In Broadcast - April 2012 - 34


WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 7 - APRIL 2012

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Dynamic Fusion In Systems Integration Cont.
Paul Wallis of Broadcast Networks pointed out that refreshing systems is a good way to extend the life of an existing installation: “We are seeing solutions like OB vans coming in for refurbishment, whether it is just to give them a new lease of life or to take them from SD to HD or HD to 3D.” Kevin Moore at Eurotek adds that maintenance and software updates also add to operational expenditure alongside power and cooling: “Our company provides maintenance services, and this is a key business area for us so we take special care in including these costs as part of any submission.” “We are increasingly asked to provide multi-vendor support on projects beyond the standard warranty period,” reports TSL’s Grieve. “This makes sense in reducing the lifecycle costs and, as the SI, we are the only ones that can really offer it. “What is important here is having the power and inﬂuence to push vendors beyond their comfort zone to make it all happen and guarantee quality of service for the lifespan of a system.” Graham Day of ATG says: “Anticipated system life averages around five to ten years, but expectations are changing given the advance from tape-based to ﬁle-based workﬂow. Our role is to build in sufﬁcient resilience, then to provide onsite support if required. Most systems are constructed to allow the customer to perform ﬁrst-line replacement of a defective element.”

Prebuilding for Sky News Arabia underway at TSL

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what works well together – or can be made to work together – and represents good commercial sense over the lifecycle of the project. One of the biggest and most impressive system builds in recent times, the new production centre for Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi and built by TSL exempliﬁes this. Sky and TSL worked closely together to achieve smooth workﬂows, but always with an eye on ease of support in the Middle East. Where there was a critical operational or technical beneﬁt in choosing a particular vendor this was followed wherever practical, but for devices where there were plenty of suitable vendors ease of support was the primary driver. So, for example, the best technical ﬁt for multiviewers was Miranda, then because they were already on the project and could commit to local support they were also chosen for routers and glue. Jürgen Loos, Managing Director of BFE agreed that the role of the independent is to guide the client: “Since end-to-end solutions are becoming more complex, many customers are seeing the beneﬁt of having a partner take on the responsibility for the overall solution.” Is this independent advice part of the SI’s service, or is there a growing trend towards a consultancy providing the intermediary level? Stopford was sceptical: “From the Kit Digital perspective we are not seeing any greater role for consultants in projects.”

For Eurotek, Moore saw consultants as a presence on major projects, less so on smaller ones. “Often the consultants bring a particular bias to proceedings, though, based on their own experience and knowledge.” Jonathan Lyth thought that on occasions independent consultancy could add to a project: “There is still a very valid place for an intermediary to bring a concise brief in the early stages. There are times when it is actually beneﬁcial for an SI to step back and advise that a customer approaches an independent consultant to put the brief together: it can help focus when they are aware they are being charged by the day.” Conversely, both TSL and BFE felt that their size and experience meant they could also deliver the consultancy, with Jürgen Loos

saying that due to the “higher complexity of today’s projects there is a bigger need for consultancy and guidance”. But, he noted: “at the same time we see that clients prefer this guidance from partners which can also realise what they have evaluated.”

Return On Investment
The move from broadcast as an engineering-led industry to a much greater focus on commercial outcomes brings in lifecycle costs, return on investment, efﬁciency and environmental stewardship. “Lifecycle cost is something that we address continuously when designing and quoting,” says Mike Grieves of TSL. “Power efﬁciency is also of more concern than in previous years. Not only are businesses endeavouring to reduce their carbon footprint, but the cost of power has meant that we select the most efﬁcient equipment and workﬂows.”

Broadcast Or IT?
The IABM market study noted that IT and telco SIs are already having a major impact in the industry, and in 2010 the top ﬁve SIs in broadcast, by market share, were (in alphabetical order) Alcatel-Lucent, Ascent Media, Cisco, Grass Valley and Sony, together owning over 60 per cent of the market. (Grass Valley and Sony were invited to contribute to this report, but declined.) “ B ro a d c a s t e r s , content producers, post production companies and playout facilities all recognise the beneﬁts of ﬁle-based operation,” states Graham Day of ATG. “The key challenges are to ensure that the resultant systems are operator-friendly, reliable, ﬂexible enough to accommodate changing or expanding business requirements, and capable of handling future delivery standards.” Graham’s point about standards is well made. In the UK the major
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Anticipated system life averages around ﬁve to ten years, but expectations are changing given the advance from tape-based to ﬁlebased workﬂow...

Graham Day, ATG MD

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