Getting the film to market during the “Golden Week” around Chinese New Year was crucial to box office success, and Media Shuttle performed flawlessly in a starring role.  The 3D film “Journey to the West” is now set to break box office records.

We also just learned that Venture 3D is working on some exciting new projects this summer using Media Shuttle.  Unfortunately we can’t reveal what it is, but we think heavy metal fans will be delighted.  Read more about Venture 3D.

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.

Here are 5 reasons why you should say goodbye to your outdated FTP system:

1. Creating and Managing an FTP System is a Nightmare.

FTP is a transfer protocol and not a file transfer application. Because of that, there is a large amount of custom work that needs to be done in order to setup a working FTP based file transfer application. Your company will have to invest a number of developers, a lot of time and several machines in order to set up a usable system, running on thousands of lines of scripts that only one person understands. If that person leaves or is unavailable, then your file transfer system becomes even more difficult to manage!

 2. FTP is Risky.

An FTP-based system is inherently risky. The costs associated with any one of these vulnerabilities are immense:

• User credentials are in plain text and user management is a manual, or at best scripted, process.
• You have little control over who has access to your files. FTP does not have monitoring in place to make sure that only those who have the right privileges are able to access your valuable data.
• FTP servers are placed in the DMZ where anyone can get access to your valuable data.
• It is very difficult to track files sent using FTP. Once you send a file, there is no automated way to determine if the file arrived, it was picked up and if your SLA will be affected.
• FTP lacks the type of security that is required by any organization to ensure the protection of its data in movement and at rest.
• No checkpoint restart. If a file transfer fails, FTP does not automatically try the transfer again from the point of failure. In an era of shrinking delivery windows, this has a big impact on your business.

3. FTP is Far from User Friendly.

This one doesn’t need much explanation. Anyone who has tried to use FTP to send a file has been forced to use a console or a very outdated UI. Your clients and partners don’t want to have a terrible user experience. In an era of beautiful and responsive Web/mobile applications, there has to be a better way.

4. FTP Doesn’t Work for Extreme File Movement.

If you’ve ever tried to send a large file using FTP, then you know that it just can’t be done. FTP servers are not able to handle large files, and as a result critical transmissions will fail. With Media Shuttle, you not only have the ability to send files with sizes in the gigabytes, you will also be able to send those files in minutes, not hours or days.

5. Your Brand is Your Most Valuable Asset. You Need to Protect It.

Your business may depend on file sharing but you are likely not in the business of setting up and maintaining a file sharing system. With FTP, you must spend valuable resources to keep the system up and running so that your business is not interrupted and your brand takes a hit. With Media Shuttle, you can focus all of your resources on your core business and grow your brand.

Signiant is the leader in extreme file transfers, with a customer base that includes BBC, ESPN, Schlumberger and others that rely on our software for sending large, valuable assets in a fast and reliable way.

Mohammed Aboul-Magd, Product Manager

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.

The other significant trend affecting file sharing is the incessant creation of massive amounts of unstructured data. We’re mobile, we’re creating tons of data and we want access to it at all times from anywhere. But not all of this data is created equal; some files are simply more important than others. And not only is it the sheer quantity of files that is growing but the size of the files themselves. We can all remember MBs being a unit of measurement considered large. Some of us may even harken back to talking about KBs. But now GB files are fairly common – think heavy-weight digital assets such as video files, seismic data sets, DNA sequencing, and other forms of “big data” which when aggregated often total in the PBs! With video now widely used for marketing teams in all industries, every company is a Media company. It’s no wonder IT vendors are highly focused on not only Big Data analytics, but BIG files, something here in New England we can’t help but to refer to as “wicked big dater.”

