gibson as Technical Director for Signiant Asia-Pacific. Based in Singapore, Gibson will be responsible for providing pre- and post-sales technical support to customers and channel partners across the region. As content creators and distributors increasingly transition to file-based workflows, Signiant’s expanded presence in the region will make it easier for media professionals to achieve smarter, faster and more reliable digital media movement.

With five years of experience on Signiant’s engineering team in Ottawa, Canada, and a lead designer and architect of many of the company’s products, Gibson brings to the field an in-depth knowledge of how Signiant’s products address customer needs. The compatible product suite includes subscription-based Media Shuttle™ file transfer software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“We are excited to welcome Steve to the Asia-Pacific team at such a pivotal time in our industry,” said Michael Burnie, Managing Director, Signiant Asia-Pacific. “His deep domain expertise and product knowledge will help to enhance the workflow strategies of some of the world’s largest broadcasters and media companies as they transition to all-digital media environments. Steve’s appointment also positions us for further growth in the region, and provides our growing base of customers and partners with enhanced technical support.”

BURLINGTON, MA (October 10, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today named seven leading providers of integrated media technology solutions as new resellers within the company’s growing Channel Partner Program. With the recent addition of Media Shuttle software to Signiant’s family of secure, accelerated file transfer solutions, these resellers will be instrumental in assisting content creators and distributors across the globe to achieve smarter, faster and more reliable digital media movement.

Signiant’s newest solution providers include AD Digital of Brazil, Altered Images in the UK, Fofic Media Solutions in The Netherlands, Mediatrade in Finland, Promovisa in Spain, SAV in France and Visual Unity in the Czech Republic. These partners will offer various Signiant products, including subscription-based Media Shuttle file transfer software delivered from the cloud; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“By offering the same level of security, speed and control that Signiant is known for in its flagship products in an affordable subscription model, Media Shuttle is driving new business opportunities for our channel partners worldwide,” said Rick Cramer, Senior Vice President of Global Operations, Signiant.  “As traditional content distribution methods give way to more efficient file-based media environments, Media Shuttle provides a powerful solution to address the unmet file transfer needs of a broader base of users and use cases.  No other product or service, including free file sharing sites, FTP and other point-to-point solutions, can deliver the same ease of use, simplicity of deployment and performance.”

New Signiant resellers include:

AD Digital (Brazil)
AD Digital is an integrator of hardware, software and services for the production and broadcast of multimedia content. Its equipment and services portfolio includes system consultation, design, implementation, customization, training and 24×7 technical support. Some of AD Digital’s customers include Globosat, Polishop, BOX Brasil, Esporte Interativo and Record News Santa Catarina.

Altered Images (UK)
Altered Images is one of the UK’s leading resellers of technology in broadcast, television production, corporate communications and educational markets. They provide complete turnkey solutions from consultative workflow design to the supply and installation of equipment based on their clients’ needs with full maintenance support. Altered Images prides themselves on technical expertise and a passion for client success.

Fofic Media Solutions (The Netherlands)
Fofic specializes in total solutions for the broadcast market. In addition to providing video cameras, tripods and other AV hardware, they deliver turnkey solutions through a dedicated staff of technical experts. As the digitization of audio and video drives demand for more secure movement and storage of material, Fofic is poised to offer the best solutions.  Their customers include major broadcasters, corporations and government organizations.

Mediatrade Oy (Finland)
Based in Helsinki, Mediatrade is a reseller and systems integrator for digital media production, delivery and management equipment. Serving the production, post-production and broadcast industries, Mediatrade sells and supports hardware and software for non-linear editing, DVD authoring, virtual studios, IPTV w/NPVR, tapeless acquisition and file-based playout. Customers include leading TV broadcasters, production houses, telcos, cable and IPTV operators, as well as public sector facilities.

Promovisa (Spain)
With more than 33 years of market experience, Promovisa is a leading broadcast systems integrator, offering professional production, post-production, encoding and transmission solutions from prestigious broadcast manufacturers. Specializing in the most demanding media and broadcast environments, Promovisa’s turnkey solutions are supported by strong technical teams in pre- and post-sales, engineering, installation, technical support and maintenance, with on-staff technicians located across Spain.

SAV (France)
Established in 1977, Systèmes Audiofréquence Vidéonique specializes in designing, engineering and supplying video equipment for the broadcast market. From film to broadcast, SAV’s team is involved at every stage of the production process with consulting services and a full line to equipment and rentals. Customers include Canal +, Euronews, Eurosport, France Télévisions, M6, TF1, AMP/Visual, Euromedia/SFP, La Française d’images, France Galop, Eclair, Transatlantic, Technicolor, Globecast, TDF and Towercast.

Visual Unity (Czech Republic)

Visual Unity is an international Systems Integrator bridging the gap between broadcast, IT and IPTV to help clients reach and engage audiences – wherever they are. Since 1991, the team has been designing and delivering turnkey broadcast systems and multiscreen solutions worldwide – from HD outside broadcast vehicles and major playout facilities to automated Direct-to-Web platforms.

Visual Unity will host an Open House Day in Prague, October 18, 2012, showcasing a range of solutions, including Signiant. For details and to register, please visit http://bit.ly/VM28uN.

Become a Signiant Partner
Signiant’s channel partners help customers to generate new revenue streams and ensure greater efficiency across their media operations using Signiant file transfer solutions. For more information on Signiant’s Channel Program or to become a partner, please contact Signiant at partners@signiant.com.

BURLINGTON, MA and LONDON (October 3, 2012) – Signiant and Sohonet today announced that the Sohonet FileRunner Service based on Signiant Media Shuttle file transfer software has been named among this year’s “Best of IBC” award winners by TVB Europe magazine. Selected in the Production and Infrastructure category, the service provides easy-to-use tools for moving high-value media assets between the media organizations that use the high-performance Sohonet Media Network.

“Each year we ask our editorial teams to pick out the most innovative new product introductions at the IBC show,” said Fergal Ringrose, editorial director, TVB Europe. “We look for new products that clearly show the potential to help end users make money or save money. From the wealth of nominations collated by our editors, we narrow the list down to the very best to name our annual winners, which this year includes Sohonet’s integration of Signiant Media Shuttle.”

Based in London, Sohonet is the world’s largest private media and entertainment network whose members include many of biggest names in TV, film and advertising. The powerful new Sohonet Hub service enables global members of the Sohonet Media Network community to find, communicate and share information and digital content with other members quickly and effectively. As an embedded feature of Sohonet Hub, FileRunner provides Sohonet Media Network users with easy-to-use tools for secure, accelerated transfer of high-value media assets.

Signiant’s Media Shuttle features a patent-pending cloud connector technology that gives media workgroups the convenience and ease of use of subscription-based file transfer services, but without file size limits or the security risks associated with storing high-value assets in the cloud. An effective alternative to FTP or unmanaged file transfer products for moving large media files, Media Shuttle offers the same industry-leading security and acceleration protocols for high-speed file transfers as Signiant’s award-winning enterprise infrastructure products.

About Sohonet 

Sohonet is the only global expert in connectivity and data management services for the media and entertainment industry. With more than 15 years’ experience, Sohonet offers an extensive range of solutions backed up by unrivaled technical support to enable clients to manage and transfer valuable and critical content quickly, securely and effectively. The Sohonet Media Network is the largest and most established private, high-performance network for the media industry connecting the leading studios, production and post-production facilities across the globe. Sohonet provides site-wide connectivity for the world’s leading film and television studios, such as Pinewood Studios, Leavesden Studios, Shepperton Studios, 3 Mills Studios, Lantana Studios Complex (Los Angeles), Fox Studios, NBCUniversal and Warner Roadshow Studios (Brisbane). For more information, visit www.sohonet.com.

BURLINGTON, MA (October 2, 2012) – Ian Hamilton, Signiant’s Chief Technology Officer, will present a session titled “Lessons Learned Implementing FIMS 1.0” at the 2012 SMTPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition later this month.  A component of the “Applying File-Based Workflows” track, Hamilton’s presentation will take place on Tuesday, October 23 at 11:15 a.m. PDT in Salon 1 of the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, CA.

The Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS) is a joint initiative of the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadcasters Union (EBU). FIMS standardizes service interface definitions for implementing media-related operations in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). As one example of how FIMS can be used, a system that ingests and prepares content for playout and non-linear delivery can leverage FIMS to interact flexibly with media capture, transfer and transform products from multiple vendors. By using standard interfaces, system components can easily be added, updated and removed in response to changing business requirements and demand.

As members of the FIMS technical board, Signiant led a project to design and develop a test harness to allow organizations working with FIMS to perform independent validation using data-driven simulators for service consumers and providers. The ultimate goal of the test harness is to remove barriers to FIMS adoption and promote implementation of FIMS-compliant interfaces.

 “The full promise of file-based workflow can only be achieved through seamless interaction between products from multiple vendors.  FIMS applies SOA principles that have transformed traditional business systems architecture to the specific requirements of media,” said Hamilton. “In this presentation we’ll share practical lessons learned building the FIMS test harness and using the test harness to validate our FIMS implementation.”

 For more information and to register online for the 2012 SMPTE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, visit www.smpte.org/atc2012.

Moderated by Brad Dick, Editor of Broadcast Engineering magazine, the expert panel features Brad Gilmer, Executive Director, Advanced Media Workflow Association; Michael Koetter, Vice President, Technology Planning, Standards and Development, Turner Broadcasting; and Ian Hamilton, Chief Technology Officer, Signiant.

This interactive session will spotlight the challenges and opportunities of asset compliance in digital media environments, and share practical information on managing media files, file compliance and building efficient file workflows.  Participants can expect to learn about:

• Emerging file format standards that enable more efficient file processing;
• Solutions for early error detection that can dramatically lower costs, time delays and rejection rates associated with receipt of improperly formatted files; and
• Building blocks for a successful asset validation strategy.

Webcast Registration
To register for the complimentary Webcast, go to www.signiant.com/news/events-webinars.

About The AMWA
The Advanced Media Workflow Association is a user-focused industry body dedicated to the promotion, development and adoption of open, accessible standards and specifications relating to file-based workflows (including AAF, MXF and other formats), Service Oriented Architectures, and Application Specifications as they apply to the areas of content creation, production, post-production, rich media authoring, archiving and distribution. AMWA members include Ad-ID, Avid Technology, BBC, CBC, Cinegy, DG, Encompass, Harmonic, IBM, Media Alliance, Metaglue, PBS, and Turner Broadcasting. For more information, visit www.amwa.tv.

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BURLINGTON, MA (September 12, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that UK-based Inflight Productions (IFP) has deployed Signiant’s Media Exchange™ and Managers+Agents™ software to accelerate the production and distribution of inflight entertainment programs. As a leading provider of engaging, tailored video content for airline passengers, IFP has implemented Signiant’s solutions as part of a broader effort to reduce, and eventually eliminate, tape from its digital production and distribution workflows.

IFP’s efficient digital workflows depend on Signiant for the secure, reliable, accelerated movement of entertainment content between the company’s London and Los Angeles locations and business partners worldwide. Workflows include content acquisition from the major studios, distributors and broadcasters who supply cinematic and television media; additional processing such as transcoding, dubbing and subtitling; and final delivery to a variety of IFE (inflight entertainment) platforms.

“Signiant’s solutions were the only ones that ticked all the boxes in meeting our file movement requirements, one of the biggest being the ability to provide iron-clad security for transferring full-resolution Hollywood movie assets. By moving away from tape, we’ve been able to reduce our costs by as much as 50 percent, and our business processes have been improved across the board,” said Andrew Beer, Vice President of Technology, IFP. “At a strategic level, Signiant’s file transfer capabilities have enabled us to take a more global view of our business and push critical tasks out to remote partners that are better equipped to handle them, such as regionalization of content. We’re also looking at Signiant as the digital delivery mechanism for packages of content that we can resell to other types of customers, such as smaller airlines and train operators, and targeting presentation platforms that will help us drive entirely new revenue streams.”

IFP has deployed Signiant Managers+Agents to facilitate the acquisition of cinema titles from The Lab, a post-production house that distributes inflight assets from a major motion picture studio. Panasonic Avionics, a leading supplier of the digital playout systems installed on aircraft, has Signiant software installed in Lake Forest, CA, and will be adding nodes at its regional media centers. In London, Signiant Media Exchange is used to manage exchanges of non-cinema content with the Los Angeles office and to acquire television assets from content providers worldwide, including the BBC.

In Los Angeles and London, secure Signiant servers manage the acquisition of movie titles and television shorts, moving them into clustered video storage where they can be accessed by IFP personnel for downstream processing according to the specifications of each airline client.  Depending on the audience and the region of travel, the video might require editing to remove offensive language and images, and the title may need to be dubbed or subtitled into many different languages.

With Media Exchange, IFP is able to transfer the material rapidly and seamlessly to vendors in many different parts of the world to access services that are not only more cost-effective, but can provide cultural expertise for the target audiences; for instance, a localization agency in Hong Kong that applies Cantonese-language subtitles, or a team in Singapore identifying material that might be objectionable to a specific audience. If the content is to be delivered to the newer digital inflight playout systems, Signiant is also used to transfer the edited video to transcoders for conversion to the required formats, and then final delivery to an integrator or directly to an airport hub.

“Among the many ideal applications of Signiant’s technology is inflight entertainment – with requirements for the secure, automated global movement of content from multiple sources to be delivered in many different formats and versions,” said Matt Thomas, Director of Sales, Signiant.  “IFP has a tremendous forward-thinking strategy for leveraging Signiant solutions to reduce the expense and delays of tape delivery processes and, in the bargain, develop more streamlined business processes and new revenue streams.”

Editor’s Note: Signiant representatives will participate in the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) 2012 Expo in Long Beach, CA, September 17-20. To arrange an onsite meeting, please contact Signiant at +1 781-221-4020.

About IFP
We are IFP. We deliver exceptional entertainment and engaging experiences throughout the passenger journey. We specialize in effective solutions for the inflight entertainment industry, including content acquisition, technical delivery, bespoke video and audio production, applications, Web design, publishing and media sales. We have unrivalled experience, playing an instrumental role in developing and shaping the inflight entertainment industry throughout our 32 year history. We have extensive global coverage with offices in London, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Auckland, Dubai, Singapore and Duisburg. We work with leading clients including American Airlines, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Eva Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Philippine Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

To learn more, contact IFP at info@weareifp.com or call us on +44 (0) 20 7400 0700.

AMSTERDAM (September 7, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that at IBC 2012 it will demonstrate technology that enables Signiant users to validate media files against both customer-defined and industry-standard specifications — such as AMWA AS-11 and Digital Production Partnership (DPP) SD and HD formats — prior to transfer. By enforcing asset compliance on the front end of the process, the solution dramatically lowers costs, time delays and rejection rates associated with receipt of improperly formatted files.

The patent-pending technology provides a cloud-based directory of broadcast content specifications and a mechanism for automatically checking files against a chosen specification. By registering their own customized delivery specification or referencing an industry standard, media enterprises can provide a readily accessible, uniform means of asset validation to their entire content delivery ecosystem. Significant throughput improvements at the ingest stage are possible when content partners are able to ensure compliance easily prior to submission.

“As the de facto standard for moving broadcast content across the U.K. and Europe, Signiant is working closely with the DPP, AMWA and others to help customers and the industry advance, manage and enforce file format policies with our products,” said David Nortier, EMEA Managing Director, Signiant. “This cloud-based technology, scheduled for first availability in our enterprise products later this year, is a direct result of this work.”

The new asset validation technology lets Signiant administrators associate a delivery specification template with a file transfer process or workflow. When processing a delivery, the system creates a “metadata fingerprint” of the file and sends it to the cloud for validation against the delivery specification. This minimizes the data transfer necessary to check the file and moves validation out of the client into the cloud. If the file conforms to the assigned specification, then the transfer or automated process is allowed to continue. If it does not comply, a description of noncompliance is returned, and users are allowed to retry.

“With reported file rejection rates as high as 50 percent, the challenge and costs of managing file conformance has led media companies to tackle this complex problem in myriad ways — with marginal success. Despite best efforts, existing approaches remain highly labor-intensive and error-prone,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management for Signiant. “Our technology addresses the direct impact that the front end of the supply chain can have on the back end from business efficiency and cost perspectives. What we have built will help customers manage the volume and complexity of multiplatform delivery specifications in a more efficient, automated way.”

Editor’s Note: A demonstration of the company’s new file format validation technology utilizing a proposed DPP HD file format specification will be featured in Signiant’s stand 14.621 at IBC 2012.

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Delegates at this year’s IT Broadcast Workflow conference heard one vendor’s name above all others. Virtually every file-based architecture, it seemed, relied on bringing content from producers into the broadcaster’s infrastructure using UDP acceleration products from Signiant. Over little more than a decade this company has come from nothing to lead a new technology sector.

“The company originated as a development inside Nortel, the Canadian telco,” according to Margaret Craig, the well-known industry figure who is now Signiant CEO. “Their own research labs needed a way to move big code around development centres. Nortel spun it out, at a time which was right for the media industry.”

Today the company is privately held by three venture capital firms, and so prefers not to talk about its size or its revenues. All Craig could be tempted to say is that it is growing rapidly, with worldwide operations including a substantial presence in Europe. Corporate headquarters is near Boston, and the development team is still based in Ottawa, Canada.

While it does sell in other vertical markets, its primary focus is on moving media files around, from pre-production material shared between post houses to the delivery of content from and to broadcasters worldwide. It uses either private networks like Sohonet — of which Craig is also a nonexecutive director — or the open Internet.

“Our high level proposition is in security, automation, and enterprise level monitoring and control, as well as acceleration,” she says. “We provide software to manage connections, and we work with service providers to deliver a managed service.”

Between the Layers

What Signiant sells is a software layer to manage connections, including the use of an IP acceleration protocol to get the best possible speed out of the available bandwidth. Craig admits “our software was always powerful, but it needed an IT guy to make it sing. Our new offering makes it more accessible.”

That accessibility comes in two ways. First, the client is easy to use, and versions are available for Web browsers and tablets as well as desktop computers. Second, Signiant is moving into a new business model by offering the software on a subscription basis. This will allow, for instance, a post house that wins work on a particular project to be able to connect with collaborators just for the duration of that project without significant capital costs. The model even works for individual artists or editors.

“For a single user you might pay a few hundred euros a month,” Craig says. “You can build your own portal with a logo and picture, and then move content over a standard connection.”

This new model, introduced at NAB this year and a major focus of Signiant’s presence at IBC2012, also offers a store and forward service through a privately managed cloud.

“This is what our customers told us they want. The same back end, heavy-duty enterprise automated stuff with the core software at each end. But they are not comfortable with the public cloud, so we are taking that limitation away for them,” Craig says. “That is scalable: the same toolset can be used within a huge enterprise.”

