72 TVBEurope The Workflow Hubof creativity
At a recent event, dock10’s senior management provided an overview of the company’s development, including a tour of the extensive facility and a demo of its new cloud-based platform, Centralparq.Holly Ashford was there for TVBEurope to hear the latest updates
MEDIACITYUK SALFORD is a waterfront centre that has expanded in the past few years from a construction site on the outskirts of Manchester to a thriving campus for digital media and creativity, and a destination in its own right. At the heart of the site is dock10, which opened its doors in January 2011, moving beyond its initial focus and increasing its team from five to around 100 employees. Mark Senior, CEO, has been with the company for just over three years, and describes how its focus has changed since inception — originally as MediaCity Studios. Focussing initially on “fulfilling quite a significant and broad contract with the BBC” after its first 12 months of operation came a move “way beyond that”, and today “dock10 is very much a business that focusses on the whole market in the
UK.” The size and scope of the facility is evidence of this: dock10 manages the entirety of the comms network around MediaCity, and its building incorporates 27 edit suites and seven HD TV studios, with a recently-won
coming in. “Fibre optic underpins everything we do at MediaCity,” Clenell says, meaning the network is future- proofed. dock10 also provides ICT services for small businesses who come to the campus, in addition to providing free Wi-Fi
dock10 is associated by
many with the BBC, and the Childrens’ and Sports departments particularly. Series such as Match of the Day and Blue Peter are produced by the broadcaster in Salford, while Senior stresses that
The secret to running both broadcast and IT sides of the company is dock10’s team of over 40 “hybrid engineers, well-versed in both broadcast and IT”
contract to run a post floor on The Landing. Paul Clenell, chief technology
officer, explains that the studio block contains cables over 300m in length, and that POPs (point of presence rooms) are located at the edge of the MediaCity campus allowing for external service connectivity providers
and running an IPTV service, delivering a “TV package which services nearly 400 residential apartments and hotel rooms as well.” The secret to running both broadcast and IT sides of the company, Clenell explains, is dock10’s team of over 40 “hybrid engineers, well-versed in both broadcast and IT.”
www.tvbeurope.com September 2013
Paul Clenell, dock10
dock10 is “not the BBC, it’s a separate business.” He continues: “The evolution of the business over the last 12 months has moved us clearly into entertainment, comedy and drama,” having hosted major shows including The Voice, Britain’s Brightest, and Gok Live: Stripping for Summer.
Such productions are viewed
by the company as a “real growth area for our business,” with the facility “absolutely perfect for doing comedy and entertainment productions.” The media base features 12 core offline and online edit suites based on Avid Symphony and Composer; Acid Isis, Isilon nearline and Spectra Logic archive storage; a recently opened second Pro Tools 5.1 dubbing theatre; a Baselight2 grading suite and QC and tech review capabilities. Paul Austin, head of Post
Production and Content, made an announcement that further adds to the scale of dock10: “We won the operator contract for The Landing post production hall which we’re hugely excited about: there’s another 11 edit suites in there.” Austin continues: “One of the beauties of being here is the seamless technical workflow from studios to post. It just works perfectly.” In addition, because of
the fibre infrastructure, the technology and the connectivity on site, “any room can become an edit suite very quickly.” This connectivity across campus “is like having a big toy shop to play with, from a post perspective,” says Austin. Studios are connected to the MCR so the team can assign
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84