Arguably the heavier (i.e. larger) the asset, the more valuable it is to a company, a form of intellectual property. It is here we need to consider the implications of the advent of the “Dropbox Syndrome”, which, with respect to the risk of digital asset loss, may soon reach epidemic levels. Absent a corporate IT issued file sharing solution that is easy-to-use and does not require IT parental micro-management a la an FTP server, the consumerization of IT culture of today is such that end-users will, and are, using their own built-for-the-consumer file sharing account to move around corporate digital assets. IT has no control over these cloud-based storage services, never mind any visibility into the who, what, where, and when of the movement of the digital assets. It’s 2:00 am; do you know where your assets are?

As IT use cases expand and mature, multiple solutions are often brought to bare. When it comes to file sharing, different classes of digital assets require purpose-built solutions. Sharing and synching MP3s and pictures to/from devices and between friends and family requires ease of use, cloud storage, and synchronization. Dropbox has not only created this market but has done something few companies in any market ever achieve – brand an entire product category a la Kleenex, Xerox, etc. But heavy assets require a different set of capabilities, extreme file sharing functions, of which absolute must-haves include not only that easy to use, cloud-delivered interface for the end-user, but an enterprise-ready platform comprised of managed acceleration to handle GBs that aggregate to PBs, serious security, storage independence for the option of keeping certain digital assets on private infrastructure, and repudiation tracking for full visibility. It’s 2:00 am and with extreme file sharing, yes, you will know not only where your assets are, but have been and with who. Now how do I get that for teenagers?

Doug Cahill, VP Business Development

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.

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With 95% of the world’s animated broadcast content originating from studios outside of the U.S., production firms face a huge challenge in moving­ animated TV show files between international collaborators. Uncompressed HD animated video files range from 200 – 250 GB for a typical 30-min episode files sizes too massive to handle via FTP or consumer-oriented cloud file sharing solutions.

At The Product Factory, a Burbank post-production house specializing in animation content, Signiant’s Media Shuttle came to the rescue.  Working in partnership with children’s TV producer Rollman Entertainment, The Product Factory used Signiant’s Media Shuttle file transfer software to expedite the debut of an animated TV series featuring an 11-year old superhero and a sports theme, a series that debuted on cable recently.  The Product Factory used Media Shuttle to move large animation files from a content partner in India back to Los Angeles – with all the speed, security and control that TV production companies need to achieve highly efficient workflows and competitive advantage without costly capital outlays.

Based on an existing online sports world for kids, the animated TV show features such stunning graphics and rich animation that each 26-minute episode took three full days to transfer via FTP from India to Los Angeles – the same time as overnight shipments. Emerging cloud-base file transfer solutions typically limit file sizes to 2GB, lack acceleration and can require the file to be received at a third-party location – effectively doubling transfer time.

“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, which positions itself as ‘a small facility with huge ability.’  “As a subscription-based solution, Media Shuttle also lets us avoid multi-year contracts and sizable capital outlays.  After working for years with animation customers that 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.”

The newest addition to Signiant’s software product suite, Media Shuttle provides an effective alternative to FTP with file transfer speed up to 200X faster over the public Internet 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.

Try Media Shuttle for yourself.  Send a large file 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.

Q: Unique aspects of working in APAC?

With Signiant’s expansion in the region, I get to contribute to the process of building new markets from early stages. I like to take ownership and see a project through from start to finish. The opportunity to create and build lasting relationships with partners and customers here is amazing.

Q: Favorite part of your job?

Before I went to Engineering school, I had a good amount of experience teaching. Working in the field, I’m able to transfer those teaching skills to many of my daily activities working with customers. I enjoy collaborating with so many talented people to apply our technologies to solving real business problems. This, and all of the new foods that I get to try while travelling around Asia!

Q: Favorite product feature?

I love how Media Shuttle targets a new audience for our product suite, while still utilizing the same underlying technologies that customers have come to know and trust. In today’s technology market, companies need to be able to make an amazing first impression. It’s all about the “Wow” factor. As someone with a technical background, this means simplicity and branding.

Q: Any inside happenings to share?