It is easy to view Signiant technology as the mechanical business of getting very large media files from point A to point B. That is the top-level view, but doing it in a way that is of value to broadcasters requires more. Security is a prime concern, not just in the use of private Signiant servers in the cloud and at user premises, but while the content is in transit. A unique secure socket layer (SSL) security model minimises the risk of hackers tacking into the media. Increasing the ease of use is also a central concern. The system has always had enterprise-wide monitoring and control, so a user can see how a transfer is going, what bandwidth is being used and when a successful move will be complete. Now the emphasis is on automating that file exchange.

David Nortier is Signiant’s general manager for the EMEA region, which he set up at the beginning of 2006. “We started out by doing a lot of work with the BBC,” he says. “We wanted to get a handle on what broadcasters needed to do. “More recently we have been working with the Digital Production Partnership, the group of UK broadcasters which has come together to establish standards for programme delivery,” he continues. “What is clear is that broadcasters want automated delivery, with compliance checking before a file is sent.”

What the DPP is saying is that, given there is a defined standard for the presentation of file-based content to broadcasters, then you can check for that, and for any customer-specific requirements, in the pre-flight check before the file is sent. If the file comes from a trusted source, then it can go straight into the broadcaster’s asset management.

“We have extended our workflow engine to create a DPP-compliant system, which we will be showing at IBC this year,” said Nortier. “We think that will encourage the post community to look at Signiant.”

Craig takes up the workflow aspect of the technology. “With automated processing and compliance checking before delivery, broadcasters and their suppliers can build a distributed workflow that does not waste the bandwidth. With intelligence in the system you can make the workflow better,” she adds. “The aim is to get assets to air. By prioritising the delivery for content that is close to air, you can help broadcasters achieve tight day and date deadlines.

“At Signiant we talk about ‘powerfully simple file movement’,” Craig concludes. “We think this really is the right time for file-based delivery technology, the inflection point where it becomes mainstream. We think we hit the sweet spot with both the heavy lifting and the ease of use.”

LONDON (September 4, 2012) – Sohonet, the leading expert in connectivity and data management for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that it will integrate Signiant’s new Media Shuttle™ software into its customer portal and file exchange solution. The powerful new Sohonet Hub service enables global members of the Sohonet Media Network community to find, communicate and share information and digital content with other members quickly and effectively. As an embedded feature of the Sohonet Hub, FileRunner will provide Sohonet Media Network users with easy-to-use tools for secure, accelerated and managed transfers of high-value media assets.

Damien Carroll, Chief Operating Officer, Sohonet, said, “Our Sohonet Media Network customers have frequently requested that we provide a file delivery application to help them transfer content to other network members. After careful evaluation of the products available in the market, we decided that by integrating Signiant’s Media Shuttle technology into the Sohonet Hub, we could build on the application expertise of Signiant and offer our customers a tailor-made delivery application that is attuned to their precise needs. Signiant is ahead of the game with its intelligent file transfer solutions, so it made perfect sense to partner with the company to deliver a powerful new file delivery service for our customers.”

Sohonet Hub enables Sohonet’s customers to network with each other more effectively and take full advantage of their membership in the world’s largest private media and entertainment network, whose members include the biggest names in TV, film and advertising. The addition of Sohonet FileRunner, the media transfer capability based on Signiant Media Shuttle, represents the next phase of development for the Sohonet Hub, which will also include a portal to Sohonet’s storage and render offerings, graphs and metrics on bandwidth usage and performance and access to Sohonet’s 24/7 support ticketing system.

“The launch of Sohonet FileRunner marks the start of a series of exciting, value-added services that Sohonet will be layering over existing offerings to ensure a consistently high-level customer experience across the globe,” added Carroll. “With the embedded Media Shuttle technology, Sohonet FileRunner will enable Sohonet members to move critical content quickly, securely and intelligently via our superfast, high-performance Sohonet Media Network. We’re confident that this capability will make a significant difference in the way many of our customers do business.”

Introduced at the 2012 NAB Show, Media Shuttle’s patent-pending cloud connector technology gives media workgroups the convenience and ease of use of subscription-based file transfer services, but without file size limits or the security risks associated with storing high-value assets in the cloud. An effective alternative to FTP or unmanaged file transfer products for moving large media files, Media Shuttle offers the same industry-leading security and acceleration protocols for high-speed file transfers as Signiant’s award-winning enterprise infrastructure products.

“The Sohonet Media Network community has an enviable reputation as the world’s largest dedicated media network, boasting key players in the international film and broadcast industry across the entire ecosphere of content creation and distribution,” said Tom Canavan, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development, Signiant. “As one of the early adopters of Media Shuttle, Sohonet is committed to offering value-added tools for rapid, secure and managed transfer of valuable and critical content. We’re pleased that Media Shuttle is playing such a key role in the launch of Sohonet Hub, which will significantly enhance the way that Sohonet customers interact with each other and exchange media assets.”

About Sohonet
Sohonet is the only global expert in connectivity and data management services for the media and entertainment industry. With more than 15 years’ experience, Sohonet offers an extensive range of solutions backed up by unrivaled technical support to enable clients to manage and transfer valuable and critical content quickly, securely and effectively. The Sohonet Media Network is the largest and most established private, high-performance network for the media industry connecting the leading studios, production and post-production facilities across the globe. Sohonet provides site-wide connectivity for the world’s leading film and television studios, such as Pinewood Studios, Leavesden Studios, Shepperton Studios, 3 Mills Studios, Lantana Studios Complex (Los Angeles), Fox Studios, NBCUniversal and Warner Roadshow Studios (Brisbane). For more information, visit www.sohonet.com.

The toughest five weeks you’ll ever love.

The tagline for HBO Sports’ Hard Knocks, now in its seventh season, may refer to the players fighting to make the Miami Dolphins’ 53-man roster, but it’s just as relevant for the guys behind the scenes as well.

“It’s become a rallying point for all of us involved in the project,” says Ken Rodgers, supervising producer for NFL Films and show head of Hard Knocks. “It is the toughest five weeks we ever love. As [NFL Films President] Steve Sabol says, it’s our Super Bowl before the season even starts.”

Certainly, the turnaround speed and massive amount of footage present a herculean challenge for the Hard Knocks crew, both on-site and at NFL Films’ headquarters in Mount Laurel, NJ. Given that the site for this year’s season is more than 1,000 miles away from NFL Films, Rodgers was faced with the added challenge of distance.

For the first time in Hard Knocks history, no footage was shot on tape. Rodgers’ crew shot more than 250 hours of footage per week, feeding it to Mount Laurel through a secure, 24-hour 1 GB data line using Signiant file-accelerated transfer software. The abundance of footage was copied to a hard drive in Miami before file transfer, archived to LTO tape and spinning disc in Miami, and archived to LTO tape and spinning disc in Mount Laurel.

“It’s not that we were a little nervous about shooting strictly digital,” explains Ed Sherrier, director of new media services for NFL Films, “but we wanted to make sure that we were covered in any eventuality.”

Material sent from Miami was available to producers and editors in Mount Laurel in less than four hours and was cut on Apple Final Cut Pro 7 and Avid Media Composer.

On the Field, in the Front Office, Under Water

The primary camera in the Hard Knocks arsenal was the Panasonic HPX-3100 P2 camcorder. Slow-motion shots were captured with the ARRI Alexi camera, which shoots 60 or 120 frames and records to SxS cards in ProRes 4:2:2 format. The Canon C300 supplies B-roll and interstitial footage, and remote-controlled GoPro cameras capture footage in elevators and hallways.

“[In] previous times, you would have to basically wait for a shot to happen in 30 minutes: you’d have to prestart the camera, let it roll, have all that extraneous stuff that nobody would ever use, and then try to weave through [the footage] when it got back [to Mount Laurel],” says Allen M. Sandrow, equipment manager for the camera department. “Now you can start the camera five, 10 minutes before the shot is going to happen.”

For the opening sequence, Rodgers secured a Red Epic camera and special housing to shoot 4K and 5K images underwater. POV shots from the coach’s booth during weekly games were supplied by Iconix Video HEAD-RH1 compact HD camera system head, which recorded to AJA Ki Pro. Panasonic AW-HE120 robotic cameras, also recording to Ki Pros, rounded out the complement and gave the crew a way to capture all-access footage unobtrusively.

“Our cameras are allowed everywhere,” says Rodgers. “The access is full, and that’s no more evident than in the meeting rooms and front offices, where we have the robotic cameras that are controlled remotely by our camera operator. It would be both impractical and intrusive to have a four-person crew come into an office and shoot a conversation between a head coach and a player who is being cut, or being congratulated. Instead, we capture all of that through cameras placed in the room weeks ahead of time and camera mikes placed throughout the room that capture the audio.”

With the exception of the Panasonic robotic cameras, which are shot in 60i, Hard Knocks is shot entirely in 24p.

Everybody’s Talking at Me

Audio presents another challenge to the Hard Knocks crew: not the capture necessarily but the organization. For the two daily practices, up to 12 players and/or coaches are miked, which adds up to approximately 70 sessions of audio material throughout the five weeks of training camp. With a weekly game and the additional wiring of players outside of practice, Rodgers estimates that he has to deal with the audio for approximately 100 different people.

“The real challenge with audio comes from the fact that, unlike [an application like NVIDIA] SceniX, where you can spot [a good-looking shot] right away, some of the audio won’t pay off until two days later,” says Rodgers. “If someone’s discussing a particular type of a play they want to work on, and then, three days later, we capture that person doing well with that play or not doing well with that play, we have to know that that earlier sound bite exists.”

A complicated but efficient logging system combined with a cataloging system based on numerical identifiers for both hi-res and lo-res material keeps the Hard Knocks crew aware of where material lives — pivotal to quickly turning 250 hours of footage into a one-hour weekly show.

There’s the Expected, Then There’s Chad Johnson

The heart of any documentary lies in its subjects, and Hard Knocksis no different. Rodgers’s team targets about two dozen possible storylines prior to the start of camp, but, because the show is entirely unscripted, these are often quickly replaced by storylines no one could have expected.

“We don’t influence anything on-site, from who people room with to who makes the team to what they eat or when they do anything,” Rodgers explains. “We certainly went into camp thinking Chad Johnson’s story would be one of redemption and finding his way back after a subpar season in New England to the top of the wide-receiver ranks. We could have never imagined that, in the second episode, it would turn on a dime and feature his cut from the team. The challenge with documentary filmmaking is letting go of what you think is going to happen or what you would like to happen and focusing on what’s actually happening.”

Worth the Hard Work

The final episode of this season of Hard Knocks will air on Tuesday Sept. 4, wrapping up a grueling five weeks for players and crew alike.

“The players and coaches who’ve been featured on Hard Knocks always say that they’re amazed [by] the manpower, the work ethic, and the length of time our crews have to [work],” says Rodgers. “Because, when the players wake up and arrive at the facility, we’re there, and, when they’re going to bed, we’re also there, and they realize that it takes hours on both ends to both set up and break down for the day.”

However, for Rodgers’s crew, the long days are well worth seeing a week’s worth of hard work pay off each Tuesday night.

“It’s the hardest job we do all year long, and we are beaten down during it,” says Rodgers. “[But] when the show is over, all of us look at each other and say, when can we start again?”

BURLINGTON, MA (August 15, 2012) — Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that MEDIA BROADCAST has introduced a new high-speed file transfer service for its broadcast and production customers based on Signiant’s Managers+Agents™ software.  As one of Europe’s leading media service providers, MEDIA BROADCAST is extending its enhancing broadcast network with Signiant software to enable clients to transfer digital media in a fast, secure and managed fashion.

Signiant’s enterprise-class software solutions are designed to address all aspects of file-based media movement — including acceleration, automation, security and control — across global networks. Part of Signiant’s compatible product suite, Managers+Agents is optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration.

“This new service is a true win for our company. Using Signiant, our customers have the ability to share critical media files over our real-time network at speeds five times faster than they could using a basic Internet connection, and exponentially faster than old-style, tape-based workflows — with assurance that their content is protected and secure,” said Rafael Dornes, Product Manager of Broadcast Next Generation Network (NGN) Solutions at MEDIA BROADCAST. “Through this offering, called MeXS, MEDIA BROADCAST is able to extend its portfolio of value-added services, supporting our clients’ existing production workflows and integrating them into the workflows of their business partners.”

Supporting a connected community of more than 130 broadcasters and production companies in Germany, Vienna, Brussels, Paris and London as well as North America, MEDIA BROADCAST’S MeXS service lets users exchange pre-recorded video and audio content within the secure confines of the MEDIA BROADCAST network — often in a matter of seconds depending on the size of the files and resolution of the content.  MEDIA BROADCAST customers, with an existing connection to the company’s Broadcast NGN solutions, are automatically enrolled in the MeXS community, making them instantly reachable for file transfers via the NGN address book.

Since MEDIA BROADCAST services complement existing deployments of Signiant software and services industry-wide, customers that have deployed Signiant internally to facilitate file transfers among their own regional locations can further extend those workflows to encompass other members of the MeXS community.

“With MeXS, MEDIA BROADCAST has recognized an opportunity to expand its business model with a new service that meets an important, unmet need for its customers to move media files securely and efficiently,” said Joachim Bause, Signiant’s General Manager for Central Europe. “We are pleased to bring greater efficiency to their operations through our award-winning file movement software.”

About MEDIA BROADCAST

MEDIA BROADCAST is a leading service provider for the broadcast and media industries inGermany. MEDIA BROADCAST’s core business comprises the planning, installation and operation of multimedia transmission platforms inGermanyand internationally for television and radio companies, based on modern transmitter, cable and satellite networks. Some 750 national and international customers are comprehensively supported by MEDIA BROADCAST: public and private broadcasters, TV and radio production companies, international broadcasters and network operators, media companies and the cinema industry.

BURLINGTON, MA (August 7, 2012) — Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Broadmedia, Japan’s leading content distributor, has deployed the company’s software for a major new Digital Cinema Package (DCP) delivery service. Working with Signiant’s Japanese reseller, Photron, Broadmedia has already connected 80 cinemas nationwide, with hundreds more to be added across major exhibition chains in the next few years.

Offering extensive content aggregation services for broadcast, theatrical releases, video on demand, pay-TV, game and mobile delivery, Broadmedia is using Signiant Managers+Agents™ to capitalize on the cinemas’ broadband Internet connectivity for faster and more efficient delivery of digital theatrical releases.

“With an average finished file size of greater than 250 GB moving over a 50 Mbps broadband Internet connection to the theater, it could take approximately 12 hours to deliver a single digital cinema package,” said Yasushi Mishima, Director of Photron. “If you are sending to two theaters, files can move overnight. However, if you send to many more theaters anarchically, there is congestion at the distributor end, and it could take months to distribute the DCPs. Using Signiant to manage accelerated file transfers to theaters, we can ensure more predictable and proportional delivery times.”

A core component of Signiant’s compatible enterprise product suite, Managers+Agents™ is optimized for automated batch file transfers and workflow integration. Unlike other solutions, it features advanced resource management that provides sophisticated control of network bandwidth and server resources. This allows administrators to prioritize the delivery of assets between sites and control bandwidth usage to specific locations or servers based on content delivery windows to ensure that systems or networks are not overloaded.

“This partnership is a significant step forward for Signiant in the region’s growing DCP market, and provides the best possible file transfer solution for Broadmedia,” said Michael Burnie, Managing Director of Signiant Asia-Pacific and Japan. “Broadmedia has found a proven software-based solution that not only delivers acceleration, but also the ability to allocate bandwidth intelligently and manage, track and approve file transfers centrally.”

“By utilizing Signiant, we have the flexibility to support the large-scale distribution requirements of this new DCP delivery service. After an extensive evaluation, Signiant was the clear choice to support our ongoing rollout,” said Toshihito Kubo, Director of Broadmedia. “We are pleased with the work of Photron in support of this initiative, and we look forward to bringing more than 500 screens online.”

About Broadmedia
Broadmedia has established a unique position as a content distributor with its own technology platforms. Broadmedia provides content from domestic and foreign content holders to a full line of media including TV, theatrical, Internet, mobile and DVD. Through its Technology Services segment, Broadmedia offers content delivery network services using advanced technology. In addition, Broadmedia sells broadband Internet and mobile connectivity services, and hopes to contribute to the development of a more prosperous community through the dissemination of high-quality content. For more information, visit www.broadmedia.co.jp.

About Photron Ltd.
Photron focuses on providing sophisticated Media & Entertainment solutions to high-end markets specializing in broadcast, production, post-production, and animation. Photron works with each customer to design and implement effective workflows employing advanced digital technologies and backed by high-quality support. For more information, visit www.photron.co.jp.

Founded in 1969, Gencom is the longest serving provider of technology expertise and solutions to the New Zealand broadcasting and multimedia industry. Gencom designs and builds facilities for all facets of studio production, TV station playout, transmission, outside broadcast, IPTV, Web streaming, archiving and media management. As a result, Gencom invests heavily in its designers and engineers to keep them abreast of new and emerging technologies such as HDTV, 3DTV, OTT and IPTV and today’s complex media workflows.

“We are committed to working with the world’s premier equipment manufacturers and providing the best-available technology, and we take pride in the longstanding relationships we build with our suppliers,” said Ray Sanders, Gencom CEO. “Signiant’s world-class products fit perfectly into our portfolio of leading brands, and we look forward to working with Signiant to address demand in our region for secure and accelerated file movement solutions.”

Used today by many of the world’s top broadcasters, studios, media service providers, sports networks and game developers, Signiant’s products include Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Media Shuttle™, offering enterprises of any size the convenience and ease of subscription-based services without the file size limits or security risks associated with moving media in the cloud.

“As we continue to develop new business opportunities across the Asia/Pacific region, we will rely on a network of highly qualified partners such as Gencom to apply their local expertise and build brand awareness for our solutions, Gencom has an outstanding reputation for delivering specialized solutions to media and broadcast customers, and will be an ideal ambassador for Signiant’s solutions in the region,” said Michael Burnie, Managing Director for Signiant Asia/Pacific and Japan.

About Gencom Technology

Gencom Technology is a leading provider of integrated media technology solutions with a reputation for inspiration, partnership and support. End-to-end technology solutions for the broadcast, multimedia and telecommunication industries are Gencom’s specialty. As the telco and broadcast industries have converged, Gencom has kept at the forefront of technological developments such as HDTV transmission, media asset management and new delivery technologies like IPTV. Gencom’s head office, including a world-class design centre and factory, is located in Auckland, New Zealand. The company also has regional offices and a second factory in Singapore, and maintains offices in Wellington, Sydney and Johannesburg to provide design and support services internationally. For more information, visit www.gencom.com.

David Peto, CEO of Aframe Inc., is pumped about the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games – and not just because, as he says, his company is located “bang in the middle of town” in the city which will be the center of worldwide attention for the next two weeks.

