Archive Solutions Systems in Service Sony s Professional Services Division Throughout EMEA since 1998 Sony s Professional Services Division have gained a track record in consultancy, design and implementation of Archive Solutions. Increasingly, customers see Sony as the market leader for design expertise and project management of these complex solutions. Projects in Progress 2009 Telemadrid, Spain Digital Asset Management (DAM) Project After years of successful implementation of videotape archive with their NewsBase production system and videotape librarian management, Sony has worked with Telemadrid to implement the next step of integration - adding the tranmission area and robotics for the digitization of the videotape archive via Seachange video server technology. This involves the creation of an MXF fi le based repository based on Sony PetaSite with next generation SAIT2 drives under Front Porch Digital control. Archive and automation software is delivered by Harris. Listed opposite is an outline history of projects in this unique business area. Key to the success of any project is clear indication of the business requirement and the technology options applicable for a solution. To ensure that each and every project delivers business benefi ts to its customers, Sony s approach to projects is to ensure a productive environment for the lifecycle of the project and beyond. RaceTech, UK Video Archiving Solution Sony delivered an XDCAM disc based and data archive solution which aims to improve the operational workfl ow between the at track OB trucks and the central headquarters operation. Included in the design work, was a business modelling process which was designed to ensure that the technical solution delivered the operational business benefi ts apparent when selecting new workfl ows based around new technologies. Sony s bespoke design, featuring XDCAM HD PDW-F75 recorders, an XDCAM cart machine, Sony HDXchange and a PetaSite archive, allowed RaceTech to digitally record and archive over 1,400 professional horse race days, which equates to in excess of 9,000 races and over 7,000 hours of recorded material in the UK every year. Bespoke Sony software ensures that all archived footage is fully searchable.
2008 GMTV, UK Refurbishment of GMTV s production processes. Sony was contracted as both a partner in the project and the system architect. During a six week stepby-step consultancy period, Sony documented all internal and external workfl ow procedures and captured individual operational requirements. These were used to create a prpduction workfl ow document, which formed the basis for a specifi cation and a system design. RTP, Portugal Digital Asset Management (DAM) Project The aim of this solution was to develop a project to address all the storage and content management requirements of RTP. Sony worked with RTP to defi ne and document the operational workfl ows, system scaling and sub-system interfaces. Sony PetaSite was used as a data tape storage of media content and project implementation consisted of a number of phases. Phase 1 involved the integration of the Archive with Quantel/Omnibus News Production System. Subsequent phases integrated production and transmission. Sony managed the sub contract from Blue Order, Omnibus, Quantel, Front Porch & Omneon as well as the supply and integration of disk storage from Sun. Our approach and close relationship with RTP proved to be one of the critical success factors. TV Valencia, Spain Archive System for News Transmission and Logging Sony as the winner of this public tender was chosen by TV Valencia to implement the necessary infrastructure to integrate an Avid newsroom computer, Avid unity system, a transmission area and the offi cial logging into a MXF fi le based repository created around Sony PetaSite with next generation SAIT2 drives. Sony Flexicart is used for mass digitization of videotape material in conjunction with Avid Mediastream video server technology. Archive software is provided by spanish company Tedial with Front Porch Digital as middleware. 2007 ITN, UK Archive System for Clip Sales and News ITN selected Sony to provide the complete installation for their DAM project after a consultation period carried out by Sony s Professional Services where all ITN Source s objectives were captured. The solution was based on Sony Petasite, IBIS automation, Front Porch Digital middleware and ITN s own Media Asset Management database. ITN will grow their archive by 8,000 hours per year.
SIC, Potugal Archive System for News and Transmission SIC worked with Sony to provide an archive solution for integration with their news production and playout systems. It is based on Sony PetaSite, Front Porch Digital middleware and Harris Arkmedia Media Asset Management software. The system is initially scaled to store approximately 12,000 hours. 2005 ITN, UK Archive System Consultancy Sony were contracted to elicit the requirements and produce documentation for the ITN DAM Project. 2004 NOB, Netherlands Transmission Archive Sony were awarded a major contract for the Netherlands primary broadcast transmission system; this involves the creation of a new and radcially different digital environment requiring the collaboration of many best of breed technology companies. Sony acted as prime contractor and brought together Blue Order, Hewlett Packard, LogicaCMG, GVG, Front Porch Digital, Anystream and Omnibus to provide a total solution for this infrastructure project. Key criteria cited by NOB for choosing Sony included the creation of a core partnership with a unique combination of broadcast and IT orientated skills. The Sony PetaSite was used as a nearline store for the playout system and holds approximately 1,000 hours of content. Rotana, Beirut Transmission Archive Rotana TV, a division of the Middle East s number one music producer Rotana, required a complete and integrated solution to facilitate the broadcasting of 3 music television channels from their new Beirut transmission centre. With such a complex system involving tape migration, transmission, archive and post production, and using state of the art components from Sony, IBIS, Pinnacle, Harris and Thomson/GVG, the solution delivered, moved through the complete workfl ow from content creation to transmission and eventually archive, all on a network automated platform. In addition to the production and playout transmission requirements, Rotana have a substantial tape library archive (4,000-5,000 Betacam tapes equivalent to 7,600 hours of content), which required migration onto the playout server and then archived onto Sony PetaSite SAIT high capacity storage.