As announced at IBC, delivery standards compliance is going to be an important step forward. Signiant understands the importance of unifying formats in order to make digital content available as quickly and smoothly as possible. Knowing my colleagues in charge of Signiant’s products, I can say for certain that the main goal will always be to make products and features that are simple and easy to use.

Q: Miss anything about Canada?

Although I love living in Singapore – just a couple hundred kilometers north of the equator – I actually enjoy Canadian winters (crazy, I know). I grew up skiing, and more recently snowboarding, so I will certainly miss having plenty of fresh powder.

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.

We recently came across this link which will take you to the story of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation. Take a look at the video —  it’s a pretty amazing facility and story. As you watch it, keep in mind that Signiant’s software is used extensively and exclusively to move content throughout the facility, guaranteeing “bit perfect” transport of priceless, historical recordings.

Enjoy!

p.s. The  Library of Congress Packard Campus is home to more than 1.1 million film, television, and video items.  With a collection ranging from motion pictures made in the 1890′s to today’s TV  programs, the Library’s holdings are an unparalleled record of American and  international creativity in moving images.

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.

Authenticated Portals

First in the list of new features is something called “Authenticated Portals”. For certain types of content, it will be desirable to secure access to the content with more than just a user’s email address on a white list of allowed senders or receivers. Using this new functionality, administrators can now configure their file transfer portal to require senders and receivers to login with a username and password. Like the rest of the Media Shuttle product, configuring and using this functionality is incredibly easy.

Drag and Drop Files

Next up, we’ve added drag and drop for content selection. Sending content is now as simple as dragging files into the upload screen and picking the recipient.  Look for this on the Mac soon.

Simplifying the Send

Always sending content from the same email address? Tired of typing it in each time you use Shuttle?  We’ve made this a bit easier too.  Adding a ‘from’ address to the portal URL and then bookmarking the page will save users from having to type their address every time.  It’s as easy as just appending ?sender=me@address.com to the portal URL you are currently using (ie. https://myportal.mediashuttle.com?sender=me@address.com).

Managing Multiple Portals

For administrators, we’ve made it more convenient to quickly switch between multiple portals. Just look for the “Manage Portal” menu and use the drop down list to find the portal you need.

Free Webcast, October 4, 2012

To see all these new features in action, join us for our upcoming Webcast on Thursday, October 4 at 9AM and 1PM ET.  Click here for more information and to register.

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.”

If you need more excellent reasons to visit us at IBC this year, we have a few good ones for you…

#5. Products!

In addition to our award-winning Media Exchange and Managers+Agents products we will be demonstrating our newest product, Media Shuttle, a subscription-based file delivery solution that provides a simple way to move large media files. Designed to meet the needs of media operations, creative professionals, engineering and IT, Media Shuttle gives any size workgroup or enterprise the convenience and ease of use of public cloud-based file-sharing services without file size limits or security risks.

#4. Parties!

We are hosting two super-fun customer cocktail events during the IBC show.  These events are an opportunity for us to celebrate new partnerships with Sohonet and NetApp and relax with our customers from around the world!  So be sure to connect with us for details.

#3. DPP, AWMA and Standards!

We are excited to present breakthrough work in the broadcast standards compliance space.  The emergence of published standards are important topics for our industry. A good example is the DPP initiative which, among other things, will provide a commonly agreed file format/metadata strategy for the UK broadcast industry. Stop by for a demo of our new patent-pending technology designed to ensure file conformance with these and any other customer-defined specifications.

#2. Partnerships!

Our technology partnerships are continuing to grow, so visit us to learn more about how together with our partners, we can deliver further value to your business. Did you see the recent NetApp and Sohonet announcements?

#1. ROI!

Make the most of your trip to the IBC Show by visiting us in Hall 14 Stand 621 to learn more about Signiant, the solutions we provide, and how together they can drive greater ROI for your media business!

Schedule your meeting now or visit us in Hall 14 Stand 621. Time is running out.