Aframe, which opened its U.S. headquarters in Burlington in June, is one of a handful of New England-based tech companies which are contributing in small ways to make the London 2012 Olympics a reality. Aframe will be using its cloud-based video sharing and editing software to help transmit footage of various events to more than 50 broadcasters worldwide. Earlier this year, the Olympic Delivery Authority retained TV production firm SMS Media in London to produce promotional video clips, which in turn used post production house Azimuth to produce the content. Peto told Mass High Tech that rather than sending out hard drives or DVDs of the video, Azimuth used Aframe’s online service to get the clips to broadcasters across the globe, including the BBC, ITV, Sky, NBC and CNN. Aframe’s tagging system allows them to quickly find and select specific clips, including one of the construction of major structures related to the Olympics over the past five years.

“If you’ve seen any time lapse video of the of the Olympic Stadium on ABC or CNN, that will probably have come from us,” he said.

Burlington-based Signiant Inc. is also heavily involved in the video processing and distribution efforts. Brian Bailey, Signiant’s vice president of global services, said that Signiant’s software has been managing the transport as well as the processing of video for major broadcasters since 2006, and it’s technology has been used in the past couple of Olympics Games. He said that ABC, NBC, ESPN and Fox Sports are all clients, and while it’s used extensively for coverage of the Olympics Games, those broadcasters use the software year round for live sports coverage.

The software is aimed at media files, and has the ability to get it from reporters and videographers on the ground, and can convert it to various other formats as needed by the various departments, including editing and quality control.

“We’re the one that orchestrates all that,” he said.

On the medical device side, at least one local company – Chelmsford-based Zoll Medical Corp. – will know its technology could help save a life in the Olympic water polo team. Jonathan Bowman, director of public safety for Zoll, said that Jen Rottenberg, head of marketing for USA Water Polo, discovered the company at a trade show about a year ago.

“She came up to our booth and fell in love with the product,” he said. Zoll began talking to the organizations about a deal to put one of its AED Plus defibrillators at each one of the 500 clubs nationwide. Then, a few months ago, the organization decided to send one of the devices overseas with the men’s and women’s to the Olympic Summer games. Bowman said that an AED Plus went over with the women’s team on July 23.

The device, which came out in 2002, monitors how hard the user is pushing on the patient’s chest. Contrary to popular opinion, Bowman said, the danger with defibrillators is that the users often don’t push hard enough to have the best chance of saving someone’s life, so the AED Plus both tells the user and shows them on a screen how hard they are pushing.

In past years, local companies have also had a hand in Olympic projects. In 2010, Billerica-based Belmont Instruments reported that the Olympic Organizing Committee asked the company to install its blood infusion product, the Belmont Rapid Infuser, at the mobile hospital that treated Olympic athletes at the Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

For the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, thanks in part to the need for tight security, Wilmington-based Implant Sciences recorded more than $7 million in orders for its Quantum Sniffer portable explosives detectors. Implant launched its explosives-detection business six years earlier.

Also in 2008, Nashua, N.H.-based Sky-Skan Inc., which develops projection systems for planetariums, was part of China’s plan to spruce up Beijing. The company got a two-year project that resulted in the installation of what it called the world’s highest-resolution digital dome theater after a $7 million to $8 million renovation of the Beijing Planetarium.

The 51-year-old theater, with a dome screen that is 75 feet in diameter and with seating for 600 people, included a system that displays 35 million unique pixels per frame, nearly four times the resolution of previous systems.

BURLINGTON, MA (July 24, 2012) — Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced the release of its new Media Shuttle™ file delivery solution, including a free 14-day trial available at www.mediashuttle.com.  Introduced at the 2012 NAB Show, Media Shuttle’s patent-pending cloud connector technology gives media workgroups the convenience and ease of use of public cloud file-sharing services, but without file size limits or security risks associated with storing high-value assets in the cloud. Monthly subscription-based pricing makes Media Shuttle an ideal solution for production projects, and lets organizations easily scale usage as needed.

An effective alternative to FTP or unmanaged, point-to-point file transfer products for sending large media files, Media Shuttle offers the same industry-leading security and acceleration protocols for high-speed file transfers as Signiant’s enterprise infrastructure products. Unlike services that store content in the public cloud, Media Shuttle provides an easy-to-use file delivery interface in the cloud but keeps content within the secure control of the enterprise network – with centralized visibility of transfers, including job status, bandwidth usage and user activity.

“Designed with extensive market feedback, Media Shuttle is the perfect solution for any size media operation – from small post houses with little or no IT staff of their own to large media enterprises looking to reduce the IT support requirements for large numbers of internal and external users,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management at Signiant. “Media Shuttle lets operations managers create powerful file delivery environments with no restrictions on file size while IT professionals have the peace of mind that the organization’s content is safe and secure.”

Media Shuttle is available immediately in two versions: Media Shuttle Standard Edition, a downloadable single-portal solution for project teams up to 50; and Media Shuttle Enterprise Edition, a multi-portal solution scalable to thousands of users. Easy-to-use branding tools allow media operations or project leaders to customize their own file transfer portal with graphics and logos, configure notifications and language settings, and invite users to become instantly productive. Building on the capabilities of Media Shuttle Standard Edition, Media Shuttle Enterprise Edition is designed to ease organizational IT support requirements with added features for delegated administration, pooled user access, storage management and server load balancing to ensure optimal performance across multiple file transfer portals.

Free 14-day Media Shuttle Standard Edition Trial

For more information on Media Shuttle, and to sign up for a free 14-day trial subscription to Media Shuttle Standard Edition, visit www.mediashuttle.com or call +1 781-221-4020.

BURLINGTON, MA (June 28, 2012) — Produced by Media & Entertainment Strategy Advisors (MESA) in association with the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA), Signiant will host a Webcast titled “Locking Down Digital Content Security” on Tuesday, July 10, at 11 a.m. PDT. The moderated, one-hour panel will feature a discussion with top security executives from Fox Entertainment Group and Deluxe Digital Studios, two of the world’s largest and most globally dispersed media companies, on their own innovative approaches to managing secure media exchanges in private, public and hybrid cloud environments.

MESA Executive Director Guy Finley will moderate the panel, which will include Jeff Dow, Senior Vice President, Information Security and Infrastructure, Fox Entertainment Group; Joel Bigley, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations and Business Execution, Deluxe Digital Studios; Richard Atkinson, Director, Worldwide Anti-Piracy, Adobe; and Ian Hamilton, Chief Technology Officer, Signiant.

“In digital production environments, media enterprises of all types have one thing in common: the requirement to move very large content files between business partners rapidly, securely and in a carefully controlled fashion,” said Hamilton. “The advent of globally dispersed supply chains, multiplatform workflow complexities and shrinking distribution windows has spurred the need for greater content security and differentiated levels of service for users inside and outside of the media organization — at user, system and network levels. Safeguarding media assets against security breaches without jeopardizing the benefits of seamless media exchanges requires a thorough understanding of how cloud technologies work.”

“Locking Down Digital Content Security” is ideal for senior executives and directors of content security, technology, operations and media services. Target operations include studios, postproduction facilities, digital media services, broadcast TV, cable networks, game publishers, and other content owners and distributors.

Webcast Registration
For more information and to register, visit http://www.signiant.com/news/events-webinars.

Under the new partnership agreement, Future Reality will add Signiant’s secure media file transfer solutions to its extensive portfolio of software and service offerings. Experts in production systems for editing, content creation, digital intermediate workflow and film-resolution shared storage solutions, Future Reality also provides a range of system design, installation and integration services; hardware and peripherals; and high-speed international network connectivity.  Future Reality’s customers include Animal Logic, Deluxe, Digital Pictures, Nine Network and XYZ Networks.

“Increasingly digital production environments require more efficient ways for content owners and creators to ingest, move and distribute media,” said David Edgar, Managing Director at Future Reality. “Signiant gives these organizations the level of security, acceleration, automation and enterprise control they need — together with flexibility and ease of use — in a suite of compatible software solutions.  We are delighted to add this powerful file transfer software to our technology offerings.”

Used today by many of the world’s top broadcasters, studios, media service providers, sports networks and game developers, Signiant’s products include Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Media Shuttle™, offering enterprises of any size the convenience and ease of use of cloud-based file-sharing services without the file size limits or security risks associated with storing media assets in the cloud.

“With years of success serving the needs of broadcast and post-production customers in Australia and New Zealand, Future Reality truly understands the requirements of media enterprises,” said Michael Burnie, Managing Director for Signiant Asia-Pacific and Japan. “The partnership between our companies allows Future Reality to address growing market demand in the region for more cost-efficient and reliable file-based media transfer solutions, and also enables Signiant to further increase its ability to secure media exchanges within and between organizations worldwide.”

Click here for a complete list of Signiant resellers worldwide.

Editor’s Note:
Visit Signiant in stand 4U2-04 at BroadcastAsia2012, June 19-22, Suntec Singapore.  For more information on this event, go to www.broadcast-asia.com.

About Future Reality
Founded in 1993, Future Reality provides technology and services for broadcast television, video post-production and film special effects companies in Australia and New Zealand. The Future Reality brand is well-known and trusted by customers for quality and professionalism. With extensive industry knowledge and nearly two decades of experience selling and supporting software-based systems across a broad range of platform and operating systems, Future Reality has a proven track record of strong technical pre-sales and post-sales support for the products they carry, which include Apple, Assimilate, Avid, Bright Technology, Codex Digital, Da Vinci, EMC Isilon, HDS and Sohonet. .

Media Connect is designed to give broadcasters and the media community a powerful gateway that facilitates rapid, cost-effective content distribution across Australia as well as to and from major media hubs worldwide.

“This partnership builds on our existing agreements with international alliances, enabling users of the AAPT Media Connect service powered by Signiant to exchange content with partners and other creative agencies in major international centers including London and Los Angeles,” said David Yuile, CEO at AAPT.

“Media Connect enables AAPT customers to link up with tens of thousands of media professionals across the globe who use our software to accelerate, automate and secure file deliveries,” said Rick Cramer, Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Signiant. “This partnership is testament to the flexibility, ease-of-use, breadth of capabilities and global reach that Signiant solutions provide.”

AAPT Media Connect uses a hosted Signiant service, allowing private and public content exchange or a combination of both. The network will provide flexible models to the market, applicable to all levels and sizes of the media community, with low barriers to entry. A major broadcaster, for example, using a tapeless, end-to-end workflow for internal production processes would be able to use AAPT Media Connect as the gateway for the delivery of material, via a DMZ covering both domestic and international distribution and acquisition.

“The benefits of AAPT Media Connect to the end customer include increased speed, reliability and security of delivery,” Mr. Yuile said. “When we combine AAPT’s platform with Signiant’s ability to manage delivery receipts, and scheduling of content delivery, we have a product perfect for a constantly changing global media landscape.”

About AAPT
AAPT is one of Australia’s leading telecommunications infrastructure companies, offering data, cloud and Internet services for business, government and wholesale customers, via its extensive national network. AAPT is 100% owned by Telecom New Zealand (TEL). AAPT is one of only three Australian telecommunications companies to own and operate a national voice and data network and it has one of Australia’s most extensive and highest-quality IP networks. AAPT is a business telecommunications infrastructure company that strives to deliver extreme performance across every level of the organization. Its dedicated focus is on creating partnerships with its business customers unmatched by its competitors.

“After testing for a recent DTM race, we were sold on Signiant. It worked perfectly and enabled our customers to download large video files at speeds that were close to real-time playout – and without any failures or dropped packets like you might expect with FTP,” said Thorsten Schroeder, Managing Director at wige MARKETING. “For a reasonable investment, we’re now able to offer our customers unprecedented speed and convenience in receiving our promotional content for playout. We are continually working to improve the quality and delivery of our HD offerings, and Signiant is an important component in that effort.”

For every DTM race, wige MARKETING uses digital transfer to distribute news content and race highlights as well as full race footage to more than 20 major sports networks worldwide. Previously, the company relied on FTP to transfer finished work to its clients, a slow process that was further complicated by the large size (up to 20GB) of the HD files in wige MARKETING’s XDCAM-based production workflows. These files had to be encoded in order to be transported over FTP, and then decoded by customers before they could be ingested into editing systems.

With Media Exchange, wige MARKETING is able to move these large media assets in a highly secure and managed fashion using a 100GB Internet connection, and at speeds that are many times faster than FTP. Because files can be sent in their native XDCAM format without requiring encoding or decoding, they can be ingested directly into customers’ editing systems to save time and streamline playout workflows. Media Exchange has been used successfully for four DTM events to date, and the system will be extended for several upcoming European racing series as well as the celebrated ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring in Germany. In addition, wige MARKETING has established a Signiant link with its associate company, Lauterbach, to exchange video content in support of the production of promotional motorsports videos.

“In the world of motorsports, wige MARKETING is a well-known global rights holder and distributor of sought-after content. The company’s decision to adopt Signiant shows its commitment to offering the highest-quality services to its customers,” said Joachim Bause, Signiant’s General Manager for Central Europe. “Media Exchange offers a powerfully simple method of moving files in a fast, secure and managed fashion to meet the business requirements of media content providers – ranging from global distributors like wige MARKETING to regional post-production houses, major studios and broadcast networks.”

About wige MARKETING
wige MARKETING has built and established a unique worldwide market position in the areas of sports and entertainment – with high-quality media rights, as a media partner for numerous global companies, and as a leading consultant for agencies, marketers, and major clients. The consulting team develops strategic concepts at wige MARKETING for brands, people, sports, and corporate social responsibility.

BURLINGTON, MA (June 6 2012) — Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, is pleased to announce that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Boston/New England Chapter, has honored employee Todd Kelly with two Emmy® Awards for his independent work on the series Jonathan Bird’s Blue World. Nominated in four categories, Kelly received Awards for Outstanding Children/Youth Program and Outstanding Magazine Feature/Segment.

The 2012 Emmy Awards were announced and presented at ceremonies held June 2, at the Copley Marriott Hotel in Boston, MA. This is the third consecutive year that Jonathan Bird’s Blue World has been awarded Emmys.

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World takes viewers on an adventurous exploration of the world’s oceans in a series the whole family will enjoy. Filmed across the globe, each episode brings viewers to the edge of their seats. In Season Three, viewers followed the touch-and-go rescue of Sully, a pilot whale found stranded on a beach in Curacao and nursed back to health. Season Three also featured segments on magical blue holes in the Bahamas, the amazing Goliath Grouper, a sinkhole in the Yucatan, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

“It is a great honor to receive these awards,” said Todd Kelly, Solution Architect for Signiant and member of the Blue World production team. “It is a proud achievement, and a testament to all of the incredible, hard work of the talented team at Blue World. It also validates how powerful these ocean adventures can be in connecting children with nature, allowing them to explore and gain understanding of the world in ways that might not otherwise be possible.”

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World has aired continuously on public television stations in the United States since May 2008. The show can be seen in Boston on WGBH, and on the Web at blueworldtv.com. Co-produced by Jonathan Bird Productions and the Oceanic Research Group, the series is broadcast in 33 states to more than 160 million viewers. Season Four of the series is scheduled for release in mid-2013.

Host and moderator, Jonathan Bird, is an underwater cinematographer, underwater photographer, producer, author of seven books and public speaker. He has produced films for National Geographic, PBS, ABC, USA Network, and the SciFi Channel. With more than a decade of production experience, Kelly joined the staff of Blue World TV in October 2010. As part of the Blue World team, he is responsible for underwater cinematography.

Based in New York, Kelly became a solution architect for Signiant in late 2011, where he assists leading film and broadcast organizations to design effective strategies for file-based media delivery. He has more than 15 years of software engineering experience at leading media technology firms such as Avid Technology, AnyStream and Integrated Computing Engines (ICE), and holds a degree in intellectual property law.

“Todd’s extensive experience with media production helps to ensure the success of Signiant customers as they manage the movement of digital media through their post-production workflows,” said Brian Bailey, Vice President of Professional Services at Signiant. “We’re exceptionally proud of Todd’s achievements, and support his passion for creating award-winning content with immense educational value.”

SINGAPORE and BURLINGTON, MA (June 4, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Ian Hamilton, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, will be a featured speaker at the upcoming BroadcastAsia2012 International Conference. His session entitled “Moving Global Content Exchanges to the Cloud,” will compare today’s private, public and hybrid cloud architectures for enterprise file transfer, including important considerations for content security, acceleration and control.

“In today’s interconnected digital environments, media enterprises of all types have one thing in common: the requirement to move very large content files rapidly, securely and in a carefully controlled fashion,” said Hamilton. “The advent of globally dispersed content supply chains, multiplatform workflow complexities and shrinking distribution windows has stimulated vast digital content flows, and resulted in the need for greater content security and differentiated levels of service for users inside and outside of media organizations. With the emergence of private, public and hybrid cloud technologies, there is no shortage of options.  The key to a successful solution is the ability to understand the differences.”

A featured session in this year’s Cloud Broadcasting track, Hamilton’s presentation will explore the realities of various cloud architectures to help attendees pinpoint the best solution for their organization.  Attendees will also learn how various systems are designed to manage authentication, authorization, data integrity, data confidentiality and non-repudiation for added security at the content, user and network levels.

As an innovator and entrepreneur with decades of industry experience, Hamilton has played a critical role in architecting infrastructure solutions for faster, more secure and managed media file exchanges. Working with some of the broadcast industries’ largest media organizations including BBC, NBC, Deluxe Digital Studios and many others, he has helped Signiant customers devise flexible strategies for maximizing the efficiency and security of file-based media acquisition, automation and distribution.

See Signiant at BroadcastAsia2012
Signiant will demonstrate its full line of enterprise file movement solutions in stand 4U2-04 at BroadcastAsia2012. Hamilton’s session, “Moving Global Content Exchanges to the Cloud” will take place on Wednesday, June 20 at 2:00 p.m. at Suntec Singapore.

BURLINGTON, MA (May 16, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced growing momentum for its software solutions within the global telecom service provider market. Telecom Italia and Emitel Poland are two of the most recent operators to adopt Signiant products for secure, accelerated file movement in support of their video-on-demand (VOD) offerings, as well as the growth of their content aggregation and distribution services.

“Today’s leading-edge telecom service providers are looking beyond their traditional business models to expand into new types of managed service offerings for their media and entertainment customers,” said Rick Clarkson, Signiant’s Vice President of Product Development. “To make these services viable and efficient, a growing number of telecom operators are deploying software from Signiant on their network infrastructure to ingest, move and distribute rich media files in a fast, secure and automated fashion, while ensuring complete control over the transfers.”

Until now, issues such as network latency, a lack of tools for asset tracking and inadequate network security have hindered service providers in their efforts to implement efficient file-based media workflows – both to support their internal processes and to deliver profitable, managed services for their media customers. Signiant addresses those issues with a complete family of software solutions that automate, accelerate and manage the secure exchange of high-value media assets.

