November 2012 www.tvbeurope.com


For video coverage visit www.tvbeurope.com/roundtable


TVBEurope 23 Round Table


Vendors can’t build systems thinking they will stand alone, said Moderator Jeremy Bancroft. “The challenge is to specify, implement and support it ... and who do you call to fix it?”


hardware applications and make it as open as possible to work with third parties. For many years our industry has worked in small silos. I don’t think they are necessarily all going to break down but there are commonalities and synergies that can be gained,” he added.


Team effort and the DPP Long agreed that manufacturers should be working together as a team and explained how they can become more profitable as a result. “Apple is profitable, not because it has a locked down system that no-one can write the apps for. It has a fully controlled system but anyone can write for it.” For Long, working with one


or many other manufacturers with common standards is ideal. “We can all be experts in different fields but all still work together. That’s getting better.” Ioannou believes the value of companies like Grass Valley is in its products, not the fact that it’s unique. “People will like a Grass Valley camera because of the functionality, way it feels, performance and so on. How it connects into this ecosystem is for me the key as to how we manage to deliver to all these platforms cost effectively. We need all the manufacturers to join together and work with people like the Digital Production Partnership [DPP] and join the whole ecosystem up.”


Darren Long: “We’re really focusing on what value we can give to the individual customers out there and apps is one of the ways we can do it. Equally, we as a company have to be very adaptive and also lead the pack. We are constantly looking at new technology”


Bertioli said often it’s the


broadcaster that’s the problem: “Every broadcaster wants to do it differently. Things like the DPP are an opportunity and make it easy for the broadcasters and manufacturers because you all develop to AS-11.” Long believes the issue at the moment is that everyone is searching for the “Holy Grail”. “We’re always trying to find the iPad app that works very simply.” Bancroft asked how the broadcasters want manufacturers to deliver solutions to them? “Thinner clients,” said Long. “Less reliance on technology objects [hardware] and more reliance on software-driven but adaptable.”


Co-operation and support Posing three follow-up questions, Bancroft asked: “Who do you want to sell you that solution? If it’s Grass Valley, how does it deliver that solution? Who should be delivering that – should it be Grass Valley or an IT infrastructure specialist?” Long feels companies should specialise in areas. “Grass Valley is synonymous with desks, cameras and they need to be open in their architecture. I truly want to get to a world where people realise ‘I might be able to buy one product but I want it to work with another product’. That’s the world we need to get to.


“If you’re really good at what


you do as a business, it will sell it.” He emphasised that some companies try to be everything to everyone and that just doesn’t work. From a technology perspective, Ioannou does not want Grass Valley to sell him a bespoke solution. “Whatever you sell me, I want Sky, BBC and MTV to want it. You’re going to maintain, support and develop it. Every time I get something bespoke, my overhead in maintaining that shoots up.” Stevenson thinks competition is good and healthy. “That nirvana of a single supplier that’s going to sort it all out for you doesn’t exist. It never really has and never will. What doesn’t go away is that the broadcaster has to make choices and decisions and engage with several suppliers. That seems unavoidable.” In response, Hesmondhalgh said: “The obvious conclusion for me as a supplier is that you have to play well with others because you’re never going to want all of my stuff. This would be through a standardised interface. So there is a place for standards, but we can innovate in what we’re doing so we become the best in breed in particular areas.” BSkyB’s Gibson explained


that Sky News uses Kayenne desks. If it asked Grass Valley to


Tim Bertioli: “As the tools become more easily available like second generation smart TVs and YouView, I think you’ll find a faster than expected switch in how people view their content”


build a system for it as the systems integrator and put in a Sony desk, would the company be prepared to do it? Negus replied: “We have made a conscious decision that when we talk about professional services, we’re not talking about systems integration. We have an expertise in our particular products and areas and for professional services it is about applying that expertise to help you get the most out of that capability. We do have to play with others.” He added: “We can give you


advice on our piece and the best way for that to integrate to competitor A, B or C or a collaborator A, B or C but we wouldn’t want to tell you how to build the rest of it for a competing product.”


Linking together for success Purchasing broadcast equipment is not just about getting the best price, but about how it all fits together and, most importantly, making sure it stays working. Most broadcasters use systems integrators to help purchase and install their main systems, but there are some decisions the broadcaster has to take. “You can outsource the less critical stuff, such as glue. It’s critical if it breaks, but you’re not going to apply much strategic thinking to which glue


supplier you use. The SI will help you with these decisions, but the broadcaster has to take the big strategic decisions, such as what is the media handling,” said Stevenson “When you are talking about


a live production system that has to be integrated at an API level with several other subsystems or a multi-platform content management facility and distribution system that has got to integrate with your scheduling and rights management, it is not the SI’s job. That is software integration and the only two parties that will do that are the suppliers of the two systems working together,” added Bancroft. “A significant proportion of our R+D budget at Grass Valley is centred around our Stratus product line, which is a suite of software that’s joining all this stuff together,” said Negus. “One of the key pieces of it is that it’s an open architecture working with everything else. But, one of the problems is that if there is an open API on both sides, who owns the software linking them?”


“The glue bit is the difficult


bit,” said Ioannou. “We keep talking about open APIs […] and really they don’t happen to be as open as they say they are going to be.” However, he sees hope in newer products that have a common pivot point that everyone can talk to. ITV has


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60