In Broadcast - May/June 2011 - 20

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | MAY/JUNE 2011

Bringing IT and Broadcast Together Cont.
the opportunity to work through 3D business cases in different arenas with industry experts can benefit from their planning.” One outcome of the need for improved return on investment are tools which can report and quantify the impact of business processes. “We’re integrating tools which do not just manage and move media but can detect bottlenecks where there’s excessive manual intervention, or where automated processes are not necessarily working,” says Sharman. “With realtime data analysis these technologies feed back into business strategies and have the potential to really generate additional value.” interstitial needs attention. While most people understand that, it’s important nonetheless that the engineering and management teams involve non-technical staff otherwise it could end in large investment with little change to output quality. “The most common sticking point is a people-management issue rather than technical one,” asserts Day. “Operating routines must be discussed with all relevant staff before committing to a specific workflow. This process cannot safely be imposed from above. The system must also be flexible enough to accommodate evolving business requirements.” Bird stresses that upgrading and changing a live system that is on-air 24/7 requires very careful planning and can not be rushed. The hardware and plumbing may be understood but if the soft skills aren’t attended to then the project could end in disaster. “Some of the clearest reasons for failure are that people haven’t been involved or trained properly,” says Sharman.

ATG Broadcast TV4 Sweden

Change management
Well-designed modern broadcast systems are easy to use, presenting operators with a logical interface specific to tasks and alerting them well before on-air time if a programme or

Wallis agrees that a complete buy-in from an organisation is essential alongside clear communication of business as well as technical objectives. “There has to be complete synergy between IT and the traditional video departments,” he says. “Clients often don’t realise how the improvements in IT workflows can benefit their whole business; a great deal of education from manufacturers is required here.”

That’s where SI’s come into their own. They claim, with justification, to have the experience from an organisational change-management perspective as well as technical expertise. “To deploy a truly integrated solution and keep live systems on-air is a challenge,” adds Wallis. “It’s like a surgeon performing open-heart surgery whilst the patient runs a marathon.”

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ATG Broadcast
ATG Broadcast (www.atgbroadcast. co.uk) is one of the world’s most successful providers of high–end, reliable and easy-to-operate integrated systems from front-end studios to transmission-based solutions for multiple deployment platforms. Active in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the company is part of the Dan Technologies Group which operates from offices in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Vietnam. We offer a wide spectrum of services including workflow design, project planning, equipment installation, software configuration, commissioning, documentation and on-site training. “An increasing number of clients come to us with requests for very fast system design and installation,” comments ATG Broadcast Managing Director Graham Day. “This is usually because they need to respond quickly to evolving television viewer market trends, new standards and new delivery platforms. Or they have a very close deadline for delivery, due to tight programme schedules. The expanding use of IT infrastructure in place of traditional hardware requires very careful planning. Equipment and software from various third-party suppliers must be integrated into a reliable system that will have a long working life in a world of fastdeveloping technology. We have the experience and skills required to make appropriate recommendations on predesign strategic decisions before actual commencement of a project.” A single-source guarantee of efficient and reliable broadcast systems integration with optional long-term engineering support, ATG Broadcast has the full resources needed to design, pre-build and test complete large-scale installations prior to delivery. Comprehensive reference manuals are supplied with every system. Installations are structured to allow easy expansion when and where demand arises for extra programme channels or to meet requirements for new delivery standards. Central to the ATG Broadcast ethos is a careful study of client workflow followed by selection and optimisation of software and hardware. Our turnkey contract experience includes sitestructure, air-conditioning, acoustics, lighting, energy conservation, furniture, technical documentation and operator training. Full technical support is provided for 12 months following the completion of a system. This takes the form of engineering visits or telephone support as required. Technical maintenance can also be provided throughout the entire life of a system. The ATG Broadcast client list includes some of the world’s largest broadcast networks and embraces the latest file-based 3D high-definition digital broadcast technology as well as podcasting and internet streaming. Projects currently in progress or recently completed include: • A five-camera production studio and file-based ingest system worth over 2.5 million US dollars for Arab Radio & Television. • A 13-channel playout system expansion for TV4 Sweden, completed in just eight weeks. • A major upgrade (to 3 Gb/s 1080 50p) for BBC Television Centre Studio Six in London. • A five-studio production centre and post-production reource for BSkyB’s new Harlequin 1 broadcasting facility. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we completed a comprehensive rebuild of Astro’s All Asia Broadcast Centre (AABC), including HD infrastructure. A suite of operational areas was installed and the station architecture re-engineered to provide resilience plus easy future expansion capabilities. ATG Broadcast is also an active UK distributor of broadcast equipment and software from leading suppliers such as AmberFin, NTP and Viewcast.

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In Broadcast - May/June 2011

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