Signiant’s compatible, enterprise product suite includes Managers+Agents™, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Media Shuttle™, offering enterprises of any size the convenience and ease of use of cloud-based file-sharing services without the file-size limits or security risks associated with storing media assets in the cloud.

As Italy’s largest telecommunications provider, Telecom Italia has purchased Signiant Managers+Agents and Signiant Media Exchange for aggregation and distribution of content to support its new video services and workflows. Likewise, Polish telecom provider Emitel has installed Signiant as the basis for a complete content distribution management infrastructure to serve its national television market.

“By accelerating workflows for secure content exchanges, Signiant’s software adds value on many levels. First and foremost, it supports the ability of telecom service providers to expand their portfolio of services and add incremental revenue beyond their traditional base,” said Clarkson. “Using Signiant, they’re also able to pass significant benefits along to their customers in the form of operational cost savings, new efficiencies and the peace of mind that comes with enterprise-level security of their video assets.”

SINGAPORE (May 9, 2012) — Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that storage industry veteran Michael Burnie has been named Managing Director of the company’s growing Asia-Pacific operations. Based in Singapore, Burnie is responsible for advancing the company’s sales and service operations in the region to meet growing demand for Signiant’s suite of file movement solutions.

During his 25-year career, Burnie has been widely credited with launching storage giants EMC Corporation, Network Appliance (NetApp) and Isilon Systems (acquired by EMC in 2010) into Australia and Asian enterprise markets, taking each from relatively obscure single-person operations to industry leadership. His success in achieving unprecedented revenue growth led to his most recent role as Isilon’s Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific operations, responsible for leading the introduction of highly scalable storage infrastructure for “Big Data” applications in media, entertainment and broadcast accounts.

“Michael’s international business experience and stand-out success in introducing new companies and products into Asia-Pacific markets will be instrumental in achieving our goals in this region over the next 12 to 18 months and beyond,” said Rick Cramer, Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Signiant. “We are delighted to welcome Michael to our management team, furthering our ability to forge strategic customer and channel relationships that drive growth in key broadcast segments across the region.”

Signiant’s enterprise-class software solutions address all aspects of file-based media movement — including automation, acceleration and control — across global networks. The compatible product suite includes Managers+Agents™ software, optimized for automated batch file transfers, advanced resource management and workflow integration; Media Exchange™, featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for moving file-based media between internal and external users; and Media Shuttle™, offering enterprises of any size the convenience and ease of use of cloud-based file-sharing services without the file-size limits or security risks associated with storing media assets in the cloud.

“The digital age continues to transform the way that media files are being created, managed, moved and stored globally, contributing to increased demand for secure, accelerated file movement solutions such as Signiant’s,” said Burnie. “It’s an honor to join on at this pivotal time in the company’s growth. I’m looking forward to establishing a thriving channel partner ecosystem that, in combination with our own direct sales efforts, will enable us to reach the next stages of the company’s growth and market leadership worldwide.”

BURLINGTON, MA and CULVER CITY, CA (May 2, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, and 5^th Kind, innovators of asset management and workflow solutions optimized for production environments, today announced a partnership to integrate Signiant’s accelerated file movement capabilities with 5^th Kind’s CORE™ platform, enabling dispersed production teams to ingest and share digital media files quickly, securely and more reliably than ever before.

Deployed on internal networks or accessed via the cloud, the scalable CORE asset management system features flexible modules to organize, search, view, track and tag any type of digital file, including footage and visual effects (VFX), and a flexible communication module for ongoing team collaboration. By seamlessly integrating with Signiant’s accelerated digital file transfer capabilities, CORE increases user productivity while significantly reducing labor and overhead costs.

“It’s our goal to deliver the broadest asset management solution – from script to screen – tailored for the entertainment industry,” said Steve Cronan, CEO of 5^th Kind. “Our collaboration with Signiant gives our studio, production and enterprise media customers the levels of centralized control, security, collaboration and ease of use that they require, and is already in use by our largest customer, Marvel Studios, to move time-sensitive VFX, audio and 3D conversions across the supply chain.”

For nearly a decade, 5th Kind’s software has helped some of the world’s largest studios streamline and secure asset pipelines on the highest budgeted film productions in the entertainment industry. With a client base that includes Disney, Aardman Animation, Warner Brothers, Marvel, 20^th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, 5^th Kind offers a range of additional services such as camera workflow integration, on-set production tools and automated burn-in watermarking.

“5^th Kind’s CORE platform is a unique digital production hub that offers clients end-to-end management support for not only media, but the full spectrum of production resources, including dailies, scripts, casting and marketing materials in a single system,” said Matt Thomas, Signiant’s Western Region Account Director. “We are pleased to work together with them to serve the needs of the media and entertainment community with capabilities that simplify and centralize access to media and materials in ways that basic point-to-point file transfer or traditional FTP solutions simply cannot.”

About 5^th Kind
5th Kind (formerly known as OTC Productions) has been an industry leader in Internet technology for more than 10 years, providing service for various projects in the film industry, state government and private business sector. Since working on the Matrix film franchise in the early 2000s, 5th Kind has been developing and refining Web-based applications that centralize all assets and communication into one system. The 5th Kind Asset Management System helps organizations to reduce costs and increase speed and efficiency by providing maximum automation, security and re-use of all assets. The system provides a user-friendly platform to communicate, track and audit asset distribution and communication history.

LONDON (24 April 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Encompass Digital Media, a global provider of advanced transmission solutions for more than 400 television network channels, has deployed Signiant software at its European facility in London to support significant new playout business. Encompass UK will employ Signiant Managers+Agents as part of an integrated workflow solution to receive secure, time-critical material from its global client base.

“We involved Signiant very early in the planning stages of this expansion, initially working with them on technical design. Completing this piece in advance enabled us to go forward quickly after we were able to ‘green light’ the project,” said Gary Finnerty, Head of Solutions and Architecture for Encompass UK. “The installation process was fast, efficient and most importantly, painless. The Workflow Designer™ in Signiant Managers+Agents gives us an automated and consistent workflow solution for new channels, and removes reliance on our engineers for bespoke scripts.”

Signiant Managers+Agents is a powerful software solution designed to handle the administration and execution of all file movement activity – including workflow modeling – in a single platform. The Manager’s Automation Engine supports the creation of flexible workflow templates as simple as moving a file from one Agent to another, or as sophisticated as directing a package for transcoding and watermarking before playout. Signiant’s onboard Workflow Designer™ models manual tasks and business logic for a specific job using required components, and then publishes the template to the Signiant library. Using these templates, jobs can be scheduled by package submissions or via system triggers such as timelines, business logic or SOAP API calls from third-party applications.

“As their clients’ channel portfolios grow, Encompass is ready to help them meet the challenge of ever-decreasing timeframes for getting new services to air,” said Gavin Tweedie, Principal Consultant at Signiant. “Working with Encompass to support their content transfer requirements is the start of a growing partnership between our two companies. By investing considerable consultative time with our client base, we are able to gain a deep understanding of their workflow challenges to deliver secure, high-performance file transfer automation solutions that integrate seamlessly into digital media supply chains.”

About Encompass Digital Media

Encompass, a leader in digital media services, owns and operates state-of-the-art, broadcast facilities throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Asia. The company’s mission-critical, media services provide broadcasters, cable networks, corporations and government entities with customized solutions for the management and distribution of content.  For more information, visit http://www.encompass-m.com.

LAS VEGAS (April 16, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced Media Shuttle™ — the easiest way to move digital media securely. Media Shuttle is the latest addition to Signiant’s family of integrated enterprise solutions, giving media workgroups the convenience and ease of use of public cloud-based file-sharing services, but without file size limits or security risks associated with storing high-value assets in the cloud.

“Media Shuttle takes the idea of ‘powerfully simple’ file movement to new levels by extending our suite of solutions to organizations that have limited IT resources, and by giving our large enterprise customers a means of freeing IT from day-to-day system management,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management at Signiant. “We put enormous focus on user experience in the development of this product. Media Shuttle is the industry’s first file movement solution expressly designed to meet the needs of media operations staff and end users, as well as engineering and IT.”

Unlike services that store content in the public cloud, Signiant Media Shuttle provides an easy-to-use interface in the cloud but maintains content within the secure control of the enterprise network. Equally powerful in large enterprise deployments and small work groups, Media Shuttle can be configured within minutes by media professionals. Simple tools allow work group leaders to brand their own file-sharing site with custom graphics and logos, configure notifications and language settings, and invite users to become instantly productive. IT professionals are freed from the task of user administration, yet they have the peace of mind that the organization’s content is safe and secure.

Media Shuttle is based on the same industry-leading security and acceleration protocols for high-speed file transfers as the company’s core infrastructure products. Yet, unlike many public cloud-based services, Media Shuttle provides centralized visibility of transfers, including job status, bandwidth usage and user activity.

With the introduction of Media Shuttle, Signiant rounds out its enterprise-class suite of integrated software solutions, addressing every aspect of the broader file movement ecosystem within a media organization. Other solutions include the flagship Signiant Media Managers+Agents™ software, optimized for automated file transfers and offering advanced resource management and workflow integration capabilities, and  Signiant Media Exchange™, an interactive system featuring desktop, Web and mobile interfaces for the exchange of file-based media between internal and external users.

Media Shuttle capabilities will be available on a subscription basis, either as an enterprise add-on option to existing Media Exchange infrastructure, or as a stand-alone offering for work group deployments. Media Shuttle and Signiant’s other industry-leading, intelligent file movement solutions are on display at the 2012 NAB Show in the Signiant booth, SL4228.  For more information on Media Shuttle, call +1 781-221-4000 or go to dev.rainbiz.com/signiant/products.

BURLINGTON, MA (April 11 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent, enterprise file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that it has joined the NetApp Alliance Partner Program. Working with some of the world’s top content creators and distributors, Signiant is collaborating with NetApp to offer industry-specific solutions for the fast, secure movement of mission-critical media and metadata integrated with NetApp FAS Data ONTAP unified storage systems and the new E-Series high-bandwidth modular storage systems.

“Signiant and NetApp already share many high-profile accounts in broadcast, studio production, sports and media services. Formalizing the alliance enables us to bring even greater value to our mutual customers,” said Tom Canavan, Signiant’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Development. “By closely integrating our offerings, our companies will address growing market demand for high-performance solutions that streamline transfer, storage, access and archival processes related to high-value digital content.”

Signiant provides a suite of software solutions for the accelerated, secure and automated exchange of media that feature unparalleled enterprise controls and reporting. This includes the flagship Signiant Managers+Agents™ software for organizations that require advanced file movement automation and workflow support, and Signiant Media Exchange™ software for content creators and distributors who need to share large media files with other users and systems easily via a Web, desktop or mobile interface.

Media organizations have a business-critical need to move and store digital media as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, while applying enterprise-level security and maintaining complete control over the exchanges. By extending the Signiant file movement workflow to NetApp storage systems, our joint solution helps media companies meet these stringent requirements. NetApp’s customers include several of the world’s largest and most recognizable broadcast and media organizations.

Editor’s Note:  At the 2012 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 16-19, NetApp will demonstrate a solution implemented by Hogarth Worldwide, a leading marketing and advertising agency, that features the Signiant file movement software working with the Vidispine® media asset management system to seamlessly and securely transfer, store and manage the company’s content on the NetApp E-Series unified storage platform. Visit NetApp booth SL11815, contact Jason Danielson at +1 650 743 6644 to schedule a demonstration, or visit Signiant booth SL4228 to learn more about the Signiant product suite.

About the NetApp Alliance Partner Program
The NetApp Alliance Partner Program provides qualified infrastructure and application providers with access to NetApp solutions, software development kits, technical support, training, certification, product information, and marketing and sales assistance. Customers benefit by having access to best-in-class partner solutions that are tested to work with NetApp storage. Additional information on the NetApp Alliance Partner Program is available at www.netapp.com/alliances.

BURLINGTON, MA (April 3, 2012) – Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that digital services provider AllDigital has deployed the innovative Signiant Managers+Agents™ software to enable fast, secure exchanges of file-based media between key business partners and clients.

“The heart of our business is digital content distribution, and Signiant is the clear leader in this area. Since many of our large broadcasting clients already have Signiant in their workflows, we’re now able to work seamlessly with them to exchange digital assets in a highly secure and managed way,” said Steve Smith, Vice President of Network Services, AllDigital. “We’re committed to integrating best-of-breed technologies into our operation, and Signiant makes it easy.  Their file movement solution is the ‘glue’ between our clients’ networks and our own, providing a means to receive content from often large and complex file systems and bring it into our source platform.”

Based on the Signiant Managers+Agents, AllDigital provides a range of file transfer services for clients with a variety of requirements for managing, moving and distributing digital assets.  One AllDigital client, a large international news broadcaster, needed to accelerate digital file transfers to meet tight distribution windows for multi-platform delivery.  The broadcaster uses Signiant to transfer short- and long-form content automatically to AllDigital for processing, transcoding and then final transmission to the Akamai content delivery network (CDN).

For another client seeking to archive a large volume of content, AllDigital employed Signiant to help the client upload their assets to a cloud-based storage solution, where the client can instantly access them. The solution enabled the client to replace a time-consuming and costly workflow where material was being archived to Blu-ray disc.

“AllDigital is leading the way in the emerging market for digital services that target media delivery to Internet-connected devices.  Because many clients require secure movement of digital media, Signiant’s software provides the flexibility and capabilities required to meet a wide range of business needs,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Development at Signiant. “As a preferred software partner to AllDigital, we are committed to helping them provide these new, cutting-edge services.”

Dalet and Signiant have announced the API integration of their flagship products at sports, postproduction, and broadcast organizations in the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands. The joint solution combines one of Dalet’s widely used media-asset-management (MAM) platform with Signiant’s file-transfer and media-delivery software.

This resulting workflow can potentially offer new efficiencies for multisite sports operations and multivenue sports productions.

“Sports coverage is a great example of how the Signiant/Dalet partnership delivers real value to customers,” says Raoul Cospen, director of marketing, Dalet. “Event coverage is dynamic and fast-paced, often involving multiple venues and production centers. With our combined solution, content for replays, highlights, and game wraps can be automatically transferred among different sites at breakneck speeds. This integration streamlines and accelerates production, giving operators, editors, and producers access to exactly the right shots from any location.”

In terms of contribution, content can be automatically imported into the system, saving time and resources. Transfers, including conversions into different formats with associated metadata, can also be automated for site-to-site or multisite delivery. Signiant leverages available bandwidth to accelerate these transfers.

“Sports production and broadcasting places immense demands on workflows and staff due to the vast amount of content and the speed with which it must be produced, compiled, and distributed,” says Rick Clarkson, VP, product management, Signiant. “Signiant’s file-movement and centralized-management technology together with Dalet’s comprehensive sports workflow products enables a completely integrated workflow involving wide-area collaboration, movement and incorporation of archive material, and distribution of clips and file-based content to affiliates and distribution platforms —  all in a totally seamless manner.”

Dalet Enterprise Edition creates a cross-system MAM with a centralized content catalog that manages media, essence files, and metadata across systems, storing and tracking contextual sets of associated multimedia along with metadata. Assets are readily searchable and accessible across the organization using Dalet tools or other third-party broadcast or business systems.

Signiant’s Media Managers+Agents software provides security, management, and control of automated file exchanges between clients, speeding such tasks as the processing of raw content, adding metadata, or formatting conversions for distribution in other countries. Meanwhile, Signiant’s Media Exchange software facilitates desktop-to-desktop transfers for distributed media organizations.

“The Dalet/Signiant partnership … [makes] multisite collaboration and access to content seamless, whether it is through a centralized content catalog or multiple independent databases that are communicating together,” says Cospen. “The Dalet workflow engine can seamlessly control the Signiant platform to trigger exchange workflows that move and copy video between multiple sites. It’s transparent for the users, and exchanges are faster and optimized.”

Clarkson adds, “We understand the complexity of what our customers are trying to accomplish and know that, as files move around the world, they must originate from and arrive into a tightly integrated technology ecosystem. Partnership with Dalet addresses this level of technical integration for customers.”

The Dalet / Signiant integration addresses a wide range of needs. In contribution workflows, content can be automatically imported into the system, saving time and resources. Transfers including conversions into different formats with associated metadata can also be automated for site-to-site or multi-site delivery. In all cases, Signiant leverages available bandwidth to accelerate the transfers and enhance workflows. Dalet Enterprise Edition creates a cross-system MAM with a centralized content catalog that manages media, essence files and metadata across systems, storing and tracking contextual sets of associated multimedia along with metadata. Assets are readily searchable and accessible across the organization using Dalet tools or other third-party broadcast or business systems.

“The Dalet/Signiant partnership is a definite win-win for our customers, making multi-site collaboration and access to content seamless, whether it is through a centralized content catalog or multiple independent databases that are communicating together,” said Raoul Cospen, Director of Marketing at Dalet. “The Dalet workflow engine can seamlessly control the Signiant platform to trigger exchange workflows that move and copy video between multiple sites. It’s transparent for the users, and exchanges are faster and optimized. It’s the perfect combination of tools for multi-site management of news, sports, program management and production or contribution workflows or consolidating a multi-site archive.”

Signiant’s enterprise-scale software integrates seamlessly with complex IT infrastructure to enable fast, efficient workflows and media-aware networks. Signiant’s Media Managers+Agents™ software provides powerful security, management and control of automated file exchanges between clients, speeding tasks such as the processing of raw content, adding metadata or formatting conversions for distribution in other countries. Signiant’s Media Exchange™ software offers distributed media organizations a powerful tool for initiating desktop-to-desktop transfers. The unified suite features patented acceleration and security protocols, provides superior user experiences and supports a range of diverse applications.

“We understand the complexity of what our customers are trying to accomplish and know that as files move around the world, they must originate from and arrive into a tightly integrated technology ecosystem,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management at Signiant. “Our partnership with Dalet addresses this level of technical integration for customers, and it is a logical step in both companies’ ongoing strategies to deliver maximum end-to-end value in workflow automation.”

About Dalet Digital Media Systems
Dalet solutions enable broadcasters and media professionals to create, manage and distribute content to both traditional and new media channels, including interactive TV, the Web and mobile networks. Dalet combines into a single system a robust and proven Asset Management platform with advanced metadata capabilities; a configurable workflow engine, and a comprehensive set of purpose-built creative and production tools. This integrated and open environment enables end-to-end management of the entire News and Sport and Program content chain, and allows users to significantly improve efficiency, and to maximize the use and value of their assets. Dalet’s solutions are delivered through a dedicated Professional and Integration Services Department to ensure the highest possible standards.

