Cloud computing has permeated countless professional areas. When it comes to content, there is a strong trend to migrate repositories and workflows to the cloud where they become cheaper, scalable and more profitable. Now there is also the possibility of monetizing content on the Internet, making the dream of obtaining profit from network operations come true.
By Santiago Algorta*
Audiences consume more and more audiovisual content on the network through media distribution platforms such as iTunes and YouTube, or on social networks themselves. On the other hand, OTT platforms such as Netflix, constitute a threat to broadcasters and cable operators. All these applications do nothing but take advantage of the cloud to bring media content to consumers.
In the professional field, cloud applications have taken a little longer to develop. However, several platforms are already perceived offering services and others that come with force.
John Footen, an expert at Cognizant (www.cognizant.com), stated at his TecnoTelevisión conference last August in Bogotá (Congress organized by TV Y VIDEO) that the cloud is the ideal space for the media industry to develop its platforms due to the advantages it offers in terms of processing large volumes of data, the possibilities of developing collaborative workflows, publish materials digitally and cover operations with global reach. In the cloud, the distance between Lima and Callao is the same as between Buenos Aires and Cairo.
Footen mentioned at the Congress the following applications of the media industry as the main candidates to establish themselves in the cloud: Analytics and business intelligence, content processing (rendering and transcoding), content storage, media management (workflows and collaboration), content delivery and digital marketing (such as the delivery and evaluation of pilots or the promotion of programs through social networks).
Real applications
Among the most traditional providers in the field of television production, one of the first to develop products that take advantage of the cloud as a field of action has been Quantel (www.quantel.com), with its QTube product. At the last IBC fair in September Quantel showed the benefits of Qtube and its ability to provide editing of materials from anywhere in the world through the internet.
The content can be dispersed on servers in multiple locations around the planet and produce a single and finished content to be published by QTube which manages the movements of files by transferring only the high-resolution boxes of the different servers to the final server.
Quantel relies on its Quantel Virtual File System (QVFS) and Microsoft's Smooth Streaming technology for content sharing between sites by balancing quality vs. speed priorities and permanently monitoring the status of transfers. This gives the user great confidence in the workflow.
One of the first media companies to adopt this technology was Rogers Media, a Canadian group that owns Sportsnet, OMNI and CityTV stations. According to company sources, QTube will be used to break down geographical barriers between Rogers Media's different facilities across Canada so that publishers can browse and edit materials, no matter where they are stored.
Arkivum (www.arkivum.com)–a spin-off of the University of Southampton in the UK dedicated to the long-term preservation of digital archives– and the systems integrator ERA (www.eralondon.co.uk), offer in partnership the A-Stor solution adapted to the needs of broadcasters.
A-Stor is a service based on an LTO/LTFS tape repository and an appliance that is installed at the customer's headquarters. This way, the customer can view the system as a single file system and access their remote files in a matter of minutes. The company argues that the costs of this service can be half of what a local SAN system would cost and that carbon emissions are reduced by 90%.
Much simpler is the solution offered by Signiant (www.signiant.com), a private cloud technology on the desktop – such as Dropbox or Yousendit – that allows you to share content automatically on PCs or Mac computers. The product is called Signiant Media Exchange (MX) and is designed specifically for the audiovisual content industry where files have particular characteristics.
With MX the file sharing is done automatically, and the transfer is safe and guaranteed. It is ideal for news operations, as mobile devices can also be involved by creating collaborative environments. Workgroups can be defined by contributing from remote locations, as well as channels for material review between different users.
The Spanish VSN (www.vsn-tv.com), with an important presence in the Latin American market, offers in this area the VSNIPTRANSFER product, specifically designed to complete digital workflows by exchanging files for broadcast between remote locations using medium speed links such as DSL or 3G.
VSNIPTRANSFER works with virtual folders in servers-repositories of the platform. The user can choose a compression profile and manage the listings through a simple catalog manager. You can also exchange files from news systems such as Avid iNews or ENPS. Finally, VSNIPTRANSFER includes a monitoring tool to control network transfers and nodes, and an administration tool to create users, folders, assign permissions and distribute content publications on each server of the platform.
This product is installed in the RCN chain of Colombia who uses it in a managed content contribution system between ten client nodes in different cities and the headquarters of Bogotá, on its news system and Avid servers. An essential part of this system is the UMP transfer acceleration protocol, patented by VSN.
Another provider that uses the VSN platform globally to offer services to multiple companies is Errequerre (www.errequerre.tv), a company that emerged from the ATM Broadcast group, a Spanish benchmark in the audiovisual coverage of international sports competitions.
Errequerre's model is to become the first marketplace community for content distribution for audiovisual companies that uses the Internet as a means of transmitting content in a bidirectional way (download /upload), generating a new business model that stands out for the ease it provides professionals for the commercialization and distribution of content, favoring access to the market quickly and easily.
Errequerre was launched to the international market at IBC in 2011 and at NATPE 2012 in Miami it was announced to the American market. Later, at AndinaLink 2012, an event held in the Colombian city of Cartagena, Jordi Verité, director of Errequerre's commercial office in Miami, was present.
Errequerre allows large media groups, independent channels or video producers to use its cloud platform to buy and / or sell content easily and immediately. Errequerre performs the necessary transcoding and the user can download the acquired material (from one minute as a news clip to a feature film or novel chapter) through a broadband internet connection.
During the events in which Errequerre participated, several companies have already registered or have shown interest in joining the content sharing cloud; among them Mercury Films, Mil Palabras, Torremolinos TV, Producciones Cine Clip, Infonews TV, Bodegalia, Teledoce, Algeciras al Minuto, Latinavisión TV. At the time of the closure of this magazine, companies from Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay and the United States were also close to signing their membership contracts.
*Manager of Digital Signage Media, [email protected]
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