In Broadcast - May/June 2011 - 16

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Bringing IT and Broadcast Together
Systems Integrators are helping broadcasters execute strategies that translate today’s video engineering into the business needs of tomorrow
By Adrian Pennington
Channel 4 Playout Suite at Red Bee Media

The convergence of IT with broadcast engineering is arguably the greatest change impacting broadcast systems integration since SIs first emerged as a business two decades ago. The convergence has by all accounts already happened, although its implications are not yet fully understood, particularly among client broadcasters. That’s where systems integrators fit in. Although procurement and implementation of hardware remains central to an SI’s expertise, they are no longer mere rackers of kit but strategists working at the heart of a broadcaster’s operational thinking. “The market demands SI’s provide lateral thinking,” says Paul Wallis, Sales Director, Broadcast Networks which continues to play a key role in the development and expansion of Chellomedia’s multi-lingual, multi-platform playout facilities. “We are a partner in future plans to help broadcasters and media companies minimise the risks of new technology deployment.” TSL celebrates its 25th anniversary this year during which time CEO David Phillips has seen massive changes in the industry, and an even faster rate of change in the last few years than in the first fifteen. “Accordingly our business is continuing to evolve very quickly,” he says. “The old days of plugging equipment together has moved on to become much more about proper integration of systems.” The reasons for this, he says, lie in the changing demands on broadcasters who must respond with increasing agility to how their audiences want to consume media. “Broadcasters have to find ways to deliver to multiple platforms and devices or risk new entrants coming in to take away their business,” says Phillips. “However the same trend represents an opportunity for broadcasters to make money by delivering content in different ways. The traditional push model where revenue was made on a license fee or by advertising is making way for subscription models or on-demand

dB Broadcast recognized this trend towards IT a decade ago and was one of the first SI’s to employ IT specialists to carry out the integration and configuration of products such as encoding and compression systems. “This first step has enabled dB to become a leader in the delivery of this type of system with more than 350 installations over the last decade,” says dB Broadcast owner and MD David Bird, a trained engineer who still gets involved in running major projects, such as the UK’s Digital Switchover for Arqiva. “We have not only taken on IT specialists but software engineers to bridge the gaps between broadcast products and IT systems, for example dB has completed the development of an SNMP interface for it’s popular Hawkeye range and web browsers for its MDU range,” Bird Daniel Url, Wellen + Nothen’s Commercial Director explains. designed a workflow and MAM system incorporating technology from 16 software suppliers and hardware components from 14 different vendors. SI’s may take responsibility for everything from technical planning, consultancy and design, through furniture-making to the installation, integration and commissioning of televisual infrastructures. Alongside this, downstream service and support is also gaining in importance. “This can involve activities such as remote maintenance via our Network Operation Center in Cologne, our 24/7 hotline support service or through the provision of technical personnel on site,” says Daniel Url, Wellen+Nöthen’s Commercial Director. Wellen+Nöthen handle technical system administration during on-air broadcasting for customers including Al Jazeera Sports and German broadcaster WDR.

means of monetising assets.” TSL’s business includes a complete infrastructure expansion for Orbit Showtime Network in Dubai and at New Zealand’s public service broadcaster TVNZ where TSL

Business strategy
Aside from multiplying system complexity, technology decisions are often led by business strategy which encompasses every facet of an organisation. This also means systems integrators being brought in to advise in pre-planning and by departments further up the food chain. “Clients are looking for a trusted advisor who comes in a little bit earlier in the process, rather than when strategy is already decided and the SI just has to choose the system,” says Steve Sharman, CTO Mediasmiths which advised Peel Media on the build of MediaCity. “There’s a need for much deeper understanding of what the client is trying to achieve from a business

perspective and what the cost drivers are. Should we be looking to procure a broadcaster’s own infrastructure or solutions which sit on the cloud, for example. There’s still a great need for expertise in video engineering and routing – but network and storage design is equally important.” ATG Broadcast’s Managing Director, Graham Day, finds his company increasingly involved in pre-design strategic decisions which in former years would have been made by a channel or network’s own engineering management. “Many broadcasters no longer have intensive technical resources on staff,” he says. “We are fully equipped to make appropriate recommendations before actual commencement of a project. We’re also looking at customers’ investment in equipment and helping them develop new ideas to increase revenue streams.” Consequently the points of contact are as likely to be an IT manager and CFO as a CTO or chief engineer, suggests Wallis. “Solutions need to meet operational and business demands,” he says. “SIs need to understand and address decision makers at every level.” Whereas tech decisions were once prescriptive, clients are now seeking dialogue. “They are asking what has worked in the past and what ways are there of solving this going forward and how can we build flexibility into our systems,” says Phillips. Mediasmiths, for one, thinks the perception of the systems integrator hasn’t moved on swiftly enough and so chooses to describe itself as a media technology consultancy. “We also do a lot of implementation work but we may not necessarily go out and procure technology on behalf of a client, instead when a media company needs a new business opportunity and thinks technology can help we advise them by researching technology selection as part of a rigorous workflow analysis and design phase,” Sharman explains.
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