Dalet systems are used around the world by many thousands of individual users at hundreds of TV and Radio content producers, including public broadcasters (ABS-CBN, BBC, CBC, DR, France TV, RTBF, RFI, Russia Today, RSR & TSR, RT Malaysia, VOA, WDR), commercial networks and operators (Antena 3, Canal+, FOX, eTV, Mediaset, Orange, Time Warner Cable, Warner Bros., Sirius XM Radio) and government organizations (Queensland JAG, Canadian House of Commons, The European Commission). Dalet is traded on the NYSE-EURONEXT stock exchange (Eurolist C): ISIN: FR0011026749, Bloomberg DLT:FP, Reuters: DALE.PA.

BURLINGTON, MA (March 19, 2012) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced the recent signing of new and expanded installations with Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) and SRG SSR — offering clear evidence of continued momentum for secure, accelerated digital content exchanges among European broadcasters based on Signiant’s family of software solutions.

“Three of the most recognizable brands in the German, Austrian and Swiss broadcasting industries have selected Signiant to facilitate the movement of their high-value media assets. Our expanding presence among the leading players in the European broadcasting community is the direct result of Signiant’s efforts in the region over the past three years,” said Joachim Bause, Signiant’s General Manager for Central Europe. “The accelerated rate of adoption across Europe for Signiant solutions is a powerful testament to our products’ relevance and ‘fit for purpose,’ as well as our commitment to building solid partnerships with our customers as they work to improve and accelerate workflows.”

ZDF, a public-service German television channel based in Mainz, is well-known for its original programming including “Heute,” a newscast established in 1963, and “Wetten, dass . . ?,” an entertainment program launched in 1981 that has become the most successful Saturday television show in Europe. ZDF will install Signiant Manager™ and Signiant Media Exchange™ for use in its newly re-designed playout center. Signiant will serve as the single content transport method for journalists, producers and other internal and external users, bringing new efficiencies to the channel’s processes for content ingest, aggregation and distribution.

A dominant player in the Austrian broadcast industry, ORF is that nation’s public service broadcaster. Signiant Manager and Signiant Media Exchange now form the backbone for the accelerated movement of content among the broadcaster, its producers and other business partners. ORF relies on Signiant to bring new levels of security and efficiency to internal content processes such as transcoding, format conversion and archiving.

SRG SSR, Switzerland’s premier national public television broadcaster, has selected Signiant Manager to provide the file movement infrastructure for content aggregation and distribution among its French, German and Italian production centers and external partners. As with ORF, SRG SSR will also use Signiant Manager to streamline internal content processes such as automated transcoding and QC checks. This is the second large Signiant installation for SRG SSR, which recently completed a major installation for its production subsidiary, Technology and Production Center Switzerland AG (TPC). Using Signiant Manager, TPC has built a value-added service that supports the live production workflows of its broadcasting clients by providing a secure, managed system for transferring digital media quickly and efficiently.

“European media organizations have many critical requirements for global file movement, including technologies that are easy to implement and support; tools for secure, intelligent movement of high-value content assets throughout the broader media ecosystem; and the ability to support automated workflows and replace costly and time-consuming processes such as FTP or shipping tape,” Bause said. “Our continued expansion in Europe is further proof of Signiant’s increasing recognition as the market’s preferred file transfer solution.”

BURLINGTON, MA (March 7, 2012) — Signiant, a leading provider of intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced the redevelopment and expansion of its technology partner ecosystem. With Signiant solutions facilitating cross-vendor workflows for some of the world’s top media organizations, the company aims to advance vendor cooperation to bring together localized functions, such as transcoding and playout, into highly efficient global workflows.

Signiant’s partner network targets the complex challenges of today’s media companies as they rapidly expand their operations to support new delivery platforms including Web, mobile and OTT. Companies must offer support for a wide array of diverse formats, and they have a critical need to exchange files seamlessly with service providers and distribution partners around the globe. Driven by ubiquitous connectivity and other developments such as digital capture, content owners and distributors are seeking more tightly integrated workflows for media aggregation, creation and distribution as a way to meet faster delivery time frames and reduce operating costs.

“In the past, a media company might view the conversion of a post-production facility or playout center to a file-based workflow as an ‘island.’ Now, our customers talk about their global technical platform and how content must move seamlessly across it. This makes complex integration even more challenging, especially when you take into account the need for delivery to external partners and distributors,” said Tom Canavan, Signiant’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Development. “Signiant’s solution provides the backbone for these transport and delivery workflow processes, tightly integrating into the overall technology ecosystem.”

To meet these requirements, Signiant has adopted a broad partnering strategy spanning the media and entertainment value chain. Today, the company’s expanding partner ecosystem includes leading global providers of transcoding software and services, storage and archive management, automated quality control, digital asset management, conventional and channel-in-a-box playout systems, and monetization tools.

“By rekindling our commitment to active and productive partner relationships, Signiant is leading the industry toward greater vendor cooperation and support for standards,” added Canavan. “Working together, we can help our joint customers leverage their existing IT infrastructure and media technology investments to facilitate the level of innovation they require to address new business realities.”

For a complete list of Signiant’s technology partners, visit dev.rainbiz.com/signiant/technology-partners.

BURLINGTON, MA (March 5, 2012) – Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that 2G Digital, a California-based media fulfillment and post-production company, has deployed Signiant Media Manager™ and Signiant Media Exchange™ as key enabling technologies for its new state-of-the-art fiber optic-based facility in Burbank, CA.

“The economic climate of the past few years has challenged companies like ours to evolve very rapidly and adopt technologies that can advance our market leadership. In 2G Digital’s case, it meant going beyond our traditional roots in post-production to reinvent ourselves as an ultra-efficient media/file-fulfillment factory, and Signiant is central to that effort,” said Chuck Filliettaz, Owner of 2G Digital. “Signiant is critical to the automation and workflows we’ve put into place not only to remain relevant in our industry, but also to stay steps ahead of our competition. In fact, the Signiant solution has been integral to our relationships with electronic sell-thru providers, and the ability to attract new global clients.”

Among the factors that led 2G Digital to adopt the Signiant Manager solution were requests from several of the company’s large studio customers that also have existing investments in Signiant Manager, as well as 2G Digital’s recent move to its new Burbank headquarters — the first all-fiber post-production facility of its kind. Working in tandem with the high-speed fiber optic network, Signiant’s accelerated file transfer software enables 2G Digital to operate at greater capacity with a smaller and leaner facility.

Signiant’s Manager software provides powerful security, management and control of automated file exchanges between 2G Digital and studio clients that also have Signiant agents, speeding such tasks as the processing of raw content, adding metadata and closed captions, or formatting conversions for distribution in other countries. Signiant’s Media Exchange software offers 2G Digital a powerful and interactive tool for initiating desktop-to-desktop transfers, in turn enabling secure delivery of finished content to broadcasters and playout centers.

“In a business climate where so many post-production companies are being consolidated or struggle to stay relevant, 2G Digital is truly the ‘little engine that could’ — a company that has been able to adapt and thrive by embracing technologies that help it stay nimble and operate as efficiently as possible,” said Lisa Clark, Vice President of Marketing at Signiant. “We’re pleased that our software is playing such a prominent role in helping 2G Digital to create new efficiencies in aggregating and delivering digital media, allowing them to significantly expand their business opportunities across the globe.”

About 2G Digital
2G Digital is the only mid-sized post production facility competing in the exclusive world of studio/network mastering. The company actively recruits only a small, elite team of the most highly motivated people and fosters a progressive culture of creative problem-solvers who are highly focused, results-driven and passionate about execution. 2G Digital’s straight-forward application of evolving technologies has made it the most adaptive and flexible player in the market today. To learn more, visit www.2Gdigital.com.

Media fulfillment and post-production services provider 2G Digital is leveraging accelerated file transfer software by Signiant to further expand its digital delivery business.

Burbank-based 2G — one of five iTunes Preferred Vendors — currently delivers between 350 and 450 movies and television programs per week from studio clients to Apple for electronic sell-through via iTunes stores in the U.S., Germany, Japan, Mexico, and other territories. 2G owner Chuck Filliettaz tells M&E Daily that the recent installation of Signiant’s accelerated file transfer software — combined with the facility’s high-speed, fiber-optic infrastructure — has enabled the company to operate at greater capacity.

2G Digital’s post-production roots date back to 1993; the company began adding services such as digital backup and delivery following the advent of full-HD production and nonlinear editing 10 years ago. Initially, digital preparation and distribution services resisted classification. “For a long time we were saying, “We’re ‘post-post-production,’” Filliettaz says. “’Fulfillment’ is a little bit better.”

The company’s clients include major movie and TV studios which rely on 2G to ready content for sale as iTunes downloads, and to prepare programs for distribution on other digital platforms.

After one longtime studio client began requesting “special deliveries” for global markets, Filliettaz says, 2G hit upon a service niche of preparing international versions of digital content. Filliettaz says that electronic sell-through files used to contain audio dubs and subtitles for only one language. Now, the facility delivers films and TV series to Apple in what are known as “three-twelve” packages, containing three dubbed languages and subtitles in 12 languages, as the digital retailer shifts to more of a “global packaging of content.”

“Global packaging” for iTunes currently comprises more than half of 2G’s fulfillment business, Filliettaz estimates.

Matt Thomas, Signiant account manager, notes that the demand growth for digital delivery services coincides with studios’ changing approaches to global content distribution. “Where we have seen the heaviest adoption of our tools” by studios, Thomas says, is in the facilitation of “international day-and-date releases for theatrical [features], as well as condensed timeframes for television releases.”

Signiant’s Media Manager software provides security, management, and control of automated file exchanges between 2G Digital and studio clients that also have Signiant software installations (or “agents”), speeding tasks such as the processing of raw content, the addition of metadata and closed captions, and formatting conversions. With Signiant’s Media Exchange software, 2G can initiate desktop-to-desktop file transfers, which in turn enables secure delivery of finished content to playout centers and broadcasting facilities.

Acceleration of file transfers is crucial in a business that’s increasingly time-pressured, observes Filliettaz. “It’s a little like skiing on an avalanche,” he quips. “We are often given 200 to 300 titles at a time [from a given studio], on a two-week turnaround. But there’s always something inside of [each group of titles] that will be 48 hours.”

While much of the electronic sell-through package preparation still must be “done by hand to get it right,” Filliettaz says that 2G is automating “sections of the workflow” as the business commoditizes.

Filliettaz adds that while many of 2G’s major-studio customers had already employed Signiant software themselves, the facility’s installation will simplify digital delivery for more clients. “We do deals with independents that only do a few features a year,” Filliettaz notes; with these clients, “Signiant really helps level the playing field.”

Steps for Successful Global File Transfers

BURLINGTON, MA (February 22, 2012)– Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced the appointment of two industry veterans to top management positions, further strengthening the company’s executive team and market position. Tom Canavan, an industry-recognized expert in file-based systems deployment for some of the world’s largest broadcasters and media service providers, has been named Senior Vice President of Strategic Development. Lisa Clark, who has developed and positioned several leading media technology brands, has joined as Vice President of Marketing.

“The expansion of our accomplished management team at such a pivotal time in Signiant’s history reflects next steps in our strategy for growth and continued market leadership,” said Margaret Craig, Chief Executive Officer of Signiant. “The operational capacity, deep industry knowledge and enduring relationships that Tom and Lisa bring to our team will broaden our engagements with media industry customers and help to ensure that our solutions meet the current and future needs of these organizations. On behalf of the entire staff, I am delighted to welcome them to the Signiant team.”

As head of strategic development, Canavan will drive Signiant’s overall solutions strategy, engaging directly with the company’s extensive customer base and partner ecosystem. Most recently, Canavan provided strategic and business consulting services to the media industry, including telecom, technology and private equity firms. Prior to this, he was Executive Vice President of Ascent Media with management responsibility for Ascent’s global Systems & Technology Services (S&TS) business unit, one of the world’s largest providers of professional services to the media industry. In this capacity, he oversaw the execution of many of the industry’s most complex technology deployments, including network infrastructure for the world’s first telecom fiber-to-the-home project. Canavan was President of A.F. Associates, a leading international broadcast systems integrator, prior to its acquisition by Ascent Media in 2000 and also served as Group Vice President of Video Services Corp. (VSC).

As Vice President of Marketing, Lisa Clark brings 20 years of progressive accomplishments in building high-value software companies and brands — from very early stages through product and channel diversification and global expansion. Prior to joining Signiant, Clark led marketing initiatives for several successful digital media software companies, including Avid Technology and The FeedRoom, a pioneering online video platform (OVP) and digital asset management (DAM) software company acquired by Kit Digital in 2009. Early in her career, Clark held marketing and editorial positions with Simon & Schuster, National Geographic and ABC News.

These management team appointments demonstrate continued momentum for the company, which accelerated a number of key growth strategies in 2011. These initiatives included global market expansion and the introduction of the company’s next-generation Media Exchange™ file-based media transfer software, featuring easy-to-use desktop and mobile file-sharing apps. Through these efforts, Signiant has increased its footprint in key accounts worldwide, becoming the first company to deliver a unified platform for managed file movement, scalable for media enterprises of all sizes.

INDIAN WELLS, CA (February 15, 2012) – Signiant, a global leader in powerful file-based media movement software for the media and entertainment industry, and Xytech, a leading provider of media and broadcast facility management software, today announced the integration of their flagship products. The joint solution, which makes the secure digital media transfer capabilities of the Signiant Media Manager™ software available from within the Xytech’s MediaPulse facility and operations management system, will be demonstrated this week at the 2012 Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Technology Retreat.

“Signiant is a giant presence in our industry; in fact, virtually all of our customers who need to exchange high-value digital media between facilities fast and securely use Signiant in their operations — often in a very large-scale way,” said Greg Dolan, Executive Vice President of Xytech Systems. “All too often, media companies face a difficult and costly process when attempting to integrate multiple systems for automating workflow processes. In creating this interface and announcing our support for it, our two companies are offering customers an out-of-the-box solution that is powerful and easy to implement.”

Xytech’s MediaPulse system is a comprehensive resource, work order and asset management solution for broadcasters, studios, media services companies and transmission service providers that offers a suite of planning, scheduling and financial management tools. Signiant Media Manager adds state-of-the-art capabilities for highly secure, fast and managed transfers of digital assets between content owners, post-production houses, distributors and other media organizations.

Through the integration, Xytech customers will be able to automatically trigger the exchange of digital content from within the scheduling component of the MediaPulse system to enhance workflow efficiency and reduce the possibility of error. Users can also view and manage the status of Signiant exchanges in progress from within the MediaPulse user interface, and those actions can be automatically included in the resource management workflow and converted to billable activities.

“The powerful combination of Signiant and MediaPulse offers media companies greater flexibility and control than ever before in scheduling and managing digital content throughout its lifecycle, which often requires the seamless and secure electronic transfer of media to business partners such as post houses and distributors,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Development at Signiant. “Since we share many large media customers, our partnership with Xytech is a logical step in both companies’ ongoing strategies to deliver maximum end-to-end value in workflow automation.”

Editor’s Note: The joint solution will be demonstrated by Xytech in the HPA Technology Retreat Demonstration Room, February 14-17 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Hotel in Indian Wells, CA.

About Xytech Systems
Xytech is the leading global provider of software solutions for today’s media and broadcast companies. Leveraging a 25-year history of innovation and market expertise, Xytech brings unparalleled proficiency to its customers with flexible, transparent and evolutionary solutions that set the standard for successfully managing the continuous business realignments that define today’s ad hoc marketplace. Xytech’s collaborative MediaPulse platform and suite of solutions enable craft workflow and asset management systems to work seamlessly with the company’s renowned planning, scheduling, and financial management tools. MediaPulse is a scalable, nimble solution that streamlines operations, increases visibility, and optimizes efficiencies across a wide variety of enterprises. For more information, visit www.xytechsystems.com.

Under the partner agreement, Boxer Systems will add Signiant’s secure media file transfer solutions to its extensive portfolio of product and service offerings.  Experts in broadcast and post-production equipment and systems integration, UK-based Boxer Systems provides a range of file-based workflow solutions for ingest and transcoding, asset management, media storage, editing, graphics, audio/video conversion and playout.  Some of their customers include BBC, BSkyB, ThomsonReuters, ITV, ITN, The Mill, Technicolor and Travel Channel.

“We continue to see growing demand for fully integrated solutions that streamline and support complex and expanding data-intensive workflow processes,” said Marc Risby, Director of Technology for Boxer Systems.  “We are pleased to add Signiant’s powerful and flexible file-transfer solutions to our offerings as it delivers the level of automation, security, acceleration and cross-platform support that these organisations require.”

Used today by more of the world’s top broadcasters, studios, media service providers, sports networks and game developers, Signiant’s software facilitates the movement of file-based media between systems, applications and users. Unlike fragmented, first-generation file transport solutions that have proliferated ad hoc networks and disparate, unmanaged transport mechanisms, Signiant’s enterprise software and services are uniquely tuned for the needs of today’s media enterprises.

“With more than 20 years of experience serving the needs of the broadcast and post-production arena, Boxer Systems truly understands the requirements of its customers,” said Steve Biucchi, EMEA Channel Sales Director for Signiant. “The partnership between our companies will help them address growing demand for the level of management, speed, efficiency and reliability that only Signiant’s solutions can deliver, while underscoring Boxer’s commitment to bringing the best overall solutions to market.”

Editor’s Note:
Visit Boxer Systems in Hall/Stand J40 and Signiant in Hall/Stand L54, at BVE 2012, 14-16 February at Earls Court 2 in London.  For more information on this event, go to www.bvexpo.co.uk.

About Boxer Systems
Founded in 1990, Boxer Systems provides product sales, integration and in-house engineering services to creative customers in Broadcast and Post-Production.  Committed to excellent customer satisfaction, Boxer is a market leader in the supply of outstanding value products and services to organisations within the television and media industry. For more information, visit www.boxer.co.uk.

“Meeting time-to-market targets is a huge factor in our industry, as well as ensuring the security of our intellectual property,” said Arnaud Reuziault, IT Project Manager at Ubisoft. “We are confident in relying on Signiant software to help safeguard electronic delivery of our assets. Furthermore, being compatible with Windows and Linux platforms is a huge plus in our heterogeneous environment.”

In an effort to maximize their operational efficiency, Ubisoft turned to Signiant to provide a managed file transfer solution that would add increased levels of security, automation and management for exchanging files. Ubisoft has installed close to 30 Signiant Agents in its network.

“The fact that Ubisoft, one of the world’s most recognized international game developers, chose Signiant for such an important task is a milestone for our company,” said Ian Hamilton, CTO and Vice President of Development, Signiant. “As a leader in today’s entertainment and media industry, we are honored they have chosen to place their trust in Signiant to accelerate and manage the secure exchange of their intellectual property.”

About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading international developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products. Founded in 1986, the company has the world’s second largest in-house development staff with 25 studios in 17 countries, and more than 6,700 collaborators worldwide (with 5,700 dedicated to production). For more information, visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

BURLINGTON, MA (January 24, 2012) — Signiant, a global provider of solutions that automate, accelerate and manage the secure transfer of file-based content for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that tpc (technology and production center switzerland ag) has built a value-added service incorporating Signiant Media Manager™. With the Signiant solution, tpc is able to support the live production workflows of its broadcasting clients with a secure, managed system for transferring digital media fast and efficiently.

