OmniBus Systems lancia la suite iTX Enterprise

un Workflow unificato dall'Ingest al playout multi piattaforma
LONDON and DENVER — Sept. 10, 2010 — OmniBus Systems, the award-winning provider of comprehensive broadcast automation solutions, today announced the launch at IBC2010 of the iTX Enterprise Suite, the industry's first integrated system embracing the entire production process from ingest, through media management, workflow management and asset management, to automation and playout, with multi-platform output to SD/HD/3-D TV, radio, the Internet and mobile TV.

For the first time, broadcasters and media operators can unify these production elements in a single, integrated system. Handling all stages of the production and delivery process under a consistent user environment, the iTX Enterprise Suite delivers unprecedented increases in efficiency, scalability and speed of response for 21st-century media businesses.

"Most broadcasters and content owners today are locked into operating models largely determined by legacy systems that were installed in a different time and in a radically different media world," said OmniBus chief technology officer Ian Fletcher. "The next great watershed of cost benefits, efficiency increases and business flexibility gains will come through implementation of a unified infrastructure designed for today's complex multi-platform media delivery environment, and capable of making the ideal of 'any media, anywhere' a reality. Instead of stitching together increasingly unwieldy and inefficient workflows using a variety of conventional systems that were never designed for multi-platform operations, broadcasters and media companies can now create a totally transparent end-to-end environment that is vastly more streamlined and completely flexible for easy adaptation to new business opportunities."nt>

The culmination of five years of dedicated effort by the OmniBus research and development team responsible for the ground-breaking iTX automation and playout platform, the iTX Enterprise Suite extends the productivity gains and cost-benefits of iTX through the entire production process.

The iTX Enterprise Suite integrates the following areas into a streamlined, interrelated and highly automated end-to-end process flow:

Ingest and Media Management
Enables scheduled and on-demand feed recording from satellite and live sources, unscheduled ad hoc ingest, support for content file delivery services, clip preparation for all modes of acquisition, and comprehensive automated tools for managing the movement of content through the infrastructure.

Workflow Management
Provides powerful job tracking and management information tools to give broadcasters the high-level data needed for effective use of resources and business efficiency. A highly automated job-based process flow with clear, detailed tracking and reporting makes it possible to manage large broadcast and media workflows with cost-effective use of staff resources. Comprehensive interfaces with third-party scheduling, production and DAM systems automate the initialization and recording of workflow steps completed externally. In addition, the non-proprietary workflow engine can be used to link different processes into a streamlined automated sequence making it easy for customers or third-party developers to create custom activities that can be dropped into the iTX Enterprise Suite's preset workflows.

Asset Management
Allows users to add rich business metadata to existing asset information and to configure and build tailored metadata schema using simple tools on the Desktop, without requiring programming or configuration by the manufacturer.

Advanced Schedule Management
Consolidates schedules received from a variety of sources to enable more intelligent media management and task management across the entire facility's operations. Bringing together an overview of all channels, all playlists, and all media requirements, the schedule management module acts as a central point for advanced workflow management automation based on a detailed view of upcoming schedules.

Radio Streaming Functionality Within
The iTX Enterprise Suite supports 8 AES radio streams in each 1RU server. Fully integrated with the iTX Enterprise Suite's asset management and automation systems, this module facilitates cost-effective multi-platform broadcasting by supporting comprehensive management of audio broadcasting from within the same environment and with the same systems and workflows used for TV and Web-based video.

Advanced Automation and Playout
With multi-domain capability allowing the allows seamless integration of geographically separated systems, the iTX Enterprise Suite can operate in a mixed-frame-rate environment including PAL/NTSC, 60, 30, 25 or 24 frames per second, with an enhanced playout engine providing other unique benefits including multi-channel SDI in/out, IP in/out, 1080p/60, enhanced DVE capability and the option to deliver two separate channels from a single 1RU server.

An enhanced DVE engine enables complex "coming up" sequences, showing three or four program extracts with support for more complex live junctions, multiple simultaneous on-screen images and independent control of image movement.

