February 2013 www.tvbeurope.com


TVBEurope 19 Cloud for Broadcast


to a small store and forward business, the content will be on Amazon,” he said. “If the company does not pay Amazon, then it is your content that is at risk.” So for security and long-term


reliability, Peto felt it was critical to build and own all the infrastructure. The same is true of the operating and applications software: “every single line of code is written by us, designed and focused for the scale of the business.” Critical to making it work, though, is the handling of the video content. All formats are stored natively, and memory cards are copied entire. Part of the software as a service is the transcoding, first to H.264 browse resolution so authorised users can pick it up over the public internet, then to the preferred format of the editing house so content arrives ready to be cut. “We have developed our own file acceleration, but upload


times are a problem,” Peto admits. One solution is, rather than try to upload terabytes of data from a hotel room, producers send content to an upload point. Aframe has a network of partners – mainly post houses – where producers can drop off a disk and have it uploaded over a fast line. Peto claims complete security


for the service, with each project having an administrator who grants selected rights to anyone who needs access to material. The user interface is simple and intuitive and certainly does not look like a conventional asset management system. Producers can view remotely;


offline editors can perform rough cuts; production managers can track documents and contracts; researchers can tag footage. While all this is SaaS, Aframe also has a team of metadata taggers, based in Sunderland in the northeast of England, who can provide logging services as required.


“It is fine to be based in the


UK,” Peto says, “but no-one is going to take you seriously if you are not in the States.” So after a further round of venture capital a US operation (including a “local cloud”) was established, launched at NAB 2012, with Avid veteran Mark Overington as president. “I made it sound easy to get


venture capital,” Peto admits. “It wasn’t: it was hell on toast. But now we are backed by people with very deep pockets, so we are not going anywhere.” Today the service is being


David Peto: “We have unlimited technology. It should be about the talent”


TV in the cloud


Unprecedented market agility and cost-effective business models for launching TV and VOD services are revolutionising relationships between content owners, service providers and viewers. Kay Johansson, CTO of MobiTV, discusses the opportunities


TV HAS been decoupled from the living room. The ties that once bound entertainment to the home have been released. There can be absolutely no doubt that the astounding growth in smart devices and the consequent agility it has opened up for service providers of every description is impacting entertainment. The trick is in moving fast enough to meet demand, while remaining free of any heavy investment baggage that might serve to do nothing other than magnify the risk. There is a way…


TV is rapidly being viewed in


a different light, in a different way, and – considering the seriously advanced ‘techno- savviness’ of smart device users – by different viewers. The opportunities for rapid market initiatives can be viewed as nothing less than abundant. The speed, agility, and flexibility of deploying new services for new and ever- demanding consumers are all made possible by new and


innovative media distribution as well as cloud technologies.


Speed of deployment Owners of video content are highly aware that traditional broadcast technologies have lost what was once a monopoly on how entertainment was delivered. Analysts NPD Group state that 70% of video consumers now watch video on devices other than TVs.


is now possible to become a national or international multi- platform broadcaster in a matter of months. Providers can leverage the ‘open’, IP- based, fixed and mobile infrastructure to build new local, regional, national or international multi-platform operations. They can compete head-on with incumbent free- to-air, cable, or satellite operators.


TV has been decoupled from the living room. The ties that once bound entertainment to the home have been released


New market entrants can


move fast, thanks to cloud- based models of delivery. On the assumption that a service provider already has content relationships in place, and is fully aware of – and adheres to – DRM protocols and rules, it


In terms of operational and licensing procedures, technology solutions now take the complexity of such issues out of the equation, further driving market agility. Providers can take care of every potential content delivery


Kay Johansson: A cloud type service provides operators with a delivery platform, which can then be accessed and distributed, not just anywhere, but everywhere


scenario and focus on the service they offer rather than the complexities that surround it.


Flexibility of proposition New market entrants can deliver multi-screen, multi- platform experiences to their users with up-front investment reduced through leveraging the capabilities of a cloud-based service. Incumbent operators, likewise, can depend on the same technology to update their current solutions and once again, expand their geographic reach. With these connected media solutions, incumbent operators don’t have to limit their reach. Like their users, they no longer need be tied to specific devices


or local hardware. All user actions – search, personalisation, settings, recommendations and favourites can be managed in a central location housed in the cloud. A completely uninterrupted user experience can then be provided across various viewing scenarios. The exciting aspect of what service providers can do is how they’re revolutionising TV and injecting more vibrancy, more scope for innovative service delivery, and more opportunity into the market than we’ve ever seen. A cloud type service provides operators with a delivery platform, which can then be accessed and distributed not just anywhere, but everywhere.


used by everyone from major broadcasters to specialist facilities. For the second year in a row, MTV used Aframe to distribute clips following the EMA Awards: the PR team granted access to an Aframe project so 500 broadcasters and online video sites could get clips of performances and acceptance speeches quickly. New York facility Laboratory ensured that “dailies” really


were, providing 20 collaborators on the indie film The Birder’s Guide to Everything with footage on the day it was shot. According to Dean Winkler, post supervisor on the movie, “I’ve been waiting for this type of solution for a decade, and to me Aframe is simply genius.” This ‘genius’ has recently been


recognised by Panasonic, which announced late January it is to partner with Aframe whereby it will sell Aframe licences in the United States through its network of pro video resellers. The partnership will make it easier for professionals to streamline P2, AVCCAM and other file-based workflows, increasing efficiency and creative freedom. David Peto’s aim is to take the


hard work out of the technology and let people concentrate on the job in hand. “We have unlimited technology,” he claims. “It should be about the talent.”


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