“Based on Signiant, we’re able to offer a service that gives our clients the peace of mind that their valuable content will arrive safely when and where it is supposed to. That’s a cut above many other production companies who are still relying on manual processes, such as tape shipments, to exchange video content,” said Andreas Lattmann, engineering project manager at tpc. “Beyond this competitive advantage, the Signiant service is also helping our operation run more efficiently and deliver content in highly time-intensive situations.”

tpc is Switzerland’s largest provider of production and post-production services for broadcast media. The company chose Signiant as a means of accelerating post-production workflows for its primary client, SRF (Swiss Radio and Television), the Swiss national public radio and television broadcaster. Prior to using Signiant, tpc was dependent upon complex, time-consuming transfer of content by tape.

Installed at tpc’s headquarters in Zürich and key client locations, Signiant Manager Agents use exclusive content peering technology to enable automated transfers of large batches of files and to handle the authentication, authorization and encryption steps necessary to ensure secure delivery. In a typical workflow, the client transfers raw video files to tpc for editing and final production. Finished output can be returned in a fraction of the time previously required, and the client is able to avoid having to install costly editing facilities and personnel at an on-site venue for live event coverage.

“The Signiant solution is rapidly becoming the standard for media organizations in many countries for moving and managing high-value content, but tpc is taking it several steps further by creating a value-added service around the system’s capabilities. In this manner, tpc will be able to offer its clients a more comprehensive range of production and post-production services,” said Joachim Bause, Signiant’s general manager for Central Europe. “We look forward to our continued partnership with tpc as they expand this service offering to new clients and markets.” 

About tpc
As Switzerland’s largest provider of audio-visual media and broadcast production services, tpc (technology and production center switzerland ag) is a full-service company and offers all services for creating and managing high-quality TV, video and radio productions. The company is an independent subsidiary of SRG SSR, the Swiss national public broadcaster. tpc switzerland ag offers its customers full services for image, sound and technology from a single source. For more information, visit http://www.tpcag.ch.

To download Signiant apps, users authorized on MX servers running version 9.4.1 or higher can search the Apple App Store for “Signiant” or “Media Exchange” and follow the customary download steps. Once downloaded, an MX user logs in with the same credentials as they would use with their browser or desktop client, and can select the channels of content to which they wish to subscribe. Mobile app users receive unattended updates as they become available without having to check for new content or wait for downloads, and can upload content from their iPhone or iPad to users or preselected channels.

“The process of capturing and creating content is increasingly happening on the fly, away from the office — whether it’s a reporter with a smartphone or the producer’s assistant reviewing dailies from home at night,” said Rick Clarkson, vice president of product management at Signiant. “Extending access to popular mobile devices provides unprecedented flexibility in how users access Media Exchange, while ensuring the same level of security and acceleration that media and entertainment organizations require.”

BURLINGTON, MA (January 9, 2012) – Signiant, the leading global provider of solutions that automate, accelerate and manage secure file-based media transfer and workflows, today announced that Signiant has been adopted by Seven Network, Australia’s most-watched television network.  At Seven, Signiant has replaced file transfer methods to provide a unified platform for secure, high-speed exchanges of media files with affiliates, distributors and journalists.

“Signiant has transformed many of our business processes by enabling us to increase the volume of data being transferred, while significantly decreasing the amount of work involved in handling and processing digital material,” said John Golin, server infrastructure manager at Seven Network. “Our upfront investment in the Signiant technology has been well worth the savings in labor and distribution costs, while providing greater flexibility and visibility into content processes across our entire business.”

Prior to adopting Signiant, Seven relied on satellite links, digital video networks and FTP, as well as physical shipments of videotapes, to exchange digital content internally and with the network’s regional affiliates and U.S. distributors. For distributing promos to affiliate channels, for instance, satellite links offered limited capacity and required time-consuming manual handling of the content and coordination on both the sending and receiving ends. When changes in Australian broadcasting regulations allowed increased flexibility in digital multi-channel delivery, Seven needed to find a means to distribute up to three times more promo content to capital city stations as well as regional affiliates — driving the network to find a more economical and efficient solution.

Now, Signiant provides a network-wide content exchange platform that has replaced all of the previous transfer methods, addressing Seven’s immediate need for increased capacity and also providing the scalability the network requires as the business grows into the future. Signiant enables fast, easy and secure replication of long-form program content around the network, and also provides a secure Web portal for news journalists and stringers at all locations to quickly upload the digital content they need.

Seven has deployed 23 Signiant agents to business partners and affiliates around the world, including its wholly owned stations and affiliates across Australia and its bureau in Los Angeles, as well as the Yahoo!7 Web portal. Based on Signiant’s exclusive peering technology, these agents enable Seven to perform secure business-to-business exchanges of digital content for tasks such as promo distribution, replication of long-form and short-form program content between the network’s Melbourne broadcast center and Sydney disaster recovery site, receiving news stories from the field, and pushing program content to the secure Web portal for journalists. In addition, Seven’s Los Angeles bureau has established Signiant connections with several large U.S. distributors to enable high-speed digital program delivery.

“Seven’s Signiant installation is a textbook example of the tremendous value that Signiant brings to large, multi-site media organizations with complex content transfer requirements both internally and with external business partners,” said David Nortier, Signiant’s managing director, EMEA. “We look forward to working with Seven moving forward as it continues to expand the solution for digital newsgathering and grow its base of content exchange partners both domestically and internationally.”

About the Seven Network
Seven is Australia’s leading free-to-air capital city television network. Seven is owned by Seven West Media, the leading, listed national multi-platform media business based in Australia. In addition to the Seven Network, Seven West Media is comprised of Pacific Magazines, the country’s second largest magazine group by readership; Yahoo!7, one of the nation’s most successful internet platforms; and Western Australia’s leading newspaper, The West Australian and associated WA regional newspapers and radio stations. For more information, visit www.sevenwestmedia.com.au.

The New Economics of International Content Distribution

BURLINGTON, MA (November 21, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that JCA, a leading digital media services provider based in London, has adopted the Signiant system to automate, accelerate and manage the secure exchange of digital media files with its clients.

“Our business depends on systems that allow us to connect seamlessly with our clients and transfer large, high-value media assets as quickly as possible, in order to maintain tight delivery schedules,” said Simon Kay, managing director of JCA. “We adopted Signiant at the request of several of our clients, as it offers the flexibility and managed security we need to accelerate delivery of digital material, without having to deal with the delays involved in tape shipments.”

JCA provides a full range of services for digitizing, formatting, creating and delivering content for many of the most recognizable names in the broadcasting and cinema production industries. With Signiant agents installed in their own environments, JCA clients are able to exchange large media files with the JCA facility within minutes. The system’s B2B content peering technology enables JCA and its clients to extend their own, internal network security policies across enterprise boundaries to enable a highly secure and seamless flow of content.

“The Signiant solution is perfect for media service providers such as JCA, who has established a stellar reputation not only for top-quality results but the ability to respond nimbly to its customers’ requirements. By enabling fast, reliable and secure movement of large media files over a WAN, Signiant is playing an important role in helping JCA meet its own high standards,” said David Nortier, Signiant’s managing director, EMEA.

About JCA
Established in 1989 and acquired by TVP Group in 2004, JCA offers total digital, TV and film service packages encompassing ageing film and video formats through to data capture at HD and beyond. Included in the services is an end-to-end Media Asset Management platform servicing client’s file based needs including online services, both secured and open access. JCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the TVP Group.

JCA works with clients such as BBC Worldwide, Channel 4, DRG, Fremantle Media, Classic Media, ITV and KidsCo to supply services including encoding, transcoding, digital transmission workflows, content management and file delivery.

For more information, please contact:
Champion Communications
+44 (0)207 637 2587
jca@championcomms.com
www.jca.tv

BURLINGTON, MA (November, 16, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), a Canadian not-for-profit media company that provides broadcast content for the blind, low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, has adopted Signiant’s digital file transfer technology. Signiant automates and accelerates delivery of media files among AMI’s local broadcasting centers across Canada and its two main broadcasting facilities in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, to streamline production of described video and closed-captioned content.

“We rely on Signiant to facilitate collaboration among our broadcast facilities and to efficiently move our media in a secure and controlled fashion. With Signiant’s acceleration technology, we know we can get content where it needs to go very quickly and reliably, which helps us keep to our very tight production schedules,” said Cyrus Hira, AMI’s broadcast support specialist. “One of the reasons we selected Signiant over other file transfer solutions is its ability to be easily customized to handle all of the various production processes in our workflow, such as different networking and delivery requirements based on where our editors, videographers and graphics technicians are located.”

Mandated as must-carry content by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), AMI’s programs are designed for Canadians who are blind, deaf, vision, hearing or mobility restricted, learning disabled, print-restricted or learning English as a second language by making print, broadcast and online media accessible.

The organization’s VoicePrint service provides audio readings of local, national, and international news and information that are broadcast and also available from the AMI website. In addition, AMI produces The Accessible Channel also known as TACtv, the world’s only television network to broadcast all programs with open described video and closed captioning. Available on the digital basic tier, TACtv broadcasts Hollywood movies and popular TV shows into more than five million Canadian homes.

With the launch of TACtv, AMI chose Signiant to facilitate delivery of content from 10 local broadcast centers located in major cities throughout Canada, and to accelerate file transfers between its main headquarters facility in Toronto and its master control facility in Hamilton, Ontario. The local broadcast centers aggregate content including local news items and produce the described video and closed caption content for TACtv, as well as the volunteer-read audio files for VoicePrint. Signiant then provides error correction and file verification for transferring the content via FTP over AMI’s 10-gigabyte private network to the Toronto headquarters for editing. Signiant agents installed in Toronto and in Hamilton provide seamless, point-to-point delivery of the edited content to master control in Hamilton, where it receives a final QC and is then uplinked to satellite for delivery to broadband and baseband providers.

“AMI is providing an important service for many Canadians who are unable to watch or listen to conventionally broadcast content, and it’s very gratifying to see that Signiant’s technology is helping to enable the production and distribution of these programs,” said Robert Browne, Founder and vice president, business development. “Like content producers around the globe, AMI has discovered the value of Signiant for fast, secure, and managed delivery of content across their entire network.”

About Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is a not-for-profit multimedia organization operating two broadcast services, VoicePrint and The Accessible Channel – TACtv, and a companion website (ami.ca). AMI serves more than five million Canadians who are blind, deaf, vision, hearing or mobility impaired, learning disabled, print-restricted or learning English as a second language by making print, broadcast and online media accessible.  www.ami.ca

BURLINGTON, MA (November 9, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced the next-generation version of Signiant Media Exchange™ (MX), a private cloud solution designed to enable media-industry content providers to share large file-based media assets efficiently with their broader partner ecosystem — without requiring IT involvement on the part of users and without sacrificing the strict requirements for security that are mandatory in the media and entertainment industry. Building upon the browser-based access already supported in MX today, the new release now enables users to automate the delivery of content directly to their PC or Mac in much the same manner as an RSS feed, thereby reducing the steps required to obtain anticipated content that is transferred regularly. The direct-to-the-desktop application will be offered at no additional charge to new and existing MX users, and the new release will be commercially available at the end of this quarter.

“Signiant’s Media Exchange has been an important part of the drive to support file-based workflows for our content aggregation process,” said Benjamin Davitt, director of data management at Point 360. “With the new direct-to-the-desktop delivery, we are now able to automate the receipt of content updates arriving from multiple content partners, all in one application. Combined with the reliable, fast and secure delivery we have come to count on as a Signiant user, this new capability is a major time-saver.”

Content sharing tailored to the needs of Media and Entertainment

MX is deployed by a wide range of media and entertainment companies — from major studios to global broadcasters to regional postproduction houses — to support the exchange of file-based media content with both internal users and external partners. Unlike general purpose file-sharing applications in the public cloud, such as Dropbox and YouSendIt, the expanded MX is a private cloud solution designed specifically for the business needs of media content providers. The movement of valuable media assets is auditable and controlled by the content owners, and users send large media content where it needs to go in a manner that is optimized, efficient and accelerated. In addition, users can exchange content with other users, systems and applications, regardless of location and size of digital assets. As content is transferred, the IP-based Signiant Acceleration Protocol maximizes network efficiency and all MX content exchanges are protected by the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 3.0 cryptographic protocol — the same security model used for authentication, authorization, and encryption of Internet transactions such as personal banking and Web shopping.

“Many of Signiant’s users are media companies involved in the creation, aggregation and distribution of content. Often, the companies on the distribution side are smaller broadcasters, Web portals or mobile providers that might lack full-time IT resources but still need a secure and easy-to-use method of exchanging large content files with their business partners,” said Rick Clarkson, Signiant’s vice president of product management. “These are precisely the users for whom we designed the expanded version of MX. And now, using MX is as easy as downloading the application from their business partner’s MX server, and then subscribing to the desired ‘channels’ provided by all their studio, network and content provider partners.”

The Benefits of Secure, Enterprise-tested Fiile Transfer Now Within Reach for Smaller Operations 

MX is based on the same enterprise-strength file transfer technology as Signiant’s system-to-system solutions, which are designed for batch transfers of large numbers of media files and require software agents to be installed and managed on both the sending and receiving ends. It provides the same security and efficiency, but also enables interactive, user-initiated transfers without requiring an agent.

“By adding MX to our Signiant repertoire, we’ve covered the waterfront for any clients or partners that need to have their content delivered electronically. From a business perspective, Signiant is boosting our market reputation in the post industry by giving us the flexibility to meet the requirements of any-sized business partner,” said Craig Clark, CEO, Roundabout Entertainment Inc. “Signiant is a huge selling point for our business.”

File-based Workflows for the Digital Age

BURLINGTON, MA  (October, 31, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that post-production leader Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. has chosen Signiant’s Media Exchange (MX) solution for fast, efficient, and secure delivery of media files to its end-user clients, as well as content exchanges with key vendors and content providers. As a longtime user of Signiant’s enterprise-scale content management solutions for exchanging files with three of its large studio clients, Roundabout adopted MX as a means of making the cutting-edge technology available to all of its business partners.

Roundabout specializes in facility-based post services centered on repurposing television and cinema content for multiple audiences and global markets, and then distributing it out to networks, playout facilities, and other end users. Previously, the post house had relied on physical shipment of videotape to exchange content with its service providers and deliver the end product to clients — a process that was subject to potential schedule-breaking delays, especially for overseas shipments in which tapes could become hung up indefinitely in customs. Signiant MX uses an exclusive IP-based acceleration protocol that enables business partners to connect and exchange the content over a wide area network (WAN), with enterprise-class security and tools for maximizing available bandwidth.

“All of the major studios have a Signiant agent now, and it’s becoming a pre-requisite in the industry for post houses to have the larger Signiant solution in order to connect with them and receive their media files. With MX, we can extend the technology to our smaller broadcasting clients and vendors without requiring them to purchase and install software on their end,” said Craig Clark, CEO, Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. “All of our business partners can now seamlessly connect with our facility and with the same highly managed security as the agent-based Signiant system. They can access the content and start working on it almost immediately, as opposed to waiting for tape shipments to arrive.”

Although Roundabout regularly uses MX for the rapid transfer of large files in high-bandwidth point-to-point connection, the system is also ideal for efficient transfers in lower-bandwidth situations. For instance, Roundabout might send a series of QuickTime^® reference files to a dubbing vendor in Brazil for creation of a secondary audio track in Portuguese. Since a complete, large master is not required for dubbing, the vendor is able to receive the files it needs rapidly over a lower-bandwidth connection. In another example, Roundabout might use Signiant to deliver an entire season of a television series to a smaller broadcaster with a slower download speed, enabling the broadcaster to begin airing series episodes as they are received while the download process is still running. Signiant MX has the unique capability to automatically resume a download at the point at which it was stopped following a network error, rather than having to start the download from the beginning.

“By adding MX to our Signiant repertoire, we’ve covered the waterfront for any clients or partners that need to have their content delivered electronically. From a business perspective, Signiant is boosting our market reputation in the post industry by giving us the flexibility to meet the requirements of any size business partner,” said Clark. “Signiant is a huge selling point for our business.”

For more information about Signiant MX and all Signiant solutions, visit dev.rainbiz.com/signiant.

About Roundabout Entertainment Inc.
As one of today’s foremost independent post production facilities, Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. is dedicated to supplying HD and SD video and audio post production services. Roundabout is equipped with the latest technology to deal with almost any post production requirements. We provide our clients with: editing, dubbing, re-recording mixing, audio restoration, Time Tailoring, commercial integration, LKFS compliant audio, closed captioning, syndication services, digital content creation, encoding, and transcoding, and deliver of HD & SD content anywhere in the world. For more information, visit www.roundabout.com.

BURLINGTON, MA (October 24, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that the company’s board of directors has chosen Margaret Craig to serve as CEO. Following on a career devoted to leading businesses in the media technology sector, Craig has joined Signiant to guide the company through its next stage of accelerated growth within the media and entertainment industry.

“After a very thorough search process that involved many candidates, we are very pleased to announce that Margaret will be joining Signiant as our new CEO,” said Henry Ancona, chairman of the board, Signiant. “She is a well-regarded business leader who also brings a technical background to the mix, as well as extensive senior-level working relationships throughout the global media ecosystem. Margaret’s broad international experience, including operational roles in Canada and the U.K. and direct responsibility for Asian operations, will be invaluable as Signiant continues to build its global brand.”

Craig’s background includes executive roles in various parts of the media industry, including both product companies and managed services businesses. She recently served as COO of Network Services for Ascent Media Group, which provided media management, content distribution, and 24/7 on-air broadcast services to media companies. Other previous senior positions include CEO at Leitch Technology Corporation, a publicly traded global provider of technical infrastructure for professional television; and president of Snell and Wilcox USA. Early in her career, Craig also served in various engineering and management roles at Tektronix. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Iowa State University.

“It’s an exciting time in the industry and a great time to be joining Signiant,” said Craig. “With end-to-end file-based workflows finally within sight, Signiant is perfectly positioned to solve critical problems for our customers. The company is growing rapidly and enjoys a stellar reputation with its customers, and I look forward to working with the team to continue to build momentum.”

“For the third year, it’s our pleasure to participate in the Akamai Edge conference and show attendees how our partnership with Akamai can deliver a more efficient, secure, and automated method of exchanging digital content, regardless of file size or location,” said Robert Browne, Signiant founder and vice president of business development and cloud solutions. “Our partnership goes back to the 2008 Beijing Games, one of the most ambitious media projects in history, in which Signiant was able to deliver thousands of media assets to Akamai in a fully automated workflow throughout the event. Since then Signiant has been used to deliver millions of assets via Akamai NetStorage, serving some of the world’s largest CDN users.”

