automation & asset management feature The changing face of


automation Continued from Page 17.


broadcaster has led to further successes for Marina at sites including TV2 in Denmark, Canal Sur in Spain and GlobosatCanais in Brazil. Marina was developed for today’s broadcast business model. It provides all of the essential features needed by a modern playout automation system, but also extends both upstream and downstream in the broadcast chain to encompass content capture, content/media management, archive management, automated workflow management, playout automation and content delivery. Marina is able to exploit new multi-core processing platforms using 64 bit code, delivering exceptional performance when it counts.


Distributed architecture


Marina’s client-server architecture enables clients to simply view, monitor and interact with the servers, and multiple clients can be used wherever access to the system is needed from multiple locations. The distributed server architecture means different components of the system can be physically separated onto additional servers as and when required, which brings many advantages for installers, integrators and operators as it allows logical system functions to be separated or abstracted away from the limitations of the actual hardware. So in the case where additional CPU power is needed, or other resources such as additional serial ports are required, extra hardware can be added where it is needed without affecting the operational aspects of the system. In a traditional system, broadcasters may be forced into adding and staffing an additional workstation or control room, which means that changing the physical hardware has a big impact on the operation usage of the system. As a system grows, the Marina hardware platform is easily scaled to match its changing requirements.


Marina’s distributed architecture also offers additional redundancy benefits such as being able to separate control of air and protect server streams between two different device servers. Other architectural benefits include the ability to locate local device control elements at a


remote site, which has interesting possibilities for disaster recovery installations.


Open interfaces


Marina provides many open interfaces that can be used by customers or integrators to build complex systems which integrate tightly. This is especially beneficial for customers or system integrators who have their own software developers, or indeed for broadcast equipment manufacturers, such as companies providing complex graphics workflows, who wish to closely integrate the playout automation with their own workflow systems. Whether this is to integrate the automation system with existing infrastructure within a broadcast facility such as EPG or media management system, or to develop interactive TV applications, Marina has the tools required. As an example, Marina has interfaces which provide complete read/write control of the playlist, read and write access to media metadata, access to live media usage information such as a real- time prioritised missing media list for the entire system, media movement and archive requests from an external system, and the creation of custom media movement and deletion rules.


These interfaces can be accessed in a variety of ways, such as via XML file or socket based messaging or using Web services/SOAP.


Flexible workflows


One of the most important aspects of any successful software product is the ability to function in many different workflows and environments. Typically broadcasters have developed their business practices over many years, and no two organisations work in exactly the same way. Pebble Beach Systems understands this and has always adopted a customisable approach for its products. If the feature required by a customer cannot be delivered by configuration alone then custom plug-in modules can be used throughout the system to provide highly specialised features. This enables customers to benefit from a reliable, extensively tested, standard product whilst being able to get the specialised features they require.


Marina enables users to: • Configure additional classification


The typical heterogeneous nature of many current- day broadcast systems makes management of change difficult, inhibits integration possibilities and adds complexity and cost. In using up-to- date software techniques and platforms, Pebble Beach Systems has refined the scope of playout automation systems by combining many of the features traditionally only found in large-scale media and content


management systems with its best-of- breed transmission automation solution.


fields, categories and screen layouts in order to handle custom metadata. • Configure custom queries and reports and save them for easy recall in the future.


• Build multiple automated workflows that manage the handling of media assets as they pass through the system.


• Combine multiple workflow steps to provide complex tasks such as archive restore and partial restore functions combined with EDL conform and transcode functions.


An enterprise solution


Marina provides a platform for managing complex broadcast systems through a single GUI which combines an ‘access anything from anywhere’ approach with the detailed resource management and reporting information required by today’s cost- conscious broadcasters. It delivers: • Extensive user and group access rights management.


• Roaming user profiles. All client preferences and access rights are controlled by a user’s access rights allowing control and administration tasks to be performed from anywhere.


• Detailed resource utilisation information which covers both media usage and device usage. • Remote health monitoring of all servers and server resources such as memory and CPU usage. • Centralised software update and management control.


• Full Unicode compliance - including full localisation of the user interfaces into any language.


The typical heterogeneous nature of many current-day broadcast systems makes management of change difficult, inhibits integration possibilities and adds complexity and cost. In using up-to-date software techniques and platforms, Pebble Beach Systems has refined the scope of playout automation systems by combining many of the features traditionally only found in large-scale media and content management systems with its best-of-breed transmission automation solution. By taking an enterprise approach and understanding that broadcasters need to be able to manage traditional broadcast devices such and VTR, switchers and video servers as well as the latest integrated channel-in-a-box devices from within the same system, Pebble Beach has opened up many new possibilities for its customers.


www.ibeweb.com l january/february 2011 l ibe l 19


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