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?”

Why?  Because we have a lot to talk about!

The IBC Show affords the opportunity to see, learn and experience what’s new for technology, trends and workflows. You can find us in Hall 14 Stand 621 where we will be demonstrating our products, including Media Shuttle – our new subscription-based file delivery solution now available.

We’ll also be presenting our breakthrough work in the broadcast standards space. The emergence of published standards such as DPP, FIMS and so on are important topics for our industry at the moment. A good example is the DPP initiative which, among other things, will provide a commonly agreed file format/metadata strategy for the UK broadcast industry. We are excited to present a new patent-pending technology designed to ensure file conformance with these and any other published specifications.

One of the ways to ensure a proper preview of these demonstrations is to schedule your appointments in advance for the things you know are a ‘must-see’ in your book.  If you are responsible for moving content, then Signiant is a ‘must-see’ so schedule your appointment today.  We  welcome the opportunity to show you how our technology and workflows are changing the way media professionals can drive compliance, efficiency and cost savings.

And on that note, ‘See you in September’!

Q: Favorite part of your job?

The diversity of the role. Working with customers, partners, vendors and thought leaders every day and listening to what they are doing, what their goals are and how their using technology to create compelling solutions and deliver real business value. I also enjoy being involved in product strategy, influencing the roadmap, liaising with my colleagues in sales, support, marketing, engineering and finance that are all great to work with and very much the reason behind the success we have enjoyed over the last six years in Europe.

Q: What’s a typical working day for you?

I will typically spend 2 -3 days a week on the road (around Europe) working at customer sites managing projects, consulting and designing workflows, creating architecture designs or evangelizing new ideas and best practices to customers looking to take advantage of what other Signiant customers are doing. The rest of the time I will be involved in creating or writing up solutions, proposals and providing feedback to our team on how we can refine and improve our solutions and improve on our customer experiences. I also get involved from time to time in helping people out with technical issues though we have a 24-hour support desk. I like to keep my hand in this to stay current with the technology.

When I’m not on the road for Signiant, I’ll likely be out on the cycling as that’s my passion. It’s been a great inspiration to watch all the exciting performances at the London Olympics. Earlier this year at the Manchester Velodrome, I was fortunate enough to be part of the team supporting one of our product managers, Mike Nash, who holds the world cycling record for the furthest distance traveled in an hour in the men’s 40-44 age category. (45.959KM for the record).

Q: What are you currently working on that is ‘hot’?

I’m currently very involved in working in the broadcast metadata standards space for Signiant. The emergence of published standards such as FIMS, DPP, MXF and so on are very important topics for our customer’s at the moment. A good example is the DPP initiative which, among other things, is the commonly agreed metadata strategy for the UK broadcast industry. As a result I’m working on designing solutions which allow Signiant to be very involved in assisting customers with the capture, processing, transformation and verification of metadata within file-based workflows. In fact we will be demonstrating some of these new metadata-driven solutions at IBC and I look forward to presenting these new solutions and ideas at the show.

Q: What keeps you motivated?

Every day at Signiant there is a new challenge, whether it’s of a technology or business nature. You never know exactly what you’re going to be doing the next day and that does keep things interesting.

Q: Tell us something about you that most would be surprised to learn?

I’m proud to say that I’m related to Chris Hoy who has just won his sixth Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics in the men’s cycling event. He’s an inspiration.

Q: Speaking of inspiration, we heard you had a recent shark diving experience, tell us more.

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.

Our new subscription-based fast file transfer software is here!  And, we’re offering up a FREE 14-day trial of Media Shuttle so you can see just how incredible it is.  Here are the ‘Top 10 Reasons’ to try it today.

#10 Acceleration, no need to worry about tight turnaround times, we’ve got your back!