Signiant MX provides a highly secure platform for users working from their offices or production sites, or even from home, to exchange content with other employees, customers, vendors, systems, and applications regardless of the destination, location, or size of the digital assets. MX uses the IP-based Signiant Acceleration Protocol to maximize network efficiency, and all MX content exchanges are protected by the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) version 3 cryptographic protocol – the same security model used for authentication, authorization, and encryption of Internet transactions such as personal banking and Web shopping.

For more information about Akamai Edge 2011, visit http://www.akamai.com/edge.

BURLINGTON, MA (September 8, 2011) — Signiant, a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Nordisk Film, the leading Scandinavian developer of content in movies, games, and music, has chosen Signiant for the creation of a digital file exchange ecosystem with its clients in the region and around the world. Signiant file transfer technology will enable the company to build a secure, high-volume collaboration network for industry partners, with a highly efficient workflow powered by Signiant’s process automation tools.

Founded in 1906, Nordisk Film is the oldest movie production company in the world, and operates production, post-production and distribution facilities, movie theaters, games, and other digital media development activities throughout Scandinavia. With a staff of 1,625 full-time employees in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, Nordisk Film generated total revenue of €383 million in 2010.

To manage file transfer and automate workflow processes, Nordisk Film has purchased the Signiant Manager, High Availability, with 11 Agents and Media Exchange. The Signiant technology will allow Nordisk to create completely automated provisioning workflows that are executed based on business rules, and will increase efficiency by reducing reliance on proprietary skills needed to run complex operations.

“The breadth and scale of Nordisk Film’s activities means that managing our collaborations with clients and partners consumes a lot of our time and resources,” said Wilma Zandbergen, head of digital production at Nordisk Film. “Finding a way to make these collaborations more efficient and secure has been a big advantage for us. Many of the international partners we work with are already users of Signiant technology, so the decision to create our Signiant-based ecosystem in Scandinavia makes good sense in regional terms.”

Signiant connects both internal and external partner sites to facilitate simple collaboration and content exchange. When deployed, a managed B2B content network is created with simple automated movement, ensuring all transfers are centrally managed, monitored, and reported. Signiant is ideally suited for use during the production, capture, or creation of content where multiple sites need to exchange data fast, securely, and reliably with tight business deadlines.

“As a major player in the regional media industry, Nordisk Film acts as a sizeable hub of exchange between collaborating enterprises,” said David Nortier, Signiant’s managing director, EMEA. “Signiant’s central management of content transfers with fast, reliable, and secure movement of files over a WAN, together with the tools to ensure that all processes and transfers are controlled, monitored, tracked, and reported, give Norkisk Film the best possible platform from which to deliver the highest quality service to its partners.”

About Nordisk Film
NORDISK FILM, part of the Egmont group, is the Nordic region’s leading developer, producer and distributor of creative content within film, music and games. Nordisk Film holds the Nordic rights for the distribution of Sony PlayStation and owns cinemas in Denmark and Norway. In addition, Nordisk Film provides production and post-production facilities for a great many Nordic film companies. In 2010, Nordisk Film had a total turnover of EUR 383 million. The company has 1,100 staff throughout the Nordic region. Further information is available at www.nordiskfilm.com.

“Signiant’s technology was the ideal choice to provide the digital content exchange components of ScreenerONE,” said Christian Horz, V.P. of media technology and business development for arvato. “ScreenerONE is fulfilling its promise for our global media customers by eliminating the need for time-consuming creation and costly distribution of physical media. The result is faster turnaround for screenings, reviews, and approvals using a service that enables a mobile work style and reduces time to market.”

Powered by Signiant Media Exchange, ScreenerONE is a Web-based tool for managing end-to-end digital asset logistics in the TV and film production process. Built as an enterprise YouTube-like solution for video production, the cloud-based service not only ensures effective collaboration with remote users, it also supports future re-use of content and multichannel distribution. From the early stage of a concept through the development of the completed project, ScreenerONE enables decision makers and stakeholders to share, review, and approve all digital components such as dailies and rough cuts.

“We had tested a number of content exchange tools, and the Signiant solutions were superior,” said Alexander Steinberg, head of global IT and networks for arvato Entertainment Europe. “Signiant transport and automation systems are well-known in the industry as a fast and efficient means of content transfer with little or no restrictions on file size — and it is many times more secure and efficient than using FTP.”

The flagship user of Signiant and ScreenerONE, the Fremantle subsidiary Grundy UFA is a market leader in daytime TV drama in Europe — producing more than 100 hours of TV content a week. Previously, in order to provide its own customers with production “dailies” and other digital components, Grundy UFA personnel were burning DVDs and sending them physically via overnight courier — an expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone process. Now, Signiant Media Exchange provides a rapid, secure, and reliable means for Grundy UFA producers to upload digital assets to the ScreenerONE cloud service, where they can be easily accessed by customers for review — effectively removing physical media from the process. During back-and-forth editing sessions with customers, the Signiant system gives operators the ability to transfer only specific changes to the content rather than the whole file, saving transfer time and bandwidth especially for large files.

About arvato Entertainment Europe
arvato Entertainment Europe offers an extensive range of services and solutions for its business partners in the games, video, audio, sports and TV/broadcast industries. The European presence includes six countries. More than 1,500 employees in Europe are standing by to provide the highest quality support for customers, following a tradition that goes back over 50 years. arvato Entertainment Europe provides integrated solutions that include every step of the value chain from replication and e-commerce to fulfillment, from distribution/supply chain management to electronic content distribution. All of these processes are supported by innovative end-to-end IT systems. The developed solutions create added value and equip customers to meet the challenges of today’s market. arvato Entertainment Europe is part of arvato AG, a leading networked outsourcing provider.

BURLINGTON, MA (August 8, 2011) — Signiant,  a global leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that Loft London Ltd., a leading U.K. based post-production and media services company, has expanded its Signiant portfolio of products. This will enhance Loft’s ability to accelerate digital content exchanges with its key customers, including several of the world’s largest media, broadcasting, and playout companies.

“I became familiar with the Signiant solution when it first became available in Europe almost seven years ago, and I have been sold on its tremendous capabilities for digital file exchanges ever since,” said Davide Maglio, director and partner, Loft London. “Our largest media client has been using Signiant as its content exchange backbone for at least six years, and many of its playout providers are also Signiant users, so there is a great deal of momentum in the industry for the solution.”

With two locations in London and a newly opened site in Los Angeles, Loft London provides a complete range of services for high-end media transcoding, ingest, encoding, storage, and digital distribution. For its largest client, a high-profile international media and entertainment company, Loft London provides all content processing for the company’s emerging markets in Europe and the Middle East. Signiant provides a direct connection with the client’s content exchange backbone, also based on Signiant, to enable fast, secure, and managed delivery of HD content to the Loft London facility. After the content has been quality checked and dubbed versions provided for non-English-speaking markets, Loft London uses Signiant to distribute the programs to multiple playout platforms and multi-platform broadcasters including Chellomedia, Encompass, Red Bee Media, ESPN, and Channel 4.

“All of our clients have transmission service level agreements that make it imperative for them to receive their content on time. With Signiant, we have complete visibility into the entire transaction, and the system generates a delivery confirmation receipt that ensures that the media has arrived at its destination in good working condition. That’s just not possible using FTP or more traditional WAN acceleration-only tools,” added Maglio. “As a smaller company that works with very large media enterprises, Loft London relies on solutions that are powerful and yet cost-effective and fit-for-purpose — and Signiant is the perfect fit for our requirements. Many solutions make promises about workflow automation, security, and speed of delivery, but Signiant is one of the few that delivers a product that works exactly as promised.”

Signiant connects both internal and external partner sites to facilitate simple collaboration and content exchange. When deployed, a managed B2B content network is created with simple automated movement, ensuring all transfers are centrally managed, monitored, and reported. Signiant is ideally suited for use during the production, capture, or creation of content where multiple sites need to exchange data fast, securely, and reliably with tight business deadlines.

“The Signiant software is aimed directly at enterprises such as Loft London, companies with up to 15 delivery locations that need the central management of content transfers,” said David Nortier, Signiant’s managing director, EMEA. “With features such as the Signiant Acceleration Protocol for fast, reliable, and secure movement of files over a WAN, as well as centralized network management to ensure that all processes and transfers are controlled, monitored, tracked, and reported, Signiant is fast becoming the content exchange standard for multi-site media operations.”

About Loft London
Loft London is a dedicated media facility to the broadcast industry. Loft London has built a reputation for technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and flexible pricing models. Loft will work in partnership with content owners, content creators, and distributors through the evolution from tape-based servicing to digital distribution. Loft offers a total global video servicing package, encompassing aging formats through to current HD and 3D standards and the ability to deliver to a client’s digital asset management service platform. Loft London’s high-end transcode, ingest, encode, storage and digital distribution facility, together with our experienced and accessible team, positions Loft as one of London’s premier media companies. For more information, visit www.loftlondon.co.uk.

BURLINGTON, MA (July 13, 2011)— Berliner Synchron, Germany’s premier cinema dubbing and synchronization studio, has chosen the Signiant Content Point solution to enable managed and accelerated, secure point-to-point digital file exchanges with the company’s key distributor customers. The Signiant technology is at the core of a new, value-added service that Berliner Synchron will offer its clients to streamline workflows and bring new efficiencies to the dubbing process.

“We have built our business on top-shelf service and the highest-quality dubbing of films in all European languages, and we are proud of the long-term business relationships we have established with the world’s foremost distributors of motion picture content,” said Oliver Goullon, Head of IT at Berliner Synchron. “And now, with Signiant, we’ll be able to help our clients maximize the revenue potential of their movies and other programs by speeding the distribution of foreign language versions to the worldwide market.”

Berliner Synchron is Germany’s oldest and largest film dubbing studio, with a global reputation for producing the German language versions of the world’s most recognized film titles. Berliner Synchron sought a solution that would enable it to rapidly exchange digital film stock with its clients – with the goal of shortening workflows and reducing the inherent risk and delays of shipping physical film. In the first phase of the project, Berliner Synchron chose Signiant Content Point to create secure and managed connections with its clients over the company’s WAN. Via the Signiant Acceleration Protocol (SAP), Content Point enables fast, reliable, and secure movement of files and gives Berliner Synchron complete control over the transactions, providing tools for monitoring, tracking, and reporting.

In the second phase of the content exchange project, Berliner Synchron plans to expand Content Point in conjunction with Signiant’s Content Distribution Management software to completely automate all post-production workflows and connect with distributor customers as well as subcontractors.

“From its founding in 1949, Berliner Synchron has set the standard for high-quality dubbing and the company continues to innovate today – as clearly shown by its adoption of the Signiant technology to accelerate file exchanges and strengthen customer service,” said Joachim Bause, general manager of Central Europe for Signiant. “As demonstrated by Berliner Synchron, Signiant Content Point is an ideal solution for companies with smaller IT infrastructures and pipelines that need to connect with other Signiant-enabled organizations. Content Point also allows users  to manage the transfers initiated by the partner, but it also is an ideal entry point for companies to build a more robust infrastructure based on Signiant’s peer-enabled Content Distribution Management software.”

About Berliner Synchron
Berliner Synchron is a leading specialist in synchronized sound for all production and post production. With more than 60 years of experience, the company is the leading studio in Germany producing German language versions not only for high-budget studio productions but also for independent art house films, as well as for TV movies and series, documentaries and all other formats. With a track record of more than 7,000 productions Berliner Synchron has a high recognition worldwide. Its network of contacts with many other European dubbing studios enables the company being in a position to offer the dubbing of films and other dubbing projects in all European languages. With its high quality standards, the company can satisfy even its most demanding clients. For more information, visit http://www.berliner-synchron.de/.

BURLINGTON, MA (June 9, 2011) — Signiant today announced that XOS Digital, a leading provider of digital media services to collegiate and professional sports organizations, has built its XOS PlayerOnDemand™ scouting system around the Signiant content supply chain management solution. The Signiant technology provides a fast, secure, and reliable platform for XOS Digital to capture video of high school football players in action and other related content, and then distribute the content to college sports recruiters.

“Time is of the essence for college recruiters seeking to sign promising new athletes before rival schools. With Signiant, we’re able to offer our collegiate sports customers a vital service that shaves significant time off the process of identifying, evaluating, and recruiting high school talent from all over the country,” said Gary Howard, general manager, recruiting and scouting services, XOS Digital. “Since Signiant facilitates transfers of large files over an IP network, a process that once took several days and required shipment of physical media, now takes only a few hours.”

The Signiant system enables field capture and distribution of content as well as support for XOS Digital’s video service connecting standout high school football players with college recruiting scouts. XOS Digital has deployed video crews in more than 1,500 locations to film high school football games.

In addition, XOS uses Signiant’s Media Exchange solution to distribute software, database, and media upgrades out to customers. “Signiant is an important member of our internal support team, and its ease of use and flexibility have made it a critical tool for every member of our staff,” said Howard.

“XOS Digital is a stand-out example of how Signiant can power any type of business requiring fast, seamless, and secure transfer of digital content,” said Tony Lapolito, vice president of product management and marketing for Signiant. “As a loyal Signiant customer for more than three years, XOS Digital is applying our technology in very innovative ways to add value to its rich set of digital media offerings for sports organizations.”

About XOS Digital

Founded in 1999, XOS Digital is the leading provider of digital asset management solutions for collegiate and professional sports organizations. Conference officials, league offices, coaching staffs and athletic departments rely on the XOS portfolio of products and services to manage, analyze, archive, distribute,protect, and monetize their digital assets. The XOS Thunder™ Coaching Platform, XOS Xchange™, XOS PlayerOnDemand™, XOS Digital Licensing Portal™, and the XOS Digital Sports Network™ digital media distribution technology provide the most advanced, comprehensive digital asset management solution available in the world. For more information, visit www.xosdigital.com.

BURLINGTON, MA (May 11, 2011) — Signiant today announced that Wunderman, agency of record for worldwide relationship marketing for Microsoft, has chosen Signiant Media Exchange  solution to drive the company’s global exchange of media assets. Signiant provides a rapid, secure, and reliable means for Wunderman to ingest creative assets from its partners and then distribute the digital content out to its global subsidiaries for localization and deployment.

“We promise our clients the ability to drive global e-marketing campaigns that move at the speed of digits – and Signiant Media Exchange is a critical link in our ability to deliver on that promise. We’ve taken a big leap forward by being able to exchange content at speed with no errors,” said Greg Cowan, IT director, Wunderman. “With Signiant Media Exchange, we’ve been able to accelerate our file transfers with little or no restrictions on file size, and offer a pleasing Web interface to our remote customers that streamlines both uploading and downloading. As a result, we’ve significantly reduced the lag time from content creation to market delivery to help ensure that campaigns are launched on time and on budget.”

Wunderman’s business depends on the ability to rapidly receive and manage large volumes of digital content, such as pop-up ads, Flashcontent, email campaign components, and pre-roll video submitted by Web producers and other creative partners. Now, these partners access the easy-to-use Signiant Media Exchange Web interface to instantly send large batches of files in a secure and managed fashion, with the average file transfer consisting of 100 gigabytes. For Wunderman, a large selling point for Signiant Media Exchange was its ability to provide granular security to designate categories of users with specific access requirements. For instance, different creative agencies can be given rights to upload specific types of content to specific folders, without the ability to access folders of other partners.

As opposed to Wunderman’s previous content exchange system, Signiant Media Exchange has the ability to automatically resume a download at the point in which it stopped, following recovery from a network error. This is particularly valuable for guaranteed distribution of assets to Wunderman’s global subsidiaries, which are often located in countries and areas with less-than-reliable Internet infrastructures. “Before, a networking error usually meant the download had to be started over from the beginning – but now, Signiant Media Exchange can resume the job so quickly that often the recipients on the other end aren’t even aware that an error occurred,” added Cowan.

“As the e-marketing agency of record for one of the world’s most recognizable computing brands, Wunderman is a textbook example of Signiant’s great value to global enterprises that rely on fast, secure, and highly reliable exchanges of digital content with their trading partners,” said Tony Lapolito, vice president of product management and marketing for Signiant. “We’re pleased that Signiant Media Exchange is now providing such a crucial link in the Wunderman content supply chain, on both the ingest and delivery sides of the business.”

About Wunderman
Wunderman is the world leader in delivering clients creativity and innovation – helping brands find the right customers and facilitate consumers connecting with the right brands. Ad Age describes Wunderman this way: “Wunderman is among the best in the business, a hot shop that delivered some of the best work of the year.” The company’s expertise in actionable data, analytics, insights, and innovation is matched by its imagination. The result: Wunderman builds their brands, sales, and business value. Wunderman is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP. For more information, visit www.wunderman.com.

BURLINGTON, MA (April 12, 2011) — Signiant today announced that the Xbox 360^® video game and Zune digital media player developers at Microsoft will use Signiant’s content distribution management system to help enable the seamless and secure movement of video and gaming content into and out of the Windows Azure platform. The combination of the Signiant solution and the Windows Azure platform gives Xbox and Zune developers a comprehensive platform for aggregating content and code from a wide range of media companies, game developers, and software engineering teams.

The teams behind Xbox and Zune are among the first software developers and media content delivery organizations to take advantage of the link between the Signiant Workflow Modeling Engine and the Windows Azure platform, which provides a means for transporting large files to consumer devices. Previously, the two development teams relied on third-party content delivery networks (CDNs) for delivery of video and gaming content to consumers. By facilitating the movement of large files, Signiant is enabling developers to take advantage of the complete portfolio of Windows Azure services, including the Windows Azure compute application hosting environment, Windows Azure virtual storage, and the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN), which helps to enhance end-user performance and reliability by placing copies of data closer to users.

“The link between the Signiant content distribution platform and the Windows Azure platform offers a powerful advantage to our Xbox and Zune development groups. Now that they can seamlessly connect to the Windows Azure platform to upload and work with media files, our developers can take advantage of all the cloud has to offer in terms of speed, security, operational continuity, and business resiliency,” said Jake Winett, director of Media & Entertainment Industry Solutions, Microsoft Communications Sector. “The door is wide open for Signiant to help accelerate delivery of content to mass audiences through the Windows Azure platform.”

“The Xbox LIVE^® online entertainment network and Zune are ideal examples of Signiant’s technology used in a cloud-based environment — and they’re demonstrating how this solution can be used effectively by any media organization that needs to deliver massive amounts of content to consumers,” said Tony Lapolito, vice president of product management and marketing for Signiant. “The Signiant solution is the vital link in the content supply chain, enabling content suppliers to leverage cloud computing in innovative new ways to get their content out to their audiences.”