The iTX Enterprise Suite includes a sophisticated security model for service provider confidentiality between customers, and features the new OmniBus G4 customizable Desktop environment for technical areas of the workflow as well as the rich media SmartClient interface for Mac® and PC users in a lightweight browser environment, providing easy access from any Web-enabled computer. For the 21st-century multi-platform media operator, the iTX Enterprise Suite ingests and outputs IP-based content, allowing operators to save on unnecessary video infrastructure for mobile or telco applications.


iTX Enterprise Suite Delivers Unprecedented Efficiencies With End-to-End Asset Management System

LONDON and DENVER — Sept. 10, 2010 — OmniBus Systems, the award-winning provider of comprehensive broadcast automation solutions, will demonstrate the new iTX Enterprise Suite at IBC2010, showcasing the end-to-end asset management capabilities of the system. The iTX Enterprise Suite is the industry's first platform to integrate the entire production process, from ingest through media management, workflow management and asset management to automation and playout, with multi-platform output to SD/HD/3D TV, radio, the Internet and mobile TV.

Combined with the iTX platform's powerful automated playout capabilities, the iTX Enterprise Suite's asset management and workflow modules link multiple vendor systems in an integrated, efficient workflow with unprecedented flexibility for today's media organizations, providing a comprehensive range of powerful automated and manual task management tools on the desktop.

The iTX Enterprise Suite's asset management modules also provide facilities for adding rich business metadata to existing asset information and allow the user to configure and build tailored metadata schema using simple tools on the desktop, without requiring programming or configuration by the manufacturer. Delivering total flexibility on metadata design and structure, support for all media types and time formats, and a non-proprietary workflow engine that can be used to link different processes together into a streamlined automated sequence, the asset management tools make it very easy for customers or third-party developers to create their own custom activities, which can be dropped into one of the iTX Enterprise Suite's preset workflows.

"Asset management is a key pillar of the iTX Enterprise Suite's overall value to media businesses evolving to meet 21st century demands," said OmniBus Systems Chief Technology Officer Ian Fletcher. "By integrating sophisticated asset management with all the other aspects of the production process in one single system, the iTX Enterprise Suite not only introduces greater efficiency, but also extends the reach of what can be achieved by asset management, providing a content-management framework capable of the power and flexibility essential for current and future multi-platform business opportunities."

Asset management components can be combined in a cost-effective, best-fit content management workflow from acquisition to transmission, based on an architecture designed to provide scalability for small to very large facilities, with easy support for geographically distributed operations and integrated, multi-system workflows. The iTX Enterprise Suite's flexibility allows broadcasters to build the right solution for their facilities with a multi-system, integrated workflow matched to their unique operational requirements.

The asset management functionality includes: acquiring, tracking and managing video and audio content through integrated, multi-system workflows; managing physical assets, proxy material, content logging and metadata exchange across broadcast processes; providing scheduled and on-demand feed recording and ad hoc tape ingest; flexible logging and annotation with custom metadata and sophisticated asset metadata searching from the desktop. The system also provides tools for defining and automating content processing workflows with rules-based task flow and job tracking; and an open-standard and extensible non-proprietary workflow engine.

The asset management environment integrates with external systems via XML Web Services messaging for data and task exchange, and it extends access throughout the enterprise with the advanced iTX SmartClient Web browser interface, delivering seamless connectivity for federated search and content sharing.

The iTX Enterprise Suite's asset management modules are seamlessly integrated with the platform's ingest, media management, workflow organization, schedule management, automation, master control and multi-platform playout functionality to form a production system that delivers unprecedented increases in efficiency, scalability and speed of response.

The iTX Enterprise Suite supports a mixed frame rate environment (PAL, NTSC, HD, 60, 25, 30, 24 and any future frame rate) and is readily configured for multi-domain operation for geographically separate facilities. It includes a sophisticated security model for service provider confidentiality between customers, and it features the new OmniBus G4 customizable desktop environment for technical areas of the workflow, as well as the rich media SmartClient interface for Mac® and PC users in a lightweight browser environment for easy access from any Web-enabled computer. For the multiplatform media operator, the iTX Enterprise Suite ingests and outputs IP-based content, allowing operators to save on unnecessary video infrastructure for mobile or telco applications.

The iTX Enterprise Suite is an IT-based, open-standards system designed to bring the unprecedented playout and automation efficiencies of iTX to the entire broadcast production operation.