#9  Security, ensure that your valuable content is protected

#8  Rock-solid reliability, checkpoint restarts assure file delivery

#7  Simplicity, so easy to access, use and navigate (even my mom could do it)

#6  Control, know who content is going to when and where

#5  Signiant’s software is in the cloud, not your media files

#4  No file size limits, send any size file anywhere fast!

#3  Set-ups in minutes, add your brand in seconds

#2  Confirmation notifications let you know your media is delivered

#1  Because it’s available today! Try it FREE for 14 Days – Sign up now

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.

Here’s why…

Like all of Signiant’s products, Media Shuttle provides media professionals with secure, accelerated media file deliveries in an easy-to-use interface. But unlike our other products, it delivers these interfaces from the cloud, which makes deployment a snap. In a twist on this we’ve developed some interesting patent-pending technology – a “cloud connector” to be exact – that actually keeps your media out of the cloud and safely stored on your internal network. Media professionals (and media lawyers) really dig this.

While we think all this is pretty cool, there’s another aspect to Media Shuttle that our users love. It’s the monthly subscription model. Not only does this give production companies, post houses and content owners instant access to a super scalable and secure solution for file movement, but it also makes Media Shuttle a top pick for production projects, and others looking to scale usage based on changing demand. Turn it up.  Turn it down. Then turn it up again.

One post house we work with was just telling us today how excited they were about this subscription model. For the cost of one-and-a-half motorbike couriers running tapes or disks around London, they can have Media Shuttle at their fingertips – for all their fast file transfer needs!  No capex concerns or long-term contracts. In short, Media Shuttle is the perfect line-item solution to intermittent project requirements – whether you’re delivering on-set dailies to a post house, or chasing a DOP or Director in some other city for approvals.

It’s all good.  And we think you’ll like it, too.  Sign up for a free trial subscription today.

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.

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

Being able to work on and be exposed to so many areas of developing a product – from definition, development and marketing, to packaging and pricing. It makes every day very interesting.

Q: What was your role in developing Media Shuttle?

With one other chap, I came up with the core idea for Media Shuttle and the overall high-level system design. On a day-to-day basis, I work closely with the engineering team on defining requirements for product features as well as working with marketing, product marketing and the rest of our product team.

Q: What is your favorite thing about this product?

Media Shuttle is so easy, even my mum could use it!

Q: What is your vision for Media Shuttle moving forward?

Expand the functionality, such as integration with Signiant workflows, while still keeping it incredibly easy to use.

Q: Any inside happenings to share about Media Shuttle?

One of the highlights of the project has been being able to attend the NAB Show and see firsthand the reaction to Media Shuttle.  Being able to see this (which was all fantastic) and bring that customer enthusiasm back to the engineering team was great! I found at NAB that there was a lot of ‘wow’ from Signiant, and it’s been very rewarding to be an integral part of this.

The volume of hours broadcast at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver more than doubled compared to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy – and will likely double again for 2012. So how do broadcasters deliver the enormous amount of content all over the world in multiple formats so quickly, efficiently and without error?

Enter Signiant.

As a partner to NBC during the 2010 Winter Olympics our role was to manage the movement of content and automate processes on the back-end. We worked with NBC to produce 14 optimal workflows to automate, manage and monitor over 400 hours of live competition and more than 1,000 hours of full-event replays. We also automatically generated confirmation receipts after content was delivered successfully so that URLs could be published. Due to the enormous volume of content – the automation of workflows, job monitoring and delivery of receipts became critical components to delivering the Winter Games successfully online. For more on the work we did with NBC during the 2010 Winter Olympics, check out our case study.

Now onto the future! I ask again, are you ready for the 2012 Summer Olympics? We are! As a partner and provider of powerfully simple file movement – we know and understand the need for moving enormous volumes of content in tight turnaround times. We also know that content is an extremely valuable asset, which is why we take pride in offering products that provide our clients with total control and security over the automation, management, and movement of their content. So let the games begin.