NBC Universal runs WWE programs weekly on several of its channel networks including USA and Syfy. Since NBC Universal is also a Signiant user, WWE chose Signiant’s Content Transporter product to create a fully managed network between the two organizations for secure, accelerated content transfers of promos and full-length programs. Content Transport features the Signiant Acceleration Protocol (SAP) for fast, reliable, and secure movement of files over a wide area network, with centralized network management tools for controlling, monitoring, tracking, and reporting on network activity. As with all Signiant products, Content Transport features Signiant’s exclusive B2B content peering technology, which uses trusted software agents to provide a common security model for companies to link to and exchange content freely and safely with their business partners.

WWE will use the Signiant solution for other domestic and international networks also using Signiant within the year. The solution will be especially valuable for timely delivery of customized programming for specific regions.

“Like many large media enterprises, WWE recognizes the tremendous value of a fully managed solution for accelerating file transport, automatically processing content, and seamlessly connecting with business partners,” said Tony Lapolito, vice president, product management and marketing, Signiant. “As media and entertainment companies continue to evolve towards 100 percent digital operations, Signiant’s content supply chain management solutions can help them gain control of their assets and capture new distribution opportunities to transform their businesses.”

SHERMAN OAKS, CA –Avail-TVN, the largest digital media services company in North America, today announced the availability of its Content Prep Solution, an innovative metadata creation, asset management and workflow automation system for content providers who distribute digital media. This new Web-based service was created in response to content providers’ need to increase efficiencies within their established workflows. Content Prep was custom designed to simplify the process of metadata creation and management while streamlining the management, distribution and syndication of digital content. Current partners include Bloomberg and Sportskool, with plans to bring the new service to additional content providers over the next few months.

As consumer demand for digital media increases, content providers are tasked with managing an ever-increasing amount of metadata in support of media files. Avail-TVN’s Content Prep Solution eliminates time-consuming manual workflow processes related to metadata input and management, and allows content providers to manage an array of license windows and asset packages and their syndication paths from a single interface.

“Avail-TVN’s Content Prep service changes the game for creating and packaging metadata, which can be an arduous task,” said James Cofer, Head of Distribution, Bloomberg. “This will allow us to simplify this process greatly, increasing both operational efficiency and quality.”

Metadata files contain descriptive information about the content and define critical characteristics such as video codecs, associated audio channels, ad marking, and other elements used in tracking and syndication. The Avail-TVN Content Prep Solution, which integrates Signiant’s Workflow Manager product, provides all the tools necessary to compose, edit, manage, and publish metadata for digital content. Content Prep also helps ensure that consumers can find the programs they want by helping content providers populate menus with detailed information that makes programming searchable for viewing or purchase.

“Avail-TVN listened to us about the issues we have around metadata preparation and responded with an easy-to-use product that meets our growing needs,” said John Sorensen, VP of Production, Grace Creek Media, Sportskool’s parent company. “The Content Prep solution makes it much easier to manage metadata and focus on getting the right content out to our viewers.”

“Avail-TVN is focused on improving operational efficiencies so that our content and service provider customers can focus on their core competencies — creating and delivering the most compelling content,” said Jim Riley, Avail-TVN’s chief revenue officer. “Our Content Prep Solution does just that — automates what can be a time-consuming and tedious process to allow our content partners to focus on quality of content instead of operational process.”

About Avail-TVN Avail-TVN is the leading provider of digital media services in North America serving both content owners and multichannel video providers. The Company’s advanced services deliver a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for monetizing video content, providing high-quality viewing experiences, and improving the performance, reliability and security of its customers’ video programming distribution.

Super Bowl XLV on Sunday closed out a massive week of global awareness for the NFL as the league’s broadcast and operations team pumped out a steady diet of Super Bowl-related content to 190 nations around the world. And the compound shared by the NFL Network and the team behind the NFL’s world feed continues to evolve.

“Every year the layout changes a bit because we can’t have a cookie cutter approach,” says Glenn Adamo, NFL, VP of media operations and broadcasting. “And our engineering guys did a great job accommodating this large and growing compound into our footprint.”

Adamo credits Jeff Howard, senior executive of Engineering and Broadcast Technologies at NFL Network and NFL Films and Tom Foley, NFL Films, technical director with doing a great job setting the compound up and integrating the network and world feed.

NEP’s Super B unit served as the TOC and master control and during the game also converted the 720p signal from Fox Sports into 1080i, the format the NFL uses for world distribution, using Cobalt converters.

Uncompressed fiber technologies played a big part in the operations as well, connecting the Super Bowl compound at Dallas Cowboys Stadium to the NFL Experience venue and the Media Center in a nearby Sheraton hotel.

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“We used a lot more fiber because of the distances here in the facility,” says Howard. “And there were some unique challenges in getting into the stadium without having to run fiber through the tunnel.”

All the venues were also connected via 100 Mbps Level 3 HSIP fiber to NFL Network operations in Culver City, CA, NFL Films in Mt. Laurel, NJ, and Crawford Media Center in Atlanta, where the Network’s master control facility is located. Signiant’s content distribution management software was also used to push files back and forth between the locations and Encompass Digital Media Services provided return feeds.

“Signiant  was a life saver for pushing files and delivering more content,” says Adamo.

NEP’s SS25 production unit was used for the world feed while SS28 handled network operations. Corplex Platinum and Iridium were used at the Media Center and the NFL Experience.

Howard says a Cisco JPEG2000 platform was used to deliver content and HD clean feeds over the Level 3 VenueNet Plus system. “There is tremendous connectivity with the Level 3 system,” says Howard. “It’s unparelled.”

As key links in the content supply chain, post production companies and operations are deeply affected by these market dynamics. Going forward, successful post companies will turn to content supply chain management (CSCM) technologies that can interconnect the supply chain and aggregate all content, processing, and distribution. In this article, we’ll describe the most important content trends and challenges shaping post into 2011, and the key attributes of an effective strategy for content supply chain management.

From Chaos, Key Trends

Most of us can remember the days when tape was the standard medium in a video operation, with video content moving through the supply chain in a very straightforward way — going from camera to post to playout to archive and ultimately syndication in a linear fashion with looser deadlines. Today’s world is very different, and new distribution outlets and windows are changing the game for content producers. International distribution can lead to an increased audience size — potentially up to 20 times over the domestic market. Same-day-and-date release of major motion pictures has become a critical factor for capturing maximum revenue and increasing ROI before pirating of the content becomes a factor. In addition, digital outlets like iTunes, video on demand, and Hulu offer the promise of getting content out to even wider audiences. Timing has never been more important for taking advantage of these new opportunities — but the old-school linear processes, with their supply chain disconnects and inefficiencies caused by islands of files and tape, simply aren’t up to the task.

Out of this challenging and often chaotic environment, we’ve seen three trends having a major influence. The most fundamental is the move from tape- to file-based workflows — the “go digital” mantra. Some organizations have successfully made the transition — but by our estimation, most are just beginning.

Another important trend is the increased size of the files that have to traverse the network — driven by the transition from SD to HD, “super HD” formats such as 1080p 50/60, and even 3D. The migration to these new formats puts an even greater strain on the supply chain, since globally moving files that are 2x to 10x the size of SD is no easy task using today’s networks.

The third trend relates to changes in distribution windows, which require the ability to go as quickly to market as possible and distribute the latest versions of content to multiple territories within a select and finite period. Unless you hit the distribution window precisely, while it’s open, the revenue-making opportunity is lost forever.

The challenges for post companies are multiplied by the rapidly- evolving nature of the business. The trends shaping the post operation of today and tomorrow are all about globalization, decentralization, and collaboration. Whereas most post functions such as editing, dubbing, and special effects were once tape-based and handled in-house by monolithic post companies, today’s digital workflows have enabled many functions to be outsourced to freelancers, mom-and-pop shops, and smaller specialty groups. While decentralization and multi-site operations bring the advantages of reduced costs and greater flexibility, they require coordination and collaboration on a grand scale — complicated by unforgiving distribution windows demanding that all interdependencies adhere to a strict schedule.

Consider the case of Deluxe Digital Studios, which handled multi-language dubbing to coincide with the same day/date global release of the 3D blockbuster Avatar. Faced with tremendous time constraints and a movie that was being re-cut right up until the final deadline, Deluxe relied on advanced CSCM to handle transfer of the 10-gig dubbing reference material files between the main studio and up to 18 locations around the world, for each new cut of the movie.

Building a CSCM-based Business

For post companies, therefore, an effective CSCM strategy will become increasingly important as the industry continues to become ever more digitized, fragmented, and accelerated. By CSCM, we mean a system that goes far beyond simply moving large files from point A to point B to provide maximum cost savings, unmatched control and visibility, and unlimited potential for business development.

The ideal CSCM solution gives media enterprises complete control over their content supply chains via four key functionality areas. The first is accelerated content transport, which ensures that huge files — even up to 1 TB — can be moved quickly, reliably, efficiently, and securely over the network. Accelerated file transport also enables the content to move across the network seamlessly without encountering any security gaps, based on an end-to-end security model. For post companies in particular, this security model should cover interactions beyond the main facility to outside vendors, in much the same manner as banks handle electronic funds transfers.

The second key functionality area is central management to ensure that files arrive at the right place at the right time, with a single dashboard to give an instant snapshot of file status. The system should provide a centrally-managed suite of resources for managing, tracking, and re-prioritizing bandwidth to ensure that files are delivered with first-class efficiency.

Third, effective CSCM requires content process automation to eliminate inefficient manual processes wherever possible — which also removes the delays and errors that inevitably occur with human intervention. Of course, content process automation is predicated on moving from physical media to the world of file-based workflows.

Finally, an effective CSCM solution enables B2B content peering for a truly interconnected supply chain that crosses the boundaries of organizations and corporations. As we’ve seen, global collaboration and partnerships are key drivers for today’s post operations, with the seamless exchange of content of paramount importance. B2B content peering enables content to flow across these boundaries seamlessly without interruptions while maintaining enterprise security policies.

As published in IBE’s January/February 2011 Issue

While we would all agree that there’s still plenty of tape out there, the digital revolution is exerting a profound influence on today’s broadcasting, media, and entertainment companies. For many media organizations, “going digital” means grappling with the transition from analog, linear content distribution to an exciting new world of electronic sell-through opportunities, video on demand, and multi-platform delivery.

To truly exploit these new opportunities, media companies depend on global collaboration and partnerships that enable the seamless exchange of content outside the bounds of the enterprise; therefore, their requirements for secure and effective content exchange have grown more complex and sophisticated. At the base level, these companies require a mechanism that can move unstructured video assets around and through processing workflows, and do it faster than their corporate networks would typically allow. But speed isn’t enough – media companies also need a file transfer solution that can be centrally managed and provide a secure exchange of assets with business partners such as post production companies and distributors.

Enter content supply chain management (CSCM), a comprehensive logistics-based file system that handles all the complexities of transporting multiple files to multiple destinations and out to the many different outlets where people consume content – rapidly and reliably, and with enterprise-class security. An effective CSCM solution is based on B2B content peering for a truly interconnected supply chain that crosses the boundaries of organizations and corporations, enabling content to flow across these boundaries seamlessly without interruptions while maintaining enterprise security policies.

So what exactly do we mean by enterprise-class security in the context of a business-to-business exchange of digital assets? What are the risks to media assets, and what are the most effective ways to protect them? In this article, we’ll attempt to answer those questions and describe how B2B content peering offers the state of the art in asset protection.

A complex Web of trading partners

A trifecta of trends — the move to file-based operations, the migration to new and enhanced formats, and the quickening pace to market demanded by new distribution windows — is profoundly impacting media companies and their ability to manage digital assets. Adding to the challenge is the growing complexity of today’s business-to-business relationships. A global broadcaster, for instance, might operate as a hub with many international locations and maintain B2B relationships with many different service providers such as post-production companies and playout centers. Conversely, a large post house might be connected to an additional 10 or 15 large, multinational broadcasters. Taking all these connections into account, the landscape begins to look less like a hub and more like a spider web.

These factors make sharing assets with business partners across wide geographical areas a difficult proposition, with numerous network, security and process issues coming into play. At a minimum, businesses need to notify each other of incoming files, have visibility into what is delivered, and have control over all incoming and outgoing files including setting priority and managing bandwidth.

Currently, companies’ media transfer requirements are being addressed (to varying degrees of success) in three key ways. The first is physical media distribution – in other words, shipping tape. Having established that this outmoded method is economically and environmentally unsound, many companies are turning to niche service providers that specialize in file movement, but these services are just as expensive as shipping physical media and are not optimized for moving larger and larger files that are being used today.

The third method is an unmanaged IP-based solution such as FTP, but this approach is typically inefficient and unreliable from a network standpoint and lacks any reliable means for tracking the assets. Furthermore, FTP authentication mechanisms are weak and managing user IDs and passwords used by FTP scripts is labor-intensive, insecure and does not scale.

Asset protection during an FTP file transfer is an ad hoc, manual process that must be carried out in multiple stages. Consider the typical corporate network, which is highly secure and firewalled. At the next layer is a type of “demilitarized zone” with marginal security in which the corporate website and publically accessible servers reside, and on the outside is the public Internet. When Company A needs to transfer a video asset to Company B via FTP, the asset must traverse through the corporate network and DMZ and out to the public Internet, and then to the partner’s website layer and corporate network. Without the proper security to move through every layer, Company A is required to perform a time-consuming series of manual FTP steps at each level to accomplish the transfer.

Inefficiency aside, these manual processes present real security risks for companies at every stage in the media supply chain. In an age when piracy is a global epidemic and well-documented digital security breaches have cost media companies many millions of dollars, the risks are just too great to leave asset transfer security to chance.

B2B content peering deconstructed

Through B2B content peering, CSCM systems overcome these challenges by automating manual security steps, and by providing a common model for companies to link to and exchange content freely with their business partners. As exemplified by the Signiant CSCM solution, peering is based on the placement of trusted software agents that can be installed in all layers of the network, on both sides of the B2B content exchange.

In a typical peering implementation, Company A’s software agents contact a locally-running management system that provides third-party certificate authority as the security mechanism to facilitate the transfer of assets to Company B. In other words, the manager gives the agent the information it needs to validate that Company B is trusted (the certificate authority), including public key security credentials necessary to mutually authenticate with Company B’s agents and guarantee the privacy and integrity of data. In this manner, the agent can securely and automatically pass the content via public key encryption through all of the network layers and into Company B’s network (figure 1).

As an added control measure, Company B can fine-tune the file transfer by applying workflow and resource management rules to include the type of transfer that its agent can conduct with Company A. Therefore, Company A’s agent is only authorized to send content that meets Company B’s specific criteria; e.g. no executable files, only *.mpg files that were created by a certain person, no more than three *.mpg files at once, only content that’s been virus-scanned, or no files without XML instructions. Once the sending agent meets the criteria, it is qualified as a trusted agent and the content is transferred smoothly. Thus, both sides have powerful control over such aspects as bandwidth usage, how much of their networks will be allocated for the transaction, and the location in the network where the content will be downloaded.

Figure 1. Secure content transfer via software agents.

In a more concrete example, a large post production house has its own network of CSCM agents and managers, as do each of the broadcasters the company does business with. Upon completion of the latest phase of a project (say, a new cut of the latest episode of a popular television series), the post engineer is ready to send the content to the broadcaster for review and approval. The sending engineer simply drops the content into a folder monitored by the trusted agent for that broadcaster. Since the post engineer and the receiving engineer at the broadcaster had previously exchanged security certificates, the post house’s security certificate now resides in the broadcaster’s peer manager system as a guarantee that the content is coming from a trusted source and coupled with the business rules meets the  broadcaster’s guidelines. Once accepted, the trusted agent can be viewed by the post engineer and the transfer can occur smoothly, and at a bandwidth specified by the receiving party. Both ends of the transaction are trusted and both have control, making the exchange truly collaborative.

In summary

File-based workflows have become more the norm than the exception in today’s most sophisticated media operations. As a consequence, global collaboration and partnerships are vital in today’s media enterprises, with the seamless exchange of content of paramount importance. The stakes have never been higher for companies to prevent network security breaches and protect valuable content assets – particularly when they are exchanged between enterprises.

By establishing mutual trust between trading partners through the exchange of security certificates, B2B content peering provides a much more effective and powerful alternative to the manual and time-consuming security aspects of FTP file transfers. Thus, peering has become an integral component in any media company’s strategy for content supply chain management.

Rick Clarkson is senior director, product management for Signiant, a leading developer of content supply chain solutions headquartered in Burlington, Mass.

BURLINGTON, MA (January 24, 2011) — Signiant, the leading developer of content supply chain management solutions, today announced that it has partnered with On Demand Group (ODG), a wholly owned subsidiary of SeaChange International and a leading worldwide provider of video-on-demand (VOD) and transactional television services, to bring On Demand Group customers a seamless, global platform for management and distribution of digital media. On Demand Group has implemented the Signiant solution to manage and accelerate transfer of media content, such as large video files of movies and television programs, and metadata files both internally and with its customers.

“As the means of moving data through every aspect of our operational processes, Signiant is a critical part of our workflow”, said Andrew Bolton, chief operating officer, On Demand Group. “Unlike other software providers that offer just WAN acceleration, Signiant provides the full central management capability that we need from file delivery software. We need to be able to control the content and metadata files from ingest through to client delivery. Signiant enables us to do this and to ensure the content is secure and delivered completely every time.”

On Demand Group provides its customers with a turnkey solution for VOD offerings that combines service development and operation, product research and specification, content acquisition, content service management, television advertising and promotion production, performance analysis, and service integration. Signiant reinforces On Demand Group’s strategy for digital workflow and content management that enables video content and metadata to move smoothly from studio and other suppliers, through internal operations and on to On Demand Group’s VOD and pay-television clients. Signiant’s content management keeps all parties up-to-date on the location and status of files in transit and provides powerful proof-of-delivery and key performance indicator (KPI) reports.

“As the demand for VOD and other types of interactive content delivery continues to explode worldwide, service providers and media companies alike will need powerful capabilities for managing and distributing their VOD content, and that’s where Signiant comes in. On Demand Group has a tremendous global presence in the VOD arena, so we are very pleased to be teaming with the company to help streamline its content delivery capabilities,” said David Nortier, managing director of Signiant Europe. “Plus, we’re proud to say that the Signiant platform has already been adopted by almost 20 of On Demand Group’s highest profile clients and suppliers – a list that reads like a who’s who of broadcasters, media, and entertainment companies.”

About On Demand Group

Based in London and serving cable, telco and mobile operators globally, On Demand Group uniquely combines its unparalleled stable of studio relationships and extensive regional content rights portfolio with comprehensive retail marketing and business development capabilities to create some of the world’s largest and most successful video-on-demand services. The Company specializes in content lifecycle management, from acquisition through full monetization, today enabling the highest quality video-on-demand services across millions of TVs, phones and broadband connections. On Demand Group is a subsidiary of SeaChange International. Visit www.ondemand.co.uk.