2003 Beeld en Geluid, Netherlands National Archive - Phase 1 Sony with its implementation partners Blue Order and LogicaCMG, successfully delivered a pilot archive system to the Netherlands National Archive, Beeld en Geluid. With a national audio/video archive of over 650,000 hours in various formats, the fi rst phase of the archive project required Sony to deliver a system based upon Beeld en Geluid s core metadata model and workfl ow with modifi cations based upon users requirements gathered, evaluated and prioritised during a series of workshops. The second phase is of the project is to provide further browse storage capability, redundant systems and additonal functionality based upon user experience. Planning for a third and fourth phase which is to include dynamic metadata and high-resolution MXF fi le exchange and the implementation of a system for a public access museum has already begun. 2001 CNN, USA News Archive CNN needed to bring their entire videotape library online. This vast 21 year old archive consisting of over 120,000 hours of footage, which was growing at the rate of 30,000 hours per year, needed to be digitized, catalogued and stored for networked retrieval and distribution. Sony Systems Solutions Division of Sony America provided CNN with a one stop shop for this solution, managing the relationship with IBM for the Media Asset Management application software. The IBM Media Production Suite managed assets stored on a Sony PetaSite storage solution. CNN s needs for ingest, archive, browsing and editing and distribution are then fulfi lled with best fi t products, such as the Virage Videologger and Minerva codecs. This enterprise wide archive integration solution makes available to all CNN operations worldwide a tape library with over 120,000 hours and is a core part of CNN s emerging digital infrastructure. By making this material easily available, CNN is improving the quality of their broadcasts and are increasing the CNN image source revenues.
2000 publisuisse, Switzerland Transmission Archive for Advertising Spots publisuisse chose to work with Sony to use the latest developments from the IT world to achieve their full goals with what is known as the digispot system. The system went live in 2000. The solution included the installation of a central ingest and data storage facility that enables all commercials (approximately 18,000 spots) to be held on-line in a single robotic storage device. Three fully redundant dual playout facilities are installed at the customer s sites in Zurich, Geneva and Lugano with full integration into the existing playout facilities. An automated commercial distribution management system permits the automatic movement of commercials from the central site to the remote sites across a wide area network according to the on-air requirements. 1999 Telemadrid, Spain News Archive Telemadrid were faced with a number of potential suppliers of a news solution including Quantel, Avid, Tektronics, Phillips and Sony. However Telemadrid realised that they required more than just a technology supplier, they needed a partnership. After much negotiation, it was decided that Sony understood the need for a partnership and had the most realistic solution. Sony installed their NewsBase solution which has resulted in signifi cant productivity. The archive now handles more than double the material that it did before. Approximately 200,000 hours (350,000 tapes) of shelf based storage is managed by the archive system. All incoming material is now catalogued within 48 hours maximum which is a vast improvement over the old system which used to take up to 3 months with potential loss of material. For example, there used to be typically 19 incoming tapes per day, archivists had to go through each tape and archive the relevant sections. Now this has been reduced to one tape as archivists can select appropriate material for archiving.
1998 RAI 24, Italy Archive Migration In early 1996, both RAI and Sony looked into the best practice for the robust handling of the oldest tapes in Rai s archives. However there appeared to be no obvious solution. Engineers from Sony and RAI worked closely together over a couple of years and and came up with a solution and coded it into a migration system. With operational testing at RAI and system improvements from Sony, a robust, fl exible and expandable system was developed. With this Sony system, the migration of 180,000 is realistically reduced from decades to a number of years. The tape preparation system incorporates a robotic system for moving the box of tapes into the tape cleaning system, identifying and replicating barcode labels and pre-striping the destination tapes. During cleaning, a fi rst pass is made on determining the quality of the tape. If a fail is detected at this point, then the tape is removed from the system and manually checked and transferred if necessary. After cleaning, and all of the relevant data about the tape has been stored in the central database, the box of tapes is moved to the trnasfer pods. All source and destination tapes are put into the Sony Flexicart robotics; again the partnership with RAI has enabled Sony to develop a version of the Flexicart to handle U-Matic VTRs and tapes. 2010 Sony Corporation. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. All non-metric weights and measurements are approximate. Sony, BrightEra and Remote Commander are trademarks of Sony Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. At Sony Professional we believe images have immeasurable power that can increase business value and become assets. About Sony Professional Sony Professional is the leading supplier of AV/IT solutions to businesses across a wide variety of sectors including, Media and Broadcast, Video Security and Retail, Transport & Large Venue markets. It delivers products, systems and applications to enable the creation, manipulation and distribution of digital audio-visual content that add value to businesses and their customers. With over 25 years experience in delivering innovative market-leading products, Sony Professional is ideally placed to deliver exceptional quality and value to its customers. Sony s Professional Services division, its systems integration arm, offers its customers access to the expertise and local knowledge of skilled professionals across Europe. Collaborating with a network of established technology partners, Sony Professional delivers end to end solutions that address the customer s needs, integrating software and systems to achieve each organisations individual business goals. For more information please visit www.sonybiz.net This is Visual Wealth