Given that how we do business has changed, and the fact that countless devices are accessing proprietary data in the cloud from anywhere and at anytime – the need to ensure enterprise security in the cloud is no longer nice to have, but a necessity!

Our new Media Shuttle product was designed with enterprise content security in mind. Its patent-pending, hybrid architecture enables corporate network users to 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.  This architecture affords the functionality needed for moving large files quickly without compromising the security required.  This is a win-win for content stakeholders and corporate content policy.

For more on content security in the cloud with Media Shuttle click here.

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.

From a Signiant perspective, it was a rewarding day as the vast majority of those sharing their wisdom and experiences were not only Signiant-enabled and using our workflow tools to achieve high levels of efficiency in their organisations, but also made reference during their presentations to their confidence in our continuing ability to drive innovation to support their ongoing need for more efficient workflow solutions.  It is wonderful to know that Signiant has become some deeply embedded into the broadcasting community and are viewed as integral to the success of our clients move to modernise their processes.

Whilst technology was the language of the day, a secondary theme to emerge was the challenge of how to bring your people along this new journey.  The re-education of staff to remove their dependence on physical media has clearly raised unforeseen issues and it was of great interest to see how global players have addressed this challenge through education and training. Librarians must now become data experts and producers now have to trust a virtual system to house their precious material and can no longer tuck a tape into their desk drawer so that they can easily lay their hands on their assets. People like tangible things and feel a sense of ownership of ‘their tape’ whilst a file never creates this emotional connection.

All in all it was a fascinating insight into the multiple disciplines that work within this broadcast arena and it certainly gave us food for thought to realise there are many types of customer who could and should implement Signiant into their workflows, and we look forward to the opportunity to assist them on this journey.

“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.

Read all about the exciting Blue World series in today’s press release recognizing Todd’s outstanding achievements.  And, definitely check out the the Blue World site for some truly fascinating ‘Webisodes’ and photos of Todd on location with the team.

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.

The following day we moved a few miles east and headed into Soho, the heart of London’s post-production community. Again with Boxer leading the afternoon event, we played host to over 70 visitors from all areas of the post community. Whilst the workflows may be slightly different in the post world, the pressure remains on everyone to increase efficiencies, work smarter and offer customers a high level of service, technical excellence and support and we at Signiant are proud to be supporting both the broadcast and post-production communities with these aims.

Thanks to everyone who came along. We’ll be in touch for a more in-depth discussion and a big thank you to Mark, Sam and the team at Boxer Systems who created this event which we look forward to supporting again in 2013. Look for the continuation of our EMEA tour throughout the summer.  For a list of upcoming events around the globe, click here.

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.

If you would like to see a demo of Media Shuttle, please call +1.781.221.4000, and we can arrange for your local Signiant expert to visit you or click here to download the Media Shuttle brochure.

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.

From an EMEA perspective, NAB is equally important and we will be there in force. For those of us here who won’t be joining the fun, we have a reseller channel swinging into action. The first of our many European partners is Boxer Systems, a powerhouse in systems solutions sales. We are proud to be working with Boxer as they introduce the Signiant family of products into a wider network of clients. Initially focusing on London’s prestigious production and post-production communities, Boxer and Signiant will be supporting media and entertainment companies looking for workflow automation tools that drive greater efficiency and meet stringent security thresholds.

Boxer Systems will also be a critical part of our EMEA success story in 2012 as we launch new products, but you won’t read about them here today. Just like the rest of the M&E world, we will be announcing these exciting new solutions at NAB.  So jump on a plane, check into your hotel and ride the monorail (does anyone actually use that?) and meet us at the greatest show on earth ( booth SL4228) .

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.”

Challenge:

Solution:

Results:

• Improved programming with inclusion of more clips
• Enhanced cross league promotion
• Ability to distribute highlight clips in a timely manner
• Scoring data and voice communications on the League’s network remain uninterrupted

The National Hockey League (NHL) boasts 53 million of the most passionate, technically sophisticated fans in North America, and as part of a strategic marketing initiative, the League needed a way to highly engage its avid fans and expose them to more events taking place League-wide.