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PRESS RELEASE #3 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OmniBus Systems iTX Radio: Sophisticated Automation and Playout for Multi-channel Radio and Cross-media Operations

LONDON and DENVER — Sept. 10, 2010 — OmniBus Systems, the award-winning provider of comprehensive broadcast automation solutions, is launching the new iTX Enterprise Suite at IBC2010, including iTX Radio, the Suite's sophisticated environment for multi-channel radio operation. The iTX Enterprise Suite makes it possible for the first time to run radio, television and internet streams from the same infrastructure platform, using the same automation and playout engine, with staff operating all media using a unified and configurable user environment.

The iTX Enterprise Suite integrates the entire production process from ingest, through media management, workflow management, asset management, to automation and playout, with multi-platform output to SD/HD/3D TV, radio, the internet and mobileTV.

Benefiting from the full feature-set of the Enterprise Suite's comprehensive and powerful television automation engine, the iTX Radio module provides a toolset for radio operation that sets new standards in sophistication, efficiency and flexibility. The automation engine provides an ideal environment both for scheduled radio content, and for live broadcast of late-breaking material. An advanced and highly configurable graphical user environment can be readily adapted to suit any radio broadcast scenario, and provides a greater degree of interactivity for large, multi-channel radio operation than has been available to date.

"The iTX Radio functionality makes the Enterprise Suite the most rational and business-efficient choice for TV operators wanting to manage a radio operation, and for radio broadcasters wanting to add internet streaming, television channels, or both," said OmniBus Chief Technology Officer Ian Fletcher. "Increasingly, media operators are looking for a platform that makes sense across all their spheres of operation and which provides an architecture optimized for the development of new channels for any output platform. By providing highly advanced asset management, automation and playout in a common environment and infrastructure for radio, television and internet output, the iTX Enterprise Suite makes it easy and cost-effective to operate and develop internet streams, radio and TV channels, with no barriers between the media."

Available as an option within the iTX Enterprise Suite, the iTX Radio module is fully integrated with the Enterprise Suite's asset management and automation modules, and delivers 8 AES streams from a single 1RU server, with audio transitions and voiceovers, as well as live inputs and scheduled playback. Supporting all major audio formats, iTX Radio has onboard channel-by-channel compression tools, limiting the requirement for downstream audio processing.

Readily scalable from 8 channels to 800 and beyond, iTX Radio can be configured for standalone multi-channel radio operation, or as part of a cross-media operation with television, internet and mobile TV output. Highly reliable and configurable if required, and with the same 100 percent redundancy available for TV channels, iTX Radio also makes it easy to bring a radio operation within a single business continuity planning strategy, with the Enterprise Suite's common infrastructure platform providing backup for all media types.

The iTX Radio module integrates with the Enterprise Suite's ingest, media and asset management, workflow organization, schedule management, automation, master control and multi-platform playout functionality to form a production system that delivers unprecedented increases in efficiency, scalability and speed of response for today's media businesses.

The iTX Enterprise Suite is readily configured for multidomain operation for geographically separate facilities. It includes a sophisticated security model for service provider confidentiality between customers, and features the new OmniBus G4 customizable desktop environment for technical areas of the workflow, and the rich media SmartClient interface for Mac®s and PCs in a lightweight browser environment, for easy access from any web-enabled computer. For the 21st century multiplatform media operator, the iTX Enterprise Suite ingests and outputs IP-based content, allowing operators to save on unnecessary video infrastructure for mobile or telco applications. The iTX Enterprise Suite is an IT-based, open standards system designed to bring the unprecedented playout and automation efficiencies of iTX to the entire broadcast production operation.

The iTX Enterprise Suite will be available in Q1 2011.

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About OmniBus Systems
OmniBus Systems provides broadcasting, cable and satellite organizations with comprehensive automation and media content management solutions that address every area of television related operations. Its newsroom, content and workflow automation solutions include acquisition and recording of rich media material, low-resolution editing, media asset management and playout. OmniBus is a global company with headquarters in the United Kingdom and the United States and support offices in Malaysia and Singapore. More information is available at www.omnibus.tv.