SPECIAL REPORT ///


is processed and managed in Foxtel's new MAM platform. It consists of four major components. Firstly, there's the Hitachi


Data Systems high performance RAID storage platform. Next is the SpectraLogic robotic LTO data tape library, and the Vizrt Ardome MAM platform. Finally, there is Mediasmiths’ open


source Workflow Engine and Enterprise Service Bus (referred to as WFE), which also incorporates the Mayam tasklist solution. The reasoning behind this


four-way vendor mix stems from the fact that Foxtel affiliate broadcaster BSkyB was already well down the track of MAM planning and implementation,


when Foxtel was considering its own MAM strategy. Foxtel paid a visit to their Operations and Engineering counterparts at BSkyB to understand their development experiences. As it turned out,


Mediasmiths was a key player in the UK's BSkyB Tapeless project, and they were deeply familiar with the Vizrt Ardome product. This was the entry point for


Mediasmiths to be involved in a project in the Antipodes, and Mediasmiths Asia Pacific was established. But why? What did they bring to the table for Foxtel's MAM project? The simple answer is two


things. The first is a product comprising a Workflow Engine (WFE) that controls the sequence of MAM processes via an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). The second is an intimate knowledge of the history in BSkyB's MAM decision-making processes. By using an Enterprise


Service Bus to connect all the sub-systems to the Workflow Engine, the existing and future needs for customization of workflow definitions and interfaces can be abstracted away from the MAM core. In Foxtrel’s case, Vizrt's Ardome can now do what it does well: The target for customisation is moved to a more well-suited platform in the way of an open source ESB (MuleSoft) and WFE (Intalio). The MAM vendors would


rather not be responsible for interfacing their MAM to every possible sub system in the broadcast world, nor do they really want to be called upon to make every future modification


////////////////6 TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014


of their customers' workflow definitions. This is why Mediasmiths’ WFE/ESB combo product was so welcome at Foxtel. The second thing that


Mediasmiths brought is the intimate knowledge and experience gained from earlier MAM implementations. If you'll forgive the analogy, a


MAM implementation is not too unlike giving birth to a baby. The best thing a mother-to-be can ask for is an experienced midwife ---- someone who has plenty of experience, enough experience to know what to do no matter what comes up, and above that, enough experience to know how to avoid all possible pitfalls so that everything will go smoothly. Things should go smoothly


not just as a matter of good luck, but thanks to good management. In this case, bringing in Mediasmiths to midwife their MAM was a smart move on Foxtel’s part. In conclusion, Foxtel did two


very smart things. They outsourced the heavy lifting of content aggregation to the experts in the field, so that only a unified flavour of media file would arrive in Foxtel's ingest servers. The second thing was to


engage expert MAM midwives very early in the project's gestation period so that the delivery of the MAM foal would all go smoothly. I call it a foal rather than a baby, because we expect it to be up on its feet and fending for itself in days and months, like a foal; rather than in years, like a human baby. ///


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