A significant part of the NHL’s strategy called for better use of online video, and in April 2008, the League launched NHL Network Online, a landmark online video initiative to provide fans with game highlights and behind-the-scenes footage.

The NHL chose Signiant’s software to quickly ingest, manage, and control the distribution of game footage and other promotional video to and from its 30 arenas in the U.S. and Canada. Signiant enables the NHL to edit timely footage into shows that are aired daily on NHL Network Online, but it also permits game highlights to be delivered to NHL arenas and aired on Jumbotrons in near-real time. As a result, the League can keep fans immersed in the game as never before.

Because Signiant allows the NHL to leverage existing IP connectivity at all of the League’s 30 arenas, the solution was deployed quicker and for a lesser cost than some of the NHL’s other options, including signal-based solutions.

Prior to implementing Signiant’s file movement software, the NHL’s proprietary venue-based IP network was only used to transfer scoring data, and provide IP-based voice communications. With the ability to closely control media transfers, Signiant’s solution allows the NHL to accelerate the movement of large video files over its network while managing and optimizing bandwidth usage to ensure that these vital, existing services remain uninterrupted.

Challenge:

Solution:

Results:

Lifetime Networks is a diverse, multi-media company committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming. The network splits its production responsibilities between its file-based program and distribution facility in New York and its new post-production facility nearly 3,000 miles away in Century City, California. As such, Lifetime was looking for a system that could quickly and securely move its digital media assets between the two facilities and easily integrate with its Avid editing tools. In addition, the network was looking to implement a central management system to schedule and track file transfers.

Lifetime evaluated several hardware and software solutions before deciding to implement Signiant’s Content Distribution Management (CDM) software. Lifetime now uses Signiant CDM to move bandwidth-intensive HD and SD content across its wide area network (WAN) to streamline and manage transfers of source material to LA and deliver finished promo content to the On-Air operation in NY. Signiant’s ability to smartly allocate bandwidth and assign priority to time-sensitive files has been a major asset in the network’s bi-costal production strategy. Signiant’s software platform integrates easily with the network’s Avid editing system to help streamline the process, save valuable time, and meet tight deadlines. The system virtualizes the production workflow in order to make bi-costal editing facilities seem like they are right next door.

Using Signiant, Lifetime transfers its video content considerably faster than it could using traditional distribution of physical tapes and at a significantly lower cost than real-time video circuits. Lifetime estimates that it transfers dozens of promos a day and more than 100 promos a week using Signiant. The company expects that number to grow and plans to transfer over 100 gigabytes per day in the near future, which will result in even more dramatic cost and time savings.

Challenge:

Solution:

Results:

Founded in 1999, Digital Domain is the creator of Dimensionalization, a patented technology that converts 2D motion pictures into 3D. Dimensionalized® 3D movies look extremely realistic, often better than if they had been originally photographed in 3D. Through this patented process, each and every frame is altered for complete 3D realism, believability, and to ensure that the 3D scenes play well together.

Like other post production facilities, In-Three must transfer a high volume of digital media files from storage servers to editors’ workstations and back again multiple times throughout the editing and post production process. However, the process is even more demanding for In-Three than it is for facilities dealing with traditional or HD content, given its work with cutting-edge 3D technologies which create very large digital media files.

To meet the company’s high throughput requirements, streamline the file transfer process, and increase editing productivity, Digital Domain chose Signiant’s file movement software. The solution’s central management functionality enables Digital Domain’s production staff to speed delivery of content while monitoring the multi-step process of creating 3D content from 2D original material.

Prior to implementing Signiant, Digital Domain was manually transferring each file individually from a shared storage server to each production workstation. This created lag time which slowed the overall production process and caused inefficiencies in editing. With Signiant, the company now has more control over network bandwidth and can prioritize the delivery of each file to ensure efficiency and faster delivery.

With Signiant, Digital Domain now experiences efficient real-time transfers of large 3D media files. Also, Signiant’s central management system allows Digital Domain to intelligently allocate bandwidth to streamline workflows and optimize the company’s asset management system, which is an integral part of its patented process.

Challenge:

Solution:

Results:

Discovery Communications is the number one nonfiction media company with 100-plus worldwide networks including Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. As the network moved towards file-based workflows, it was looking to facilitate a more efficient and cost effective post production and distribution process for popular existing series and upcoming premiere programming, including Jockeys (Animal Planet), Treasure Quest (Discovery Channel) and Count Down to the Crown (TLC). To move its low-resolution assets, the company had built an in-house solution referred to as the DMC (Digital Media Center). But it needed a more advanced solution that could make its extensive library of assets viewable worldwide – across the entire company and to outside partners – while enabling a more efficient process to transfer both SD and HD assets.

Discovery performed an extensive proof of concept review of several vendors before deciding to implement Signiant’s file transfer technology. The deployment was broken down into two areas: one was to support heavy asset transfer of SD and HD content, and the other to support the DMC. This massive deployment supports eight thousand users, with an estimated 250 of them on the site concurrently uploading and downloading files at any given time, making it easy for users to search for and retrieve digital assets (e.g videos, stills, etc.), while collaborating on productions and repurposing content.

Using Signiant, Discovery estimates that it has seen a 700 to 800 percent improvement in file transfer rate over 1 Gb/s link. The speed, automation, security, and centralized management all translate into a more efficient method for Discovery to leverage its most valuable asset – its content – while reducing the costs of post-production and distribution.

Challenge:

Solution:

• Utilization of Signiant Content Distribution Management software to ingest user generated content
• Signiant Media Exchange implemented on website to allow uploads
• Utilization of Signiant file-based workflow capabilities to efficiently edit submitted content across disparate locations

Results:

• Users can quickly, reliably, and securely upload content in minutes, vs. what could previously take hours using regular network speeds
• Current can easily identify high-priority news items for editing
• Agent-less, WAN-accelerated, secure uploads and downloads
• Compatible with all web sites, current applications and systems
• Ability to produce 50 unique video “pods” per week
• Content can be edited simultaneously by more than 100 editors across geographic locations with file-based workflow
• Current is able to ingest content from the field 50 times faster than prior to using Signiant
  

Current is the industry’s first Emmy-award winning interactive news and information network produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. Co-founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the Current network is a pioneer of a nontraditional television model that incorporates both online and broadcast elements into its programming.Approximately one-third of Current’s on-air broadcast consists of user-generated content, submitted via short-form, non-fiction video “pods.” Each pod, which runs between two and 12 minutes in length, is created and submitted by viewers in more than 51 million households spanning the U.S., U.K., and Ireland via the Current website. Current editors evaluate contributed content to produce 50 unique pods per week, and post another 50-100 pieces of Current-created content.

As the first news and entertainment network to be completely tapeless, Current relies on a carrier class 10 gigabit Ethernet network to ensure network availability. With large video files traveling over its network each day, the company needed a reliable and secure digital media distribution solution that could accelerate both transmission and ingestion of this content with minimal latency. Signiant had the only digital media distribution solution that could meet those requirements.

All content on the Current network is shot via Current editors or Current viewers, uploaded digitally and subsequently edited in a file-based workflow through Signiant Media Exchange, part of Signiant’s Content Distribution Management software. Current has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London, and content is often edited simultaneously by more than 100 editors across geographic locations.

Prior to deploying Signiant, Current relied on regular network speeds to upload and distribute content throughout its network, which could take several hours. And then editors would spend more time reviewing and editing news footage for use on the air. With Signiant, Current is able to ingest content 50 times faster, therefore trimming the time it takes to get up-to-the-minute news and information to its viewers that helps them